Houston’s Framber Valdez pitches a 2-hit complete game
OAKLAND, Calif. — Yordan Álvarez hit a pair of no-doubt homers, Framber Valdez pitched a two-hitter for a rare complete game and the Houston Astros beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Monday.
After being held to five runs the previous four games, the Astros’ bats woke up against Oakland ace Paul Blackburn (5-1).
Álvarez hit a 469-foot drive to give Houston its first run in the fourth against Blackburn and added a 444-foot shot to nearly the same spot in the eighth off A.J. Puk for his 14th homer of the season.
Jose Altuve also went deep with a two-run homer in the fifth that was the 174th of his career, tied with George Springer for fifth most ever by a Houston player.
That was more than enough support for Valdez (5-2), who threw just the seventh nine-inning complete game in the majors this season. He struck out seven, walked three and threw 114 pitches in the longest outing in his five-year career.
The A’s have lost seven of 10 and trail the Astros by 12 games in the AL West, their biggest deficit in the division since being 12 back on June 16, 2019.
Giants 5, Phillies 4, 10 innings PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Curt Casali hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning to put San Francisco over Philadelphia in a long-ball contest that extended the Phillies’ losing streak to four.
Wilmer Flores and Evan Longoria also homered for the Giants. Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos and Rhys Hoskins went deep for the Phillies, who lost in extra innings for the second straight day.
Philadelphia has lost 11 of 15 games and at 21-28 is seven games under .500 for the first time since the final day of 2017.
Andrew Bellatti (1-1) got the loss. Dominic Leone (3-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Giants for the win and Camilo Doval was credited with the save.
Rockies 7, Marlins 1
DENVER — Pinch-hitter Yonathan Daza doubled to drive in three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, helping Colorado rally past Miami.
The game also included the longest home run of the season in the MLB, a 496-foot shot in the second inning from Miami’s Jesús Sánchez. It reached the third deck concourse at Coors Field.
Daza finished with four RBIs after adding a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. Garrett Hampson had a two-run triple, Brendan
Rodgers singled in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend his career-long hitting streak to 17 games and Rockies first baseman Connor Joe reached base safely in his 26th straight game with a triple in the sixth inning.
Colorado starter Ryan Feltner (1-1) got his first big-league win, going seven innings and allowing four hits — including Sánchez’s towering drive — while striking out six and walking one.
Miami starter Pablo López kept the Rockies in check through six scoreless innings, and Cole Sulser (0-2) came on in relief to start the seventh.
Tigers 7, Twins 5
DETROIT — Jonathan Schoop became the third player from Curaçao with 1,000 major league
hits and finished a home run shy of the cycle to help Detroit beat Minnesota in the opener of a five-game series.
Schoop, a 30-year-old infielder in his 10th big league season, singled in the third inning, doubled in the fifth for his 1,000th hit and tripled leading off the seventh as part of a 3-for-5 afternoon. He joined Andruw Jones (1,933) and Andrelton Simmons (1,163 through Sunday) as players from Curaçao with 1,000 hits,
Rookie Spencer Torkelson, another slumping Tigers player, had his first three-hit game with two singled and a double. His seventh-inning RBI infield single off Joe Smith (0-1) put the Tigers ahead 5-4 and Willi Castro followed with another-run scoring single.
Gio Urshela cut the deficit with an RBI double in the eighth against Alex Lange, and Javier Báez had a run-scoring single in the bottom half to restore a two-run lead.
Detroit overcame a 3-1 deficit and scored more than four runs for the first time since May 15.
Joe Jiménez (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of onehit relief. Gregory Soto got his ninth save in 10 chances.
Cardinals 6, Padres 3
ST. LOUIS — Nolan Gorman hit a go-ahead, two-run homer, rookie Andre Pallante got his first big league win in his 17th appearance and St. Louis beat San Diego.
Paul Goldschmidt also hit tworun homer for the Cardinals. He has a 21-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in a career-high 35 consecutive games, the longest streak in the major leagues this season.
Gorman, a 22-year-old who was the 19th overall pick in the 2018 amateur draft, made his major-league debut on May 20 and hit his first home run Saturday off Milwaukee’s Adrian Houser. On Monday, Gorman homered on a changeup from Nick Martinez (2-3) for a 2-1 lead in the third inning, had his second three-hit game and is batting .387.
Pallante allowed one run and five hits over 3 1/3 innings with a career-high five strikeouts and no walks.
Martinez gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings. Brewers 7, Cubs 6, Game 1 CHICAGO — Luis Urías lined three-run homer into the basket in left-center to break a seventh-inning tie, and Milwaukee held on to beat Chicago in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
With the score 4-4, Mike Brosseau singled off Daniel Norris (0-3) with two outs and Kolten Wong walked. Urías hit a 3-2 slider for a drive that barely made it over the ivy, his fifth homer this season.
Milwaukee trailed 4-2 before Tyrone Taylor’s two-run homer in the sixth off Matt Swarmer tied the game. Jace Peterson lofted a long solo drive for Milwaukee, which won its second straight and dealt the Cubs a second straight loss.
Swarmer and Milwaukee’s Ethan Small made their big league debuts. It marked the first time in Brewers history that both starters made their debuts and the first for the Cubs since 1944.
Miguel Sánchez (1-1) gave up one hits in two scoreless innings, and Josh Hader struck out three for his 17th save in 17 chances.