Gattis’ slam sends Astros past Royals for ninth straight win

ASTROS 7, ROYALS 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Evan Gattis hit a go-ahead grand slam, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa also went deep and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 7-3 on a balmy Friday night for their ninth consecutive win.

Charlie Morton (8-1) overcame another bout of wildness, at one point walking three straight batters, to last six innings for Houston. He allowed four hits and four walks while striking out nine.

Brad Peacock, Tony Sipp and Collin McHugh each contributed a scoreless inning in relief.

Jakob Junis (5-7) served up all three Houston homers, getting tagged for six runs on seven hits and a walk. It was his fourth straight loss, his last win coming against the New York Yankees on May 18.

All but one of the Astros’ wins during their streak has come on the road.

The Royals tried to give Junis some support early, jumping ahead 2-0 in the third on a two-out double by Mike Moustakas. It was a buoying at-bat considering the meek-hitting Kansas City lineup managed a single run in getting swept by Cincinnati during a two-game set this week.

It appeared the lead just might stand, too. Junis retired the first 13 batters he faced.

Bregman changed all that with his ninth homer of the season, a shot that just skirted the left-field foul pole. Correa added his 455-foot home run two batters later to tie the game.

Morton’s wildness allowed the Royals to regain the lead in the fifth, but Junis coughed it back up in the sixth. He gave up three straight oneout singles to load the bases for Gattis, whose 405-foot grand slam was the second of his career and third by the Astros this season.

TWINS 6, INDIANS 3

Corey Kluber had a rare rocky performance, lasting just five innings and losing for the first time in seven starts as Kyle Gibson outpitched the Cy Young winner and Brian Dozier hit a two-run homer to lead the Minnesota Twins to a win over the Cleveland Indians. Kluber (10-3) allowed a homer on his fourth pitch of the game to Eddie Rosario and was pulled after throwing just 65 pitches by manager Terry Francona. It was the shortest outing this season for the All-Star, who came in 5-0 with a 0.76 ERA against AL Central teams and was riding several other impressive streaks.

YANKEES 5, RAYS 0

Jonathan Loaisiga pitched three-hit ball over five impressive innings to win his major league debut, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays. Didi Gregorius homered off ex-Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, and Gary Sanchez broke out of a long slump with a three-run double in the eighth. Giancarlo Stanton had a sacrifice fly for New York, which improved the best record in the majors to 45-20. Jonathan Holder, David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Adam Warren each worked an inning to finish

TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 3

John Hicks homered and scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth inning as the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox. Victor Martinez had a two-run double to help the Tigers improve to 4-0 at Guaranteed Rate Field this season, and 6-1 overall against the White Sox. James McCann had three hits. Buck Farmer (2-3) got one out in the seventh for the win and Alex Wilson pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the eighth.

PIRATES 3, REDS 2

Chad Kuhl pitched six solid innings to win for the first time in more than a month, and the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Cincinnati Reds and Matt Harvey. Kuhl (54) gave up two runs, one earned, and six hits while striking out six and walking three. It was his first win since May 6 at Milwaukee, a span of seven starts, though Kuhl allowed no more than three runs in any of his previous four outings. The Pirates pulled ahead 3-2 in the sixth on consecutive sacrifice flies by Starling Marte and Colin Moran off reliever Michael Lorenzen. The runs were charged to Harvey (1-5), who was lifted after giving up back-to-back singles to pinch-hitter Elias Diaz and Josh Harrison to start the inning.

CUBS 13, CARDINALS 5

Kris Bryant ended a 24-game homerless drought, the longest of his career, and Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber also went deep as the Chicago Cubs routed the St. Louis Cardinals. Bryant drilled a 448-foot, two-run shot to left field off an ineffective Michael Wacha in the third inning for his first home run since May 14. The 2016 NL MVP capped a six-run fifth with an RBI single and drove in another run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. His four RBIs were a season high. Jon Lester ran his scoreless streak to 17 innings before giving up a solo home run to Marcell Ozuna in the fourth as the Cubs won for the first time in four tries at Busch Stadium this season. Lester (8-2) allowed two runs in six innings to earn his fourth straight win.

PADRES 9, BRAVES 3

Hunter Renfroe hit a go-ahead, two-run single in San Diego’s five-run seventh inning, Freddy Galvis had a three-run homer and went 5 for 5, and the Padres beat the Atlanta Braves. Freddie Freeman’s 15th homer gave Atlanta a 3-2 lead in the fifth. Jose Pirela hit a two-run homer for San Diego in the first. Sam Freeman (1-3) gave up three runs in the seventh.

BREWERS 13, PHILLIES 2

Brent Suter drove in two runs and pitched a season-high seven innings, Christian Yelich, Hernan Perez and Jesus Aguilar homered and the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers beat Jake Arrieta and the Philadelphia Phillies. Suter (7-4) allowed one run on six hits to win his fifth start in the last six, including a 12-3 victory over the Phillies six days ago. He pushed the Brewers to 43-27 for the best record in the NL. Milwaukee has scored 40 runs against the Phillies in four games, including 27 in three at Citizens Bank Park. Philadelphia has 13 in that span. INTERLEAGUE

BLUE JAYS 6, NATIONALS 5

Yangervis Solarte homered from both sides of the plate, Devon Travis also connected and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Washington Nationals, their fifth straight home victory. Washington has lost five of seven on the road. Justin Smoak broke a 3-3 tie with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and Solarte, batting left-handed, followed with a two-run shot off right-hander Justin Miller. Solarte was batting right-handed when he homered in Toronto’s three-run third, a solo blast off left-hander Gio Gonzalez (6-3).

MARLINS 2, ORIOLES 0

Jose Urena pitched eight innings of three-hit ball, Lewis Brinson tripled twice and the Miami Marlins beat Baltimore to stretch the Orioles’ losing streak to a season-high eight games. In an interleague matchup between two offensively challenged last-place teams, the Marlins scratched out a couple of runs against Kevin Gausman (3-6) for their fourth win in five games. It’s Baltimore’s longest skid since a nine-game slide in July 2011. The Orioles have lost 15 of 17 overall and 10 straight at home, scoring only 14 runs.

ROCKIES 9, RANGERS 5

Ian Desmond homered twice and Trevor Story had a pair of RBI hits in his first game near home as the Colorado Rockies overcame a quick five-run deficit to beat the Texas Rangers in the opener of an interleague series. It was Desmond’s first game in Texas since the converted shortstop was an All-Star center fielder in his only season with the Rangers in 2016.