Greinke gets another win as Astros top White Sox
Zack Greinke tossed six solid innings in his second start with the Astros, George Springer and José Altuve hit solo home runs and Houston topped the Chicago White Sox 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Tuesday in Chicago.
Springer connected on the first pitch of the day as the AL Westleading Astros won for the ninth time in 10 games. He also threw out a runner at the plate from right field.
Greinke (12-4) allowed two runs on seven hits in winning for the second time since Houston acquired him from Arizona in a deal at the trade deadline. The 35-year-old righty struck out six, walked two and hit a batter in a 102-pitch outing that was sharper than his Astros debut last week when he allowed five runs in six innings to Colorado.
Will Harris, Ryan Pressly and Collin Mchugh each followed Greinke with a perfect inning.
Robinson Chirinos drove in two runs late with a pair of singles.
Eloy Jiménez and José Abreu drove in runs Houston’s Zack Greinke delivers a pitch during the first game of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox.
with doubles as Chicago came back to tie it from an early 2-0 deficit.
The Astros took the lead for good in the sixth when Yordan Alvarez scored an unearned run on the first of three passed balls charged to Welington Castillo.
Alvarez raced home from third to break a 2-all tie when Castillo couldn’t handle Dylan Cease’s shoulder high pitch to Aledmys Diaz. Castillo recovered the ball and threw to Cease covering the plate,
but Alvarez narrowly beat the tag on a play that withstood video review.
Jake Marisnick scored from third in the seventh to make it 4-2 when Castillo failed to catch a high pitch to Alvarez.
Making his seventh start, Cease (2-5) allowed four runs — two earned — in sixplus innings. The rookie right-hander yielded five hits and walked five.
Springer launched Cease’s first pitch to
the back of the left-field seats for his 26th homer and 33rd career leadoff shot.
Greinke allowed three singles in the second, but escaped unscathed when Springer threw out Castillo at the plate to end the inning.
Altuve led off the third with a line shot just over the left-center wall to give Houston a 2-0 lead.
Jiménez’s double to the left-center gap in the fourth drove in Abreu from first to cut it to 2-1. YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 3: Domingo Germán pitched seven strong innings to become the first 16-game winner in the majors and New York beat Baltimore, moving its winning streak over the Orioles to 15 games. Germán allowed two runs, five hits, struck out seven, walked one and won his career-high seventh straight decision. DJ Lemahieu homered on the first pitch he saw to get the Yankees going.
PHILLIES 4, CUBS 2: J.T. Realmuto homered and drove in the tiebreaking run with an RBI double in the seventh inning to lift Philadelphia to victory over Chicago. Cubs starter Jose Quintana had a career-best 14 strikeouts in six innings, allowing two runs — one earned — and five hits.
BRAVES 5, METS 3: Ronald Acuña Jr. homered and threw out a runner at the plate to back Max Fried’s fifth straight win, leading Atlanta past New York.
PHILLIES HIRE MANUEL AS HITTING COACH: The Phillies hired former manager Charlie Manuel to replace John Mallee as hitting coach. Manuel was working as senior adviser to the general manager. Manuel, 75, led the Phillies to five straight division titles, two NL pennants and the World Series championship in 2008.