Astros match franchise record with 12th straight win

HOUSTON — Alex Bregman hit a game-ending two-run double with one out in the ninth inning and the Houston Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-4 Tuesday night to match a franchise record with their 12th straight win.

Houston trailed 4-0 after three innings but cut the lead to one entering the ninth.

Sergio Romo (1-2) walked Marwin Gonzalez to start the ninth, then allowed a single to Max Stassi. Tony Kemp’s sacrifice bunt moved both runners up, and Houston loaded the bases when George Springer reached on interference by catcher Wilson Ramos.

Bregman then drove a ball that bounced off the wall in left-center. He lifted both arms as he trotted into second base, and teammates mobbed him in the infield.

Collin McHugh (2-0) struck out two in a scoreless ninth for the win on a night Gerrit Cole walked a career-high five to help the Rays build the early lead.

Houston also won 12 straight in 2004 and 1999. The Astros will go for No. 13 on Tuesday with ace Justin Verlander on the mound.

Romo was the seventh pitcher the Rays used as they employed a reliever as a starter for the 16th time in 30 games.

Cole walked Jake Bauers with one out in the first before Ramos launched a fastball into the seats in right field to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead.

Matt Duffy drew a walk with one out in the third, stole second base and took third on an error by catcher Brian McCann. Cole, who hadn’t walked more than three in a game this season, walked Bauers and Ramos to load the bases. A two-out single by Joey Wendle came next to score two and push the lead to 4-0.

Cole settled down after that, retiring 13 of his final 14 batters, with Tampa Bay’s only baserunner coming on a walk by Carlos Gomez with one out in the seventh. He allowed three hits and four runs in seven innings.

Jose Altuve, who finished with three hits, singled with one out in the fourth, and Carlos Correa followed with a double. Houston got within 4-1 on a groundball single by

Yuli Gurriel which scored Altuve. The Astros made it 4-2 when Correa scored on a sacrifice fly by Josh Reddick.

Altuve doubled and reached third on an error by Johnny Field to start Houston’s sixth. A one-out single by Gurriel scored Altuve to cut the lead to 4-3. Gonzalez singled with two outs, but Diego Castillo came in and retired pinch-hitter Evan Gattis to end the inning.

Houston got a single by Altuve with no outs in the eighth inning. He stole second base and advanced to third on an error by Ramos, but Chaz Roe retired the next three Astros to leave Altuve stranded.

INDIANS 6, WHITE SOX 2 Trevor Bauer shut out Chicago for seven innings before a rain delay ended his night, and Jason Kipnis homered to lead the Cleveland Indians to a win over the sliding and sloppy White Sox. Bauer (6-5) allowed just three hits, struck out eight and was in line to potentially pitch his first shutout. However, the game was halted by rain in the seventh inning for 35 minutes, and manager Terry Francona pulled the right-hander following the delay and 100 pitches. Roberto Perez drove in two runs off Dylan Covey (3-2) as Cleveland improved to 15-4 in its last 19 home games against Chicago. The White Sox committed three errors — one by Covey — in the first three innings, lost their fifth straight and dropped a season-high 23 games under .500. Matt Davidson homered in the ninth for Chicago. Chicago’s hitters couldn’t get anything going against Bauer, who struck out 12 in a tough loss against the White Sox and Covey last week. Bauer was bidding to tie a club record held by two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber with his fifth consecutive game of at least 10 strikeouts. Bauer got to eight, but was denied any more because of a line of storms off Lake Erie and Francona’s decision not to push him further. Bauer has thrown at least 100 pitches in all 16 starts this season. Perez’s two-run, ground-rule double highlighted Cleveland’s three-run second inning, which was set up by Chicago second baseman Yoan Moncada’s fielding error. The Indians loaded the

bases on two singles and the error before Perez, who came in batting .100 (7 for 70) against righthanders, hit a shot to right that got wedged in the outfield wall’s padding.

