Verlander earns 200th career win
OAKLAND: Justin Verlander pitched just well enough to earn his 200th career win and the Houston Astros hit five home runs, beating the Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Sunday to avoid a sweep and retake sole possession of the AL West lead.
The surging A’s had won the first two games at the Coliseum to tie shaky Houston atop the division.
But Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Evan Gattis, Alex Bergman, Marwin Gonzalez and Martin Maldonado later homered for the defending World Series champions. Maldonado also tripled and doubled. Verlander (12-8) gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings while becoming the 114th pitcher with at least 200 career wins.
Oakland’s Sean Manaea (11-9) was charged with six runs and nine hits in four-plus innings.
At Seattle, Clayton Kershaw pitched seven sharp innings for his 150th career win, Justin Turner homered and drove in five runs, and the Dodgers routed Seattle 12-1.
Kershaw (6-5) gave up four hits, struck out seven and walked one. The 30-yearold lefty with three NL Cy Young Awards improved to 150-69 in the majors.
Turner extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a season-high four hits, including a three-run homer in the ninth inning with position player Andrew Romine on the mound.
Kike Hernandez had an RBI single as part of the Dodgers’ five-run first inning against Roenis Elias (2-1).
He added his 18th home run and a bases-loaded walk as the Dodgers won for the third time in four games.
At Pittsburgh, Adam Frazier hit a gameending homer in the 11th inning, and Pittsburgh beat Chicago 2-1 for a split of their four-game series.
Josh Harrison grounded out and Adeiny Hechavarria struck out before Frazier drove a 3-0 pitch from Brandon Kintzler (1-3) deep to right.
It was Frazier’s fifth homer of the season.
NL Central-leading Chicago managed just one run in each game of the series, but took the first two behind strong pitching performances by Jon Lester and Cole Hamels.