Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
8th-inning effort lifts Oakland
ATHLETICS 6, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON — The Oakland Athletics continued their late-inning magic Thursday, and it helped them to a series victory over the Houston Astros.
Mark Canha’s two-RBI single in Oakland’s threerun eighth inning lifted the Athletics to the 6-4 victory. The Athletics fell behind early but cut the lead to one with a three-run fifth. An RBI double by Matt Chapman tied it with no outs in the eighth before Canha’s single off Chris Devenksi (2-2) with one out made it 6-4.
Canha’s hit landed in the corner of left field and the Astros challenged the ruling that the ball was fair, but the call was upheld.
It was another big eighth inning for the A’s, who lead the majors with 69 runs in the inning this season. This one helped them take three out of four against the Astros. They’ve won eight games this season when trailing after seven innings, which is also the most in the majors.
“When you do it so many times, you have confidence doing it,” Manager Bob Melvin said. “And it was different guys today, too. At this point, it’s a true team effort and that’s powerful when you have 25 guys contributing.”
Nick Martini had three hits and drove in two runs for the Athletics, who are 19-5 in their past 24 games but still trail the first-place Astros by eight games in the American League West.
Yusmeiro Petit (3-2) allowed one hit in 21/3 scoreless innings. Ryan Buchter took over for the eighth and made back-to-back nifty plays to pitch a perfect inning.
The first one came when a comebacker by Yuli Gurriel hit him on the thigh and rolled away from the mound. He chased it down
and made a barehanded throw that beat Gurriel to first. Two pitches later, Buchter mishandled a dribbler by Josh Reddick before scooping it up and flipping it to first for the out.
Melvin said 6-5 first baseman Matt Olson helps make those kinds of plays easier.
“The glove flip was big, but that’s what happens when you have a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman over there,” he said.
Lou Trivino struck out two in the ninth for his fourth save in five opportunities.
Alex Bregman drove in two with a double in the third and Tony Kemp’s two-run home run made it 4-0 in the fourth.
“We knew coming in they were playing well and we see why,” Houston Manager A.J. Hinch said of the Athletics. “They did a lot more right than we did during the series. They completed games, made us work and kind of wore us out and came up with big at-bats when they needed to. We got outplayed this series.”
Oakland starter Trevor Cahill went 32/3 innings in his first start since June 2 after spending more than a month on the disabled list with an Achilles injury. He allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and walked 3.
Houston’s Charlie Morton allowed 6 hits and 3 runs in 41/3 innings.
Khris Davis extended his career-long hitting streak to 14 games with a single to get things going in the eighth, and Olson followed with a single. The double by Chapman to left field scored Davis to tie it at 4-4.
Cahill walked Kemp and Springer in the third, and both moved up a base on a wild pitch before scoring on the double by Bregman.
Max Stassi singled with two outs in the fourth to chase Cahill. He was replaced by Chris Hatcher, who was greeted by the two-run home run by Kemp.
Chad Pinder and Canha hit consecutive singles to start the fifth inning before Jonathan Lucroy walked to load the bases. The Athletics cut the lead to 4-2 on a double to right field by Martini.
Stephen Piscotty hit an RBI double with one out to end Morton’s day.
RED SOX 6, BLUE JAYS 4 Mookie Betts fouled off seven pitches before hitting a grand slam that helped the Boston Red Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 on Thursday night, extending their winning streak to 10 games. Betts added an RBI single in the seventh inning and went 2 for 4, increasing the top batting average in the majors to .352. He finished with five RBIs. Boston has the longest current winning streak in the big leagues and hasn’t lost since getting routed by the Yankees 11-1 on July 1 in New York. At 66-29, the Red Sox are 37 games over .500 for the first time since 1949. David Price (10-6) struck out eight over 62/3 innings for Boston, and Craig Kimbrel earned his 29th save. Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the first and Kendrys Morales had a solo homer for Toronto, which has lost four of five. All-Star lefty J.A. Happ (10-6) started strong for Toronto, striking out six and holding Boston to two hits before running into trouble and some misfortune in the fourth. The Red Sox capitalized on a missed fly ball and a video review that erased what would have been the second out while scoring five runs — all unearned — before the inning ended.
YANKEES 7, INDIANS 4 Aaron Hicks drove home Didi Gregorius from first base with a oneout double in the eighth inning off Cleveland ace Corey Kluber, sending the New York Yankees to a 7-4 win over the Indians on Thursday night. Hicks drove a 3-2 pitch from Kluber (12-5) to deep center field, and Gregorius scored easily when the ball one-hopped the wall. Indians manager Terry Francona elected to stay with Kluber in the eighth rather than turn things over to his shaky bullpen, which has the AL’s highest ERA. The Yankees added another run in the inning on Greg Bird’s sacrifice fly off Oliver Perez. Brett Gardner homered twice and Gregorius also connected for the Yankees, playing at Progressive Field for the first time since last October, when they overcame a 2-0 deficit and won the AL Division Series. New York’s Adam Warren, David Robertson (6-3), Dellin Betances and AllStar closer Aroldis Chapman combined for four hitless innings. Chapman got three outs for his 25th save — in his first appearance since Sunday because of a sore left knee. Jose Ramirez and Edwin Encarnacion homered off Yankees starter Luis Severino, who lasted five innings and was denied his major league-leading 15th win.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
ROCKIES 5, DIAMONDBACKS 1 Gerardo Parra and Raimel Tapia had pinch-hit RBI singles in Colorado’s three-run sixth inning, helping the Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-1 on Thursday. Trevor Story homered for the Rockies, and Kyle Freeland pitched six-hit ball into the sixth inning. DJ LeMahieu had two hits and drove in a run. Colorado was coming off a 19-2 victory Wednesday night, but it trailed 1-0 before its rally in the sixth. Arizona left-hander Robbie Ray (3-2) hit Carlos Gonzalez and walked Chris Iannetta with one out before he was replaced by Silvino Bracho, who was called up before the game. Parra then hit a tying single to right, and Tapia followed with another single off Andrew Chafin. LeMahieu drove in Parra with a sacrifice fly. The Rockies added two more in the seventh on Story’s 18th homer off of Randall Delgado and Gonzalez’s RBI single. Scott Oberg (3-0) got two outs for the win.
NATIONALS 5, METS 4 Max Scherzer made a final pitch to start the All-Star Game on his own mound, Anthony Rendon hit two homers and Bryce Harper also connected, leading the Washington Nationals over the New York Mets 5-4 Thursday night. Washington won for just the sixth time in 17 games and nudged back over .500 at 47-46. Scherzer (12-5) didn’t dominate over his seven innings, but managed to tie Philadelphia’s Aaron Nola for the NL lead in wins. He struck out five, boosting his league-leading total to 182. Scherzer gave up three runs and five hits, including home runs by nemesis Jose Bautista and Kevin Plawecki. The right-hander was met on the top step of the dugout by manager Dave Martinez after the seventh and, after a short discussion, he was done. The three-time Cy Young Award winner exited with a 2.41 ERA, and perfectly lined up to pitch on regular rest next Tuesday night in the All-Star Game at Nationals Park. Fans at Citi Field would rather see Mets ace Jacob deGrom make the start — he tops the majors with a 1.68 ERA, but is just 5-4 in 19 starts because of poor run support. Rendon hit a two-run homer off Steven Matz (4-7) in the first and added a solo drive in the third. His fourth career multihomer performance gave him six homers in 13 games. Rendon singled in the seventh and Harper, already assured a starting spot in the All-Star outfield, hit his 23rd homer to make it 5-2.
PIRATES 6, BREWERS 3 Jameson Taillon had a career-high 10 strikeouts, Jordy Mercer tied his career high with four RBIs and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-3 on Thursday night. Taillon (6-7) surrendered one run on four hits with two walks. The right-hander struck out the side twice, once in the third inning and again in the fifth, when he got out of a jam after allowing a leadoff walk to Tyler Saladino followed by a single from Erik Kratz. Mercer was 3 for 4 with three singles, one of which knocked in two runs. The Pirates have won four of their past five games to pull to 101/2 games back of the first-place Brewers, who have lost four of six, in the NL Central. Felipe Vazquez earned his 21st save by getting the final two outs. Wade Miley (1-1) gave up two runs on four hits in five innings with five strikeouts and five walks for Milwaukee.
INTERLEAGUE
PHILLIES 5, ORIOLES 4 Jorge Alfaro homered and drove in three runs, Nick Pivetta took a three-hitter into the seventh inning and Philadelphia beat host Baltimore. The Phillies got 12 hits off Kevin Gausman (4-7) while building a 5-0 lead against the team with the worst record in the majors. Alfaro singled and scored in the third inning, hit a two-run double in the fourth and led off the fifth with his sixth home run. Home runs by Trey Mancini and Jace Peterson brought the Orioles within a run, but Philadelphia held on to move a half-game ahead of second-place Atlanta in the NL East. Pivetta had a no-hitter through four innings and finished with seven strikeouts. Pivetta (6-7) gave up 3 runs and 5 hits before being pulled with 2 outs in the seventh.