Astros withstand heat in winning 10th in row

A.J. Hinch wiped the sweat from his brow after watching his visiting Astros win their 10th straight game on Saturday, joking that he might get tossed early the next time out to avoid the Kansas City heat.

The skipper hasn’t been sweating many outcomes lately.

Houston’s latest solid start came from Dallas Keuchel, who allowed the Royals two unearned runs over six sharp innings. Its latest offense came from Max Stassi and Alex Bregman, who belted three-run homers at spacious Kauffman Stadium. And its latest win was a 10-2 rout as the heat index eclipsed 100 degrees.

“I’m really happy with how consistently the guys are showing up expecting to win, and then going out and doing it,” Hinch said. “We’re a hard team to beat right now.”

No matter the situation. No matter the conditions.

“Winning streak, no winning streak, it doesn’t matter. We just play our game,” said Bregman, who survived the blazing sun and oppressive heat, which sent Stassi and Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel to the clubhouse with symptoms of dehydration.

Jose Altuve hit a tworun double in the first to send the World Series champions on their way. The Astros have won the first nine games on their 10-game road swing, already making it the best trip in club history with the series finale still to come on Sunday.

Keuchel (4-8) has begun to emerge from a monthlong funk, allowing two unearned runs and six hits in six innings. The 2015 Cy Young winner had surrendered a combined 17 runs over his last three outings, and had not won since tossing seven scoreless innings against Texas on May 13.

Meanwhile, the Royals have lost five straight and are 2-12 since the calendar flipped to June.

“We’ve been around this clubhouse for a while to the point that we’ve had our ups, we’ve had our downs,” Royals pitcher Danny Duffy said. “We know what we need to do to come out of them, it’s just about doing exactly that. It’s not ideal where we’re at right now.

“It’s pretty much the opposite of what we drew up coming into the year. We got to come out of this stretch ourselves.”

Yankees