Home runs propels Astros past Royals
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lance McCullers took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Jose Altuve hit a two-run homer in a five-run ninth as the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 6-1 on Thursday night.
Altuve’s ninth home run came off Kelvin Herrera (1-2) with Josh Reddick aboard after walking on four pitches to lead off the inning. Herrera has yielded seven home runs in 24 1/3 innings after giving up only six in 72 innings last season.
• Yankees 9, Red Sox 1 — At New York: Gary Sanchez homered twice to drive in five runs and New York pounded David Price again a night after the Boston ace had an angry exchange with a reporter.
Michael Pineda (7-3) rebounded from a rough outing with seven brilliant innings, and New York took two of three from its rival in their first series at Yankee Stadium this season. On the strength of stingy starts by CC Sabathia and Pineda, the Yankees outscored Boston 17-1 in the final two games and increased their AL East lead to three games over the second-place Red Sox.
• Rockies 4, Cubs 1 — At Chicago: Tyler Chatwood pitched four-hit ball over six innings, DJ LeMahieu hit a three-run homer and Colorado beat Chicago for its season-high fifth straight win.
The NL West leaders got all their runs in the second inning after Jon Lester (3-4) struck out the first two batters. LeMahieu’s drive to the right field basket made it 4-1.
• Marlins 7, Pirates 1 — At Pittsburgh: Edinson Volquez followed his nohitter by pitching seven scoreless innings and Miami beat Pittsburgh.
Volquez (3-7) allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked two while winning his third straight start. He helped the Marlins win for the ninth time in 12 games and raised his career record to 4-0 against the Pirates, a team he pitched for in 2013.
• Nationals 6, Orioles 1 — At Washington: Joe Ross had a career-high 12 strikeouts in a sparkling performance, and weary Washington breezed past Baltimore.
Stephen Drew homered into the second deck in right field and Trea Turner had three hits and a career-best three stolen bases for the Nationals, who took control with a four-run first inning against Alec Asher (2-4).
• Angels 11, Tigers 4 — At Detroit: Albert Pujols hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly to cap a four-run fifth inning and the Los Angeles Angels added six runs in the seventh, routing the Detroit Tigers.
JC Ramirez (6-4) gave up four runs — allowing the Tigers to take an early 4-1 lead — and 10 hits over five innings.
• Rays 7, White Sox 5 — At St. Petersburg, Fla.: Derek Norris homered in consecutive innings and Jake Odorizzi (4-3) pitched into the seventh, leading Tampa Bay over Chicago.
The White Sox, who have lost seven of eight, came back from a 6-0 deficit. They got the potential tying run to third base with one out in the eighth before Alex Colome came in for a four-out save, his 17th of the season.
• Braves 3, Phillies 1 — At Atlanta: R.A. Dickey allowed only three hits in seven innings to earn his first win in five weeks and lead Atlanta over rookie Ben Lively (1-1) and Philadelphia.
The 42-year-old Dickey (4-4) set a season high with eight strikeouts. The knuckleballer gave up no walks for the first time this season. He allowed one run in his first victory since May 2 against the Mets.
• Reds 5, Cardinals 2 — At Cincinnati: Joey Votto had one of those frequent days when he hits everything hard — the last thing the St. Louis Cardinals needed at this point.
Votto had a two-run homer among his four hits, Adam Duvall had three hits off Mike Leake — his counterpart in one of Cincinnati’s rebuilding trades — and the Reds beat the Cardinals 5-2 to complete a four-game sweep.
• Diamdonbacks 15, Padres 3 — At Phoenix: Chris Iannetta drove in a career high seven runs with a home run and a pair of doubles, and the Arizona Diamondbacks routed the San Diego Padres to finish a three-game sweep.
Iannetta hit a go-ahead, two-run homer off Clayton Richard (4-7) for a 4-3 lead in the fifth, a three-run double against Kevin Quackenbush in the sixth and a two-run double off Brandon Maurer in the eighth. Six of Iannetta’s eight home runs this season have tied the score or put the Diamondbacks ahead.
• Twins 2, Mariners 1 — At Seattle: Kyle Gibson (3-4) pitched one-run ball into the seventh inning and Minnesota took advantage of two errors on one play by Robinson Cano in a win over Seattle.
With two out in the fifth inning and a runner on second, Cano misplayed Joe Mauer’s slow grounder. He compounded the mistake by trying to catch Ehire Adrianza at third base, but Cano’s throw was low, skipped past Kyle Seager and allowed Adrianza to score.