Verlander’s gem leads Astros
Justin Verlander missed out on his fourth no-hitter by five outs but still faced the minimum through eight innings, and the visiting Houston Astros beat the Minnesota Twins 5-0 Tuesday night for their eighth straight win.
Twins third baseman Gio Urshela singled to right field with one out in the eighth to end Verlander’s bid. The 39-year-old right-hander, in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, finished the eighth by getting Royce Lewis to ground into a double play.
After pitching just once in 2020 and missing the entire 2021 season with an elbow injury, Verlander has been stellar so far in 2022. Tuesday’s start moved him to 4-1 with a 1.55 ERA through six starts.
The two-time AL Cy Young Award winner struck out five and walked two on 89 pitches en route to his 230th career victory. Blake Taylor allowed two infield singles in the ninth and closed it out.
Verlander was perfect through four innings before allowing a leadoff walk to Jorge Polanco in the fifth. He got Urshela to tap into a double play one pitch later to retire Polanco.
Verlander walked Minnesota’s No. 9 hitter, Gilberto Celestino, in the sixth, but Celestino was later thrown out at second base.
Jeremy Peña drove in the first two runs for the Astros. Alex Bregman also had two RBIs.
Twins starter Joe Ryan (3-2) issued a walk in each of his five innings and allowed four runs.
YANKEES 6, BLUE JAYS 5 » Aaron Judge hit a mammoth three-run drive in the ninth inning for his first walk-off home run in the major leagues to give New York a victory over Toronto.
Giancarlo Stanton tied it with a three-run shot in the sixth, and the Yankees rallied for their 14th victory in 16 games.
New York overcame a shaky start from Luis Severino and improved to 21-8, the best record in the majors.
George Springer hit a leadoff homer for Toronto, and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had a tiebreaking double in the eighth that helped the Blue Jays take a 5-3 lead.
No. 9 batter Jose Trevino and DJ LeMahieu drew consecutive one-out walks in the ninth from Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano (1-2) before Judge sent a hanging 1-2 slider 450 feet into the second deck in left field. TIGERS 6-1, ATHLETICS 0-4 » Tarik Skubal led the Tigers to a win over designated home team Oakland in the opener of a unique doubleheader in Detroit caused by Major League Baseball’s lockout. With the A’s as the visiting team in the second game, 25-year-old Adrian Martinez pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings to win his major league debut.
In a matchup of lastplace teams, Detroit ended a 27-inning scoreless streak in the opener. Oakland (1219) then won for the second time in 12 games and sent the Tigers (9-21) to their seventh loss in eight games.
Miguel Cabrera singled in the ninth of the second game, tying Wade Boggs for 30th with 3,010 hits.
Skubal (2-2) allowed three hits in seven innings, struck out five and walked three. Jonathan Schoop homered and scored twice. ORIOLES 5, CARDINALS 3 » Cedric Mullins and Tyler Nevin each homered and Kyle Bradish struck out 11 over seven innings, leading Baltimore at St. Louis.
Mullins added three singles and a stolen base in a 4-for-5 night.
The Cardinals’ Harrison Bader hit an inside-thepark home run in the sixth. The ball hit the wall in center and caromed toward left field away from Mullins. Bader raced around the bases behind Yadier Molina, who had doubled, and scored standing up.
Bradish (1-1) gave up two runs and four hits to notch his first career win. RANGERS 6, ROYALS 4 » Corey Seager snapped an 0-for-16 slump with two home runs, Martin Perez pitched 6 1/3 solid innings and Texas defeated visiting Kansas City.
Seager hit a two-out solo shot in the first inning to put Texas ahead to stay. His leadoff homer in the third, to right-center, made it 4-0.