Astros historic and immaculate
Two Houston pitchers are perfect
Houston starter Luis Garcia and reliever Phil Maton each threw an immaculate inning — nine pitches, three strikeouts — after a big opening offensive outburst for the visiting Astros.
Martín Maldonado had a two-run double in Houston’s six-run first on manager Dusty Baker’s 73rd birthday, and was behind the plate for all the strikeouts — 14 in all — as they wrapped up their seventh consecutive series victory with a 9-2 win against the host Texas Rangers.
Garcia (4-5) had a span of five consecutive strikeouts that began with his immaculate second inning — only nine pitches to strike out Nathaniel Lowe, Ezequiel Duran and Brad Miller.
Those were the first three batters Maton faced after replacing Garcia to start the seventh. And Maton also recorded a nine-pitch, threestrikeout inning against them.
Astros and Rangers officials said it was the first time in MLB history to have two nine-pitch, three-strikeout innings in the same game.
Other games
Brewers 10, Mets 2:
Corbin Burnes went six innings giving up two runs in the win in New York.
Braves 8, Nationals 2:
Austin Riley homered twice and visiting Atlanta won its 14th game in a row.
Phillies 3, Marlins 1: Garrett Stubbs hit a three-run homer with two out in the ninth, sending Philadelphia past visiting Miami.
Diamondbacks 7, Reds 4: Zac Gallen pitched seven effective innings, and host Arizona used a four-run eighth inning to top Cincinnati.
Royals 3, Giants 2: Whit Merrifield broke a 2-2 tie with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly and visiting Kansas City edged San Francisco to avoid a three-game sweep.
Yankees 4, Rays 1: Aaron Judge hit his major leagueleading 25th home run and New York beat visiting Tampa Bay for its 13th consecutive win at home.
Blue Jays 7, Orioles 6: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his 16th homer, then singled home the winning run in the 10th that lifted Toronto past visiting Baltimore.
White Sox 13, Tigers 0: Yoán Moncada had five hits and five RBIs, including a runscoring single against Kody Clemens, and visiting Chicago beat Detroit for a three-game series sweep.
Twins 5, Mariners 0: Ryan Jeffers hit an RBI single off the center-field wall to break a scoreless tie in the seventh and visiting Minnesota went on to beat Seattle.
Red Sox 10, Athletics 1: Alex Verdugo went 3 for 5 with a homer and four RBIs and Rafael Devers also hit a homer as Boston beat visiting Oakland.