Peacock, Gurriel lead Astros over White Sox

Eds: Astros 4, White Sox 3. Updates.

With AP Photos.

HOUSTON (AP) — Yuli Gurriel had three hits, including a two-run double, Brad Peacock threw six solid innings and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to six games with a 4-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

Peacock (12-2) allowed two runs on one hit with six strikeouts. The right-hander continues to throw well, allowing two runs or fewer in each of his last five starts.

After Yoan Moncada put the White Sox up 2-1 in the top of the fourth with a two-run homer, Gurriel answered with his two-run hit in the bottom half of the inning.

Jose Altuve upped Houston’s lead to 4-2 with an RBI single in the seventh, but Yolmer Sanchez cut the lead to one with an RBI double in the eighth.

Joe Musgrove struck out Moncada with the tying run on second to end the eighth and struck out Omar Narvaez with the tying run on second to end the game for his second save.

James Shields (4-7) allowed three runs on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Shields has given up at least three runs in five of his last six starts.

Cardinals 9, Reds 2

CINCINNATI—Dexter Fowler homered for the third straight game while Matt Carpenter and Paul DeJong also homered as the St. Louis Cardinals gained ground in their National League playoff push with a 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

Tommy Pham finished with two doubles, a single and two RBIs and Yadier Molina added a two-run double as the third-place Cardinals (79-72) gained a game on Colorado in the wild-card race.

Rookie right-hander Luke Weaver retired 10 straight batters in one stretch on the way to his seventh straight winning start, the major leagues’ longest active streak and the longest by a Cardinals pitcher this season. The 24-year-old rookie allowed five hits and two runs with seven strikeouts in five inning.

Weaver (7-1) has fanned seven or more batters in each of his last seven starts. Relievers Zach Duke, Seung Hwan Oh, Sandy Alcantara and Sam Tuivailala teamed up to retire the final 12 Reds batters.

Carpenter led off the game with his 21st homer. Fowler followed Pham’s RBI double in the third with a two-run shot into the right field seats. It was his career-high 18th homer of the season. DeJong added his team-high 24th, the Cardinals’ second set of back-to-back homers in two nights.

The Reds broke up Weaver’s shutout bid with a two-run fifth. Patrick Kivlehan’s drove in Jose Peraza from first with a double and scored on Jesse Winker’s single.

Rookie Davis (1-3) gave up all three homers and five runs on five hits with three strikeouts in three innings.

Yankees 11, Twins 3

NEW YORK—Aaron Judge hit his AL-leading 45th home run and topped 100 RBIs, Didi Gregorius surpassed Derek Jeter for the most home runs by a Yankees shortstop and New York beat the Minnesota Twins 11-3 Wednesday for a three-game sweep.

The game was briefly halted in the fifth inning when a foul ball down the third-base line off the bat of Todd Frazier struck a young girl, who was carried out of the stands, given first aid and taken to a hospital. The protective netting at Yankee Stadium ends at the home plate side of each dugout, and the team said in July it is “seriously exploring” extending the netting for 2018.

Frazier knelt down and covered his head, and many other Yankees and Twins watched in stunned silence as the fan was helped. The Yankees said they weren’t allowed to provide more information on her condition.

The Yankees, who have won 10 of 12, began the day three games behind AL East-leading Boston. They opened a seven-game advantage over the Twins for the top AL wild card with 10 games remaining.

Giants 4, Rockies 0

SAN FRANCISCO—Colorado starter Tyler Chatwood dug himself an early hole against the Giants and now the Rockies’ lead for the second NL wild card is in jeopardy after a 4-0 loss to last-place San Francisco on Wednesday, the club’s third straight defeat.

Joe Panik hit a one-out triple in the first off Chatwood (8-13) and immediately scored on Denard Span’s sacrifice fly, then Panik doubled in the third and came home on Buster Posey’s sacrifice fly.

The Rockies’ wild-card advantage had been trimmed to one game by the Brewers to begin the day. Milwaukee was playing a night game at Pittsburgh.

Brandon Crawford hit a solo homer in the third to back Matt Moore (6-14), who earned his first win against Colorado after going 0-2 over his first three outings of the year.

After two straight 4-3, walkoff setbacks, the Rockies lost for the fifth time in seven games overall following a six-game winning streak. Colorado dropped a fifth straight at AT&T Park for its longest skid at the waterfront ballpark since losing nine in a row from Aug. 11, 2012-April 10, 2013.

Marlins 9, Mets 2

MIAMI—Giancarlo Stanton hit his major league-leading 56th homer and drove in three runs as the Miami Marlins completed a three-game sweep of the New York Mets by winning 9-2 Wednesday.

Stanton connected in the eighth inning for his 30th home run since the All-Star break. The Marlins have 10 games left.

Stanton also hit a run-scoring single and has 120 RBIs. He made a fine catch, too, against the right field fence to rob Asdrubal Cabrera.

A.J. Ellis and Miguel Rojas hit backto-back homers off Mets reliever Erik Goeddel to start the eighth. With one out, Stanton pulled a 1-1 breaking pitch over the left field fence for a two-run homer.

Jose Urena (14-6) allowed two runs in eight innings. The Marlins finished the season 12-7 against the Mets and swept their NL East rivals for the first time since May 2014.

Athletics 3, Tigers 2

DETROIT—Daniel Mengden pitched seven scoreless innings, and Marcus Semien homered and drove in three runs, leading the Oakland Athletics to a 3-2 win and three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday.

Mengden (2-1) allowed seven hits and struck out four, extending his scoreless streak to 16 1/3 innings and helping the A’s to their fourth consecutive win. The 24-year-old right-hander missed the first two months of the season after undergoing offseason foot surgery and was making his fifth major league start this year.

Liam Hendriks got the final two outs in the ninth to earn his first save.

Anibal Sanchez (3-5) pitched well in a losing effort, allowing three hits and one run in six innings. He struck out eight and walked three.

Semien’s double in the third inning brought home Bruce Maxwell, who led off with a double. His two-run homer in the seventh put the A’s up 3-0.

Mengden worked out of a few jams. He got Nick Castellanos to fly out to deep right center with two out and runners on the corners in the third.

In the fifth, after allowing two-out singles to Alex Presley and Jeimer Candelario, Mengden induced another deep flyout from Miguel Cabrera.

Royals 15, Blue Jays 5

TORONTO—Mike Moustakas hit his 37th home run of the season, breaking Steve Balboni’s Royals record, Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield also connected and Kansas City routed the Toronto Blue Jays 15-5 on Wednesday night.

Rookie right-hander Jakob Junis (8-2) allowed four runs, two earned, in 6 1/3 innings, improving to 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA over his past eight starts.

Moustakas went 3 for 4 and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle. He eclipsed Balboni’s 1985 record with a solo blast to right off Carlos Ramirez in the sixth.

Merrifield also had three hits and drove in a pair of runs as the Royals snapped a three-game losing streak and won for the second time in their past seven.

Kansas City came within a run of matching its season high. The Royals scored 16 against Detroit twice within a seven-day span in late July.

Leading 1-0, the Royals exploded for eight runs and seven hits in the second, chasing Blue Jays left-hander Brett Anderson and sending 12 batters to the plate. Alcides Escobar had a two-run single, Merrifield hit an RBI single, Eric Hosmer ended Anderson’s night with a two-run double, and Perez greeted reliever Luis Santos with his 26th home run, a two-run drive to left.