RANGERS 6, ROYALS 3 Bartolo Colon earned his 244th win, passing Hall of Famer Juan Marichal for the most by a pitcher born in the Dominican Republic, and the Texas Rangers beat the skidding Kansas City Royals. Adrian Beltre hit a three-run homer for the Rangers, who won their third straight game. The 45-year-old Colon (4-4) allowed three runs and nine hits in six innings to break a tie with Marichal on the career wins chart. Only right-hander Dennis Martinez has more victories among pitchers from Latin America. Martinez, a native of Nicaragua, won 245 games in the majors. The Royals have lost seven straight and 13 of 14. They’ve dropped 27 of 37 games at Kauffman Stadium, the worst home record in the majors. Kansas City is 2-14 in June, having been outscored 95-35. Colon was 1-3 with a 9.51 ERA in his five previous starts. Kansas City loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but the portly and popular righthander affectionately nicknamed Big Sexy got out of the inning when Hunter Dozier grounded into a double play. Keona Kela tossed a spotless ninth for his 16th save in 16 chances. Beltre homered in the third off Ian Kennedy, with Elvis Andrus and Nomar Mazara aboard, to give the Rangers a 5-0 advantage. Mazara had three hits. Kennedy (1-7) is 1-13 in his last 28 home starts. He is winless in 13 starts since an April 7 victory at Cleveland. The right-hander gave up a home run to Shin-Soo Choo on his fourth pitch, a drive that just cleared the Royals’ right-field bullpen fence. Choo reached base five times, including a double and three walks. Kennedy yielded five runs on four hits, two of them home runs, and three walks. Adalberto Mondesi had a run-producing double in the Kansas City third and scored on Mike Moustakas’ sacrifice fly. Rosel Herrera had a run-scoring triple in the fourth for his first extra-base hit and RBI, trimming the lead to 5-3. Delino DeShields’ bunt single in the eighth scored Jurickson Profar for the final Texas run.

INTERLEAGUE

NATIONALS 5-2, YANKEES 3-4 Aaron Hicks’ go-ahead two-run homer sparked chants of “Let’s go, Yankees!” on the road and helped New York beat Washington in the second game of an unusual semi-doubleheader, after pinch-hitter Juan Soto’s tiebreaking two-run shot for the Nationals won the opener. These games originally were scheduled more than a month ago, and Game 1 resumed after being suspended because of rain in the middle of the sixth — so technically, Soto managed to homer in a game played before he made his major league debut. Huh? The 19-year-old Soto was called up from the minors for the first time five days after Game 1 started on May 15; it picked back up at 3-all and the Nationals about to bat in the bottom of the sixth. After Bryce Harper — who had a full beard back on May 15, when the game began, but was clean-shaven this time — struck out, and Anthony Rendon singled, Soto drove a 97 mph fastball from Chad Green (4-1) to the back of the second deck in right field. “I thought he had a good chance to hit the ball hard,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “That was hard.” It was Soto’s sixth homer since he was brought up from Double-A Harrisburg on May 20 — and second against the Yankees. Soto stood and admired this one before beginning his trot around the bases. “A pitch right in his hot zone. Soto got us again,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Obviously a really good looking player. Two pretty big shots he’s hit against us.” Soto also was involved in a double play while playing left in the seventh. Didi Gregorius lined to Soto, and he lobbed the ball to shortstop Trea Turner, who sprinted to second base to double off Gary Sanchez. Soto’s stats — and all others from Game 1 — will count as being part of the originally scheduled game on May 15, but Soto’s official debut will still be considered to have happened on the actual date it happened, according to the Nationals, citing the Elias Sports Bureau. “I wish he was climbing the ladder more routinely. He should be in about Double-A now,” Boone said. “What can you say? Nineteen and obviously doing really well.” Wander Suero (1-0) got the win for 1 1-3 scoreless innings — one inning on May 15, and one out on Monday. Sean Doolittle struck out Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton and got Gary Sanchez to fly out to center in the ninth for his 18th save. The Nationals had lost five of six games entering the day. Game 2, which was completely rained out May 16, began a half-hour after Game 1 finished, and Washington led 2-1 before Hicks’ ninth homer, which came in the fifth against Erick Fedde (0-2) and got plenty of Yankees fans in the sellout crowd of 42,723 excited — and loud. The rookie righty lost to the Yankees for the second time in less than a week, giving up three runs in 51/3 innings this time. Stanton provided some cushion with an RBI double off Sammy Solis in the seventh on a day the Nationals added relief help by acquiring Kelvin Herrera in a trade with the Kansas City Royals. Sonny Gray (5-4) allowed two runs in five-plus innings, with Mark Reynolds driving in both, via a groundout in the second and a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Washington put runners on the corners with no outs in the sixth against Gray, but Jonathan Holder came on in relief and got three quick outs, striking out Reynolds and pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy before getting Pedro Severino to pop out. In the ninth, Aroldis Chapman pitched around Murphy’s double and a walk for his 21st save, getting Turner to fly out to a backpedaling right fielder Aaron Judge to end it.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PHILLIES 6, CARDINALS 5 Left fielder Marcell Ozuna dived for and missed Aaron Altherr’s two-run double with two outs in the 10th inning, allowing the Philadelphia Phillies to rally for a win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Tommy Pham hit a solo homer in the top of the 10th, one inning after a wild pitch on a strikeout kept the game going. But the Phillies rallied. Rhys Hoskins hit a bloop single to start the bottom of the 10th off Matt Bowman (0-2). Odubel Herrera dived headfirst into first to seemingly beat out an infield single, but the play was overturned by a video review. After Carlos Santana was intentionally walked, Bowman struck out Jesmuel Valentin. Altherr then hit a sinking liner that appeared to skip off Ozuna’s glove before bouncing to the wall. On a day former closer Hector Neris was sent to the minors, Phillies manager Gabe Kapler’s aggressive use of the bullpen nearly cost him. Seranthony Dominguez — the team’s best reliever — wasn’t available after pitching 21/3 innings in the previous two games. So Kapler turned to Victor Arano and Adam Morgan in the ninth to protect a 4-2 lead. Neither pitcher has ever earned a save. Yadier Molina hit a one-out single in the ninth off Arano, and Jedd Gyorko followed with a double. Arano struck out Harrison Bader and fanned Yairo Munoz, but Munoz reached when catcher Andrew Knapp failed to block the wild pitch and a run scored. Morgan came in and allowed a tying single to Kolten Wong. Pham hit a deep drive off Jake Thompson (1-1) for his 11th homer. Matt Carpenter and Yadier Molina also hit solo homers for St. Louis. Herrera hit a three-run homer for Philadelphia. The Phillies’ bullpen wasted a strong start from Nick Pivetta. He had a career-high 13 strikeouts, allowing two runs and four hits in 71/3 innings in his best outing since May 21. Pivetta lost his previous four starts, posting a 7.11 ERA in those games. Pivetta left after Carpenter hit a double high off the fence in right to put runners at second and third. Right fielder Nick Williams exited with a bloody face after the ball hit him on the carom. Edubray Ramos entered and struck out Pham and Jose Martinez swinging at sliders. The Phillies have won six of eight games while the Cardinals have lost six of eight. Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas gave up four runs and six hits in five innings. PIRATES 1, BREWERS 0 Trevor Williams pitched one-hit ball over seven innings and two Pittsburgh Pirates relievers closed out a two-hitter in a victory over the Milwaukee Brewers. Williams (6-4) struck out seven and walked two for his first victory in a month. Jordy Mercer drove in the lone run with a seventh-inning double, and the Pirates won for the fourth time in five games. The Brewers entered the day leading the NL Central but suffered their third straight loss. The only hit off Williams was a single by Jonathan Villar with two outs in the fifth. The hit followed a walk to Hernan Perez, and the duo executed a double steal before Erik Kratz struck out to end the inning. Williams had gone 0-2 in five starts since beating the Chicago White Sox on May 15. Kyle Crick pitched a perfect eighth inning for Pittsburgh. Christian Yelich singled off closer Felipe Vazquez to open the ninth, ending a string of 13 straight Brewers retired. Vazquez retired the next three hitters for his 14th save in 18 opportunities. Francisco Cervelli drew a oneout walk in the Pirates’ seventh and advanced to third on Josh Bell’s single. Josh Hader relieved Jhoulys Chacin and struck out Gregory Polanco, but Mercer followed by doubling down the leftfield line to score Cervelli. METS 12, ROCKIES 2 Brandon Nimmo homered twice during a huge night at the plate, including an inside-the-park shot to begin the game, and the New York Mets finally gave Jacob deGrom some run support in a victory over the Colorado Rockies. Wilmer Flores and Devin Mesoraco also went deep for New York, which won its their third straight. Nimmo had four hits and set a career high with four RBIs — one night after his go-ahead, two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning staved off defeat for the Mets and rallied them to a win at Arizona. After pitching in terrible luck for weeks as New York’s hitters slumped, deGrom (5-2) got some help at last.