AROUND THE HORN
Yankees: Aaron Judge homered twice to run his long-ball streak to three straight games, added the tying RBI in the seventh inning and helped the Yankees rally past the Royals 6-4 on Sunday in Kansas City, Missouri, for their ninth straight win. Judge has hit five home runs in his last five games and eight this season. Clarke Schmidt (2-2) pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Yankees starter Luis Severino. Aroldis Chapman left the tying run on base in the ninth inning to earn his sixth save on the year and 20th in a row. The Yankees, riding the longest winning streak in the majors, improved to 16-6. It’s only the fourth time since 1959 that the 27-time World Series champs have won at least 16 of their first 22 games. The Royals have lost eight of their last 10.
Angels: Mike Trout homered, doubled and scored three runs, Michael Lorenzen pitched into the ninth and the Angels held off the host White Sox 6-5 for their seventh win in eight games. Shohei Ohtani had an RBI as the Angels’ designated hitter. The two-way AL MVP went 0-for-3 and exited in the ninth because of tightness in his right groin. Manager Joe Maddon said Ohtani might have tweaked his groin running to first in the seventh on a grounder back to pitcher Jose Ruiz that the White Sox turned into a double play. Through a translator Ohtani said, “I was taken out for safety reasons. I was perfectly OK with it.” The Japanese-born star said he expects to play Monday in the series finale. Trout walked in three other plate appearances. Andrew Velazquez and Jo Adell each doubled in a run and Anthony Rendon each had an RBI as the Angels took a 6-0 lead. Lorenzen (3-1) took a bid for his first career complete game into the ninth before the White Sox scored five times in a wild finish. Ryan Tepera, the
Angels’ third pitcher of the inning, retired Gavin Sheets on a bases-loaded grounder for the final out. Lorenzen allowed three runs and nine hits, while walking two and striking two in 8 ⅓. The White Sox have lost 11 of 13. Guardians: Triston McKenzie threw 6 ⅓ scoreless innings and the Guardians beat the A’s 7-3 to complete their first sweep in Oakland in 22 years. Franmil Reyes, mired in a 1-for-27 slump entering the day, had a two-run single in the third when the Guardians scored four times to take control at 5-0. Andres Gimenez had two hits and an RBI, finishing 6-for-12 with six RBIs in the three-game series. McKenzie (1-2) held the A’s to three hits, struck out seven and walked one as the Guardians swept a series in Oakland for the first time since April 10-12, 2000.
Blue Jays: Santiago Espinal drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the seventh, Bo Bichette added a two-run HR and the Blue Jays beat the visiting Astros 3-2. Kevin Gausman (2-1) struck out a season-high 10 over seven innings to win his second straight decision as the Jays took two of three from the Astros. The Jays have won nine of 12. Gausman allowed two runs and six hits. He has not walked a batter in 31 ⅔ innings this season. According to MLB Stats, Gausman is the first pitcher since Cy Young in 1906 to not walk a batter or allow a HR in five straight starts to begin a season (minimum 20 innings pitched).
Dodgers: Three-time NL Cy Young winner and former MVP Clayton Kershaw recorded the 2,697th regular-season strikeout of his career Saturday in the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to the Tigers in Los Angeles, breaking a Dodgers record that Hall of Famer Don Sutton held across five decades. Kershaw, 34, now leads the Dodgers with 2,700 strikeouts.