Donaldson hits grand slam in Yankees' win
Josh Donaldson hit a grand slam, Aaron Hicks homered on the very next pitch and the New York Yankees held on to beat Boston 6-5 on Thursday night at Fenway Park despite a pair of home runs from Red Sox All-Star candidate Rafael Devers.
Yankees starter Gerrit Cole (8-2) was staked to a 5-0 lead in the third. But he gave up Devers' two-run shot in the bottom half and his three-run shot in the fifth.
In all, Cole was charged with five runs on five hits and three walks while striking out seven.
Hicks also tripled in the fifth and scored on Jose Trevino's double to give New York a 6-2 lead before Devers' second homer brought Boston within one run.
Three relievers shut the Red Sox down from there, with Clay Holmes pitching the ninth for his 16th save.
Red Sox starter Josh Winckowski (3-3) gave up six runs on six hits and five walks in five innings.
ASTROS 5, ROYALS 2 >> Justin Verlander got his MLB-leading 11th win, Yordan Alvarez hit his 26th homer and Houston beat Kansas City to take the home series 3-1.
Jose Altuve added a homer and three RBIs for the Astros, who bounced back after a 7-4 loss Wednesday night that snapped an eightgame winning streak.
Verlander (11-3) grinded through six innings, allowing seven hits and two runs — one earned — with eight strikeouts to lower his ERA to 2.00 in his remarkable return from Tommy John surgery. His ERA, opponent average (1.90) and WHIP (0.97) all rank second in the American League.
METS 10, MARLINS 0 >> J.D. Davis hit his first major league grand slam, James McCann launched a three-run homer and New York routed visiting Miami behind a solid start from Trevor Williams.
Davis set a career high with five RBIs and Williams (2-5) pitched seven innings of twohit ball with seven strikeouts.
Starling Marte and Davis each had three of New York's 12 hits. Davis also scored three times and combined with McCann to give the Mets eight RBIs from the bottom two spots in their batting order.
PHILLIES 5, NATIONALS 3 >> Darick Hall homered, doubled and drove in two runs, and Philadelphia defeated visiting Washington.
Didi Gregorius added an RBI triple for Philadelphia, which took two of three from lastplace Washington and improved to 6-2 against its NL East rival. Washington has lost seven of eight.
The Nationals kept Kyle Schwarber in the ballpark one day after the NL home run leader went deep twice against his former team. Schwarber finished 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI groundout.