Slam gives Astros 9th straight victory
Houston Astros manager AJ Hinch watched his team load the bases in front of hot-hitting Evan Gattis, and all he wanted was the big designated hitter to send a drive to the outfield and keep the line moving.
Hinch had to settle for one that cleared the fence.
Gattis crushed a goahead grand slam in the sixth inning Friday night, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa also went deep, and the visiting Astros rolled past the Kansas City Royals 7-3 for their ninth straight win.
“We’re shaking hands after a lot of his at-bats,” Hinch said of Gattis, who has five homers in the first eight games of the Astros’ road trip, including three against the A’s Tuesday and Wednesday. “When guys are hot, there’s a ton of energy and a ton of fun.”
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.
“I think our guys are just methodically going through their days,” Hinch said. “This is a long road trip and it’s a lot more fun when you’re winning.”
The Royals, meanwhile, have lost four straight and 10 of 11. Yankees 5, Rays 0: Jonathan Loaisiga pitched three-hit ball over five impressive innings to win his major-league debut for host New York. Loaisiga, 23, was called up from Double-A Trenton to fill in for injured starter Masahiro Tanaka. Didi Gregorius homered off exYankee Nathan Eovaldi, and Gary Sanchez broke out of a long slump with a three-run double in the eighth. 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 Chicago routed host St. Louis.
Brewers 13, Phillies 2: Brent Suter drove in two runs and pitched a season-high seven innings as host Milwaukee beat Jake Arrieta. Suter allowed one run on six hits to win his fifth start in the last six for the NL-leading Brewers. Milwaukee has scored 40 runs against the Phillies in four games. Philadelphia has 13 in that span. Arrieta (5-5) gave up eight runs — four earned — on in 31⁄3 innings.
Twins 6, Indians 3: Corey Kluber had a rare rocky performance, lasting just five innings at home and losing for the first time in seven starts as Minnesota’s Kyle Gibson outpitched the Cy Young winner. Kluber (10-3) allowed a homer on his fourth pitch of the game, to Eddie Rosario, and was pulled after 65 pitches. 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. Gibson limited the Indians to one run and three hits in seven innings. Diamondbacks 7, Mets 3: Paul Goldschmidt and Daniel Descalso homered, Zack Godley pitched effectively into the seventh inning and host Arizona won for the seventh time in eight games. Mariners 7, Red Sox 6: Denard Span’s pinch-hit double in the eighth inning scored two to cap host Seattle’s comeback. Blue Jays 6, Nationals 5: Yangervis Solarte homered from both sides of the plate as Toronto got its fifth straight home victory.
Rockies 9, Rangers 5: Ian Desmond homered twice and Trevor Story, playing 15 minutes from where he grew up, had a pair of RBI hits for visiting Colorado. Jurickson Profar and Joey Gallo hit two-run homers in the first to give the Rangers a 5-0 lead that wouldn’t last.
Padres 9, Braves 3: Hunter Renfroe hit a go-ahead, tworun single in a five-run seventh inning and Freddy Galvis had a three-run homer and went 5-for-5 for visiting San Diego.
Pirates 3, Reds 2: Chad Kuhl pitched six solid innings to win for the first time in more than a month for host Pittsburgh. Matt Harvey (1-5) allowed three runs on four hits and is 1-3 with a 5.09 ERA since being traded from the Mets.
Tigers 4, White Sox 3: John Hicks homered and scored the go-ahead run on a fielder’s choice in the eighth inning for visiting Detroit.
Marlins 2, Orioles 0: Jose Urena pitched eight innings of three-hit ball and Lewis Brinson tripled twice as visiting Miami stretched Baltimore’s losing streak to eight games.