Moustakas’ 30th home run lifts Royals
BOSTON — Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas homered off emergency starter Rick Porcello, who took over when David Price went back on the disabled list because of inflammation in his left elbow, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Red Sox 4-2 Friday night for their seasonhigh ninth straight win.
Price started the season on the DL and didn’t make his first start until May 29. The 31-year-old left-hander, winner of the 2012 AL Cy Young Award, is 5-3 with a 3.82 ERA.
Jason Vargas (13-4) gave up one run and five hits in six innings. Vargas, who had been winless in three starts since June 30, is one shy of his career high for wins, set in 2012 with Seattle. career-high 14, pitching the New York Yankees past the Tampa Bay Rays for their fifth straight win. Brett Gardner hit a leadoff home run, Aaron Judge lined his AL-leading 33rd homer and Clint Frazier added a three-run shot to boost Tanaka (8-9). The Yankees moved past Boston and into the AL East lead for the first time in a month. Aaron Altherr homered twice and Jake Thompson pitched five scoreless innings in an emergency start to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the Atlanta Braves. Tommy Joseph and Cameron Rupp also homered and Freddy Galvis had three hits for the Phillies, who have scored 19 runs on seven homers and 14 extra-base hits while winning the last two. Thompson (1-0) replaced Jeremy Hellickson, who was scratched an hour before the game. career-high 7 1/3 innings to win his third straight decision, C.J. Cron hit a two-run homer and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Toronto Blue Jays. After being swept in a threegame series at Cleveland and falling a season-worst five games below .500, the Angels snapped their slump by winning for the 12th time in 16 games in Toronto. Mike Trout had two RBIs and Yunel Escobar had two doubles and an RBI for the Angels.
Josh Reddick hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting the Houston Astros over the Detroit Tigers. The Astros trailed 5-3 when Detroit brought in reliever Bruce Rondon (1-2) to start the eighth. He allowed singles to Derek Fisher and Jose Altuve before Reddick’s drive sailed beyond the wall in right field.
St. Louis starter Michael Wacha pitched six innings and Jedd Gyorko drove in the lone run with one of his three hits. Wacha (8-4) allowed three hits. Arizona starter Robbie Ray left the game in the second inning after getting hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of rookie Luke Voit. The ball caromed in the air into foul territory where third baseman Daniel Descalso caught it for the out. Ray lay prone on the mound for several minutes before sitting up with his teammates surrounding him. He was driven off the field on a cart and was taken for an examination. Major League Baseball plans to start the 2019 and 2020 seasons in Asia and play regular-season games in England in June of both years. The collective bargaining agreement reached in November was finalized and sent to the clubs Friday, and it contains a schedule for international play through 2021 along with how much extra money each player will receive for making the trips.