Pineda pitches Twins past Rangers
Michael Pineda struck out a seasonhigh nine over six efficient innings, Jason Castro had two hits and three RBIS, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Texas Rangers 7-4 on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Pineda (6-4) gave up five hits and a run on a solo homer in the sixth inning by Elvis Andrus. The big right-hander had his most strikeouts since 2017 with the New York Yankees prior to a Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for all of 2018.
Marwin Gonzalez homered for Minnesota, which leads the majors with 166 home runs this year and matched its total from last season. Gonzalez is the 10th Twins player to reach double digits in homers, one shy of a club record set in 2016.
Taylor Rogers picked up his 12th save with 2 scoreless innings and five strikeouts.
Jesse Chavez (3-4) surrendered five runs — four earned — on five hits and two walks over five innings for Texas.
Shin-soo Choo had three hits for the Rangers. RAYS 4, YANKEES 3: Travis d’arnaud hit a two-out homer off Chad Green in the bottom of the ninth inning, lifting Tampa Bay past New York. Aaron Hicks tied it at 3 in the top of the ninth for the Yankees.
NATIONALS 6, ROYALS 0: Max Scherzer sustained a dominant stretch with seven strong innings, Kurt Suzuki homered and Washington beat Kansas City. Scherzer (9-5) allowed four hits and struck out 11 with a walk. CUBS 6, WHITE SOX 3: Jon Lester pitched into the seventh inning, and the Cubs beat All-star Lucas Giolito and the crosstown White Sox.
ASTROS 4, ANGELS 0: Yuli Gurriel homered for the fourth straight game and Gerrit Cole pitched seven scoreless innings, leading Houston to a win over Los Angeles.
PIRATES 12, BREWERS 2: Kevin Newman and Starling Marte each drove in three runs, leading Pittsburgh past Milwaukee.