Rodriguez remains red hot at plate for rolling Mariners
Julio Rodríguez set a major league record with his 17th hit in four games, Dylan Moore homered twice and the visiting Seattle Mariners defeated the Houston Astros 10-3 on Saturday night for their fifth straight win.
The Mariners, who are 13-3 in their last 16 games, pulled to 11/2 games behind the Astros for the second AL wild-card spot and maintained a half-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
Rodriguez, with a single to left field in the seventh, broke a major league record set in 1925 by Milt Stock of the Brooklyn Robins. The previous record was 16 hits in four games. Rodriguez finished 4 for 6, giving him his fourth consecutive four-plus hit game.
The Astros' Jose Altuve, in the fifth inning, became the newest member of the 2,000-hit club. Altuve lined a 2-2 pitch from Logan Gilbert into the left field corner. Altuve tried to stretch the single into a double and was thrown out.
Altuve is the third player in club history to reach 2,000 career hits and the fastest Astro to do it in just his 1,631st game.
Gilbert (11-5) allowed two runs on eight hits and one walk in six innings. He is 21-4 when pitching on the road in his career.
Framber Valdez (9-9) gave up six runs on 10 hits, striking out five and walking two in five innings. He has given up 16 runs on 24 hits over his last three starts since throwing a nohitter on Aug. 1 against the Cleveland Guardians. BRAVES 6, GIANTS 5 » Eddie Rosario had four hits, including a go-ahead, tworun homer in the eighth inning, and host Atlanta beat San Francisco for its fifth straight win.
Marcell Ozuna hit a twoout single off Tyler Rogers (45) in the eighth. Rosario followed with his 19th homer, a first-pitch blast that carried 441 feet to center.
Rosario drove in three runs, including a run-scoring double in the second.
LaMonte Wade Jr. had two hits, including a homer on the game's first pitch, but the Giants were handed their third straight loss.
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his 28th homer in the fifth to tie the game at 4.
The Giants took a 5-4 lead in the sixth on Johan Camargo's bases-loaded, double-play grounder.
The Braves' streak of three straight shutouts ended on the first pitch from Yonny Chirinos. Wade pulled the homer 394 feet into the right field seats. The homer ended any thoughts of the Braves recording four consecutive shutouts for the first time in the modern era of the franchise, since at least 1920.
DIAMONDBACKS 6-8, PADRES 4-1 » Gabriel Moreno hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to lead Arizona to a victory in the nightcap over host San Diego for a doubleheader sweep.
Tommy Pham hit a tworun homer and tripled to lead the Diamondbacks in the opener.
The Diamondbacks (6461) have won seven of their last nine games while the slumping Padres have lost six of their last nine games.
Padres ace Yu Darvish (8-9) took the loss in the second game, going five innings and giving up three runs and nine hits while striking out seven.
PHILLIES 12, NATIONALS 3 » Trea Turner hit two home runs in an eight-run eighth inning and Philadelphia went deep five times, rallying past host Washington.
Nick Castellanos, Jake Cave and Bryson Stott also homered for the Phillies, who had lost four of five.
Turner, a former member of the Nationals, led off the eighth inning by sending Cory Abbott's 93mph fastball into the seats in left. Abbott (1-2) allowed seven more runs, including a three-run homer by Stott that preceded Turner' second homer in the inning.
The Phillies tied it at 3 on Castellanos' three-run homer off Andrés Machado in the seventh.
Nationals starter Jake Irvin threw six shutout innings and struck out seven.
BREWERS 6, RANGERS 1 » Willy Adames was 4 for 4 with a homer and two RBIs to lead Milwaukee to a road win over Texas in a battle of first-place teams.
The NL Central-leading Brewers (67-57) have won the first two games of the series behind 29 combined hits. Carlos Santana homered for the second consecutive day and the fourth time in his past six games.
The AL West-leading Rangers (72-51) lost a third consecutive game for the first time since July 30. Texas batters struck out a season-high 18 times.
Rangers starter Dane Dunning (9-5) allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings.
Meanwhile, Freddy Peralta (10-8) struck out 11 while holding the Rangers to a run on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.
BLUE JAYS 4, REDS 3 » Rookie Davis Schneider hit a tiebreaking solo homer, sending Toronto to a victory at Cincinnati.
Schneider went deep against Brandon Williamson (4-3) with one out in the fifth, giving Toronto a 4-3 lead. It was Schneider's third homer of the season.
Cincinnati put runners on second and third with one out in the ninth against Jordan Romano. But the All-Star closer struck out Henry Ramos and retired Stuart Fairchild on a grounder to third, earning his 30th save.
Blue Jays starter Chris Bassitt (12-6) gave up three runs, two earned, and three hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked one.
CUBS 6, ROYALS 4 » Cody Bellinger hit two home runs and drove in four runs, and Justin Steele pitched six strong innings as Chicago downed Kansas City at Wrigley Field.
Bellinger belted two opposite field home runs in the first three innings to give the Cubs an early 4-1 lead. His 20 homers in 2023 are his highest single-season total since he won MVP in 2019 with the Dodgers.
Steele (14-3) won his fifth game in his last six decisions after allowing two runs on six hits.
RED SOX 8, YANKEES 1 » Luis Urias became the first Red Sox player to hit grand slams on consecutive pitches and the first in 80 years to hit slams in consecutive games in leading visiting Boston to a win over fading New York, which lost its seventh in a row.
Urias cleared the bases in his last at-bat against Washington reliever Robert Garcia on Thursday and the ninth-place hitter stunned Yankees ace Gerrit Cole in the second inning with a blast to left center.
Cole allowed Urías' slam in the second inning and gave up a two-run drive to eighth-place hitter Connor Wong in the fourth as the Yankees fell three games under .500.
Kutter Crawford no-hit New York for 5 1/3 innings until Aaron Judge homered for the second straight game.
Cole (10-4), who went four innings, tied a season high by allowing six runs for the third time and gave up seven hits in his shortest start this year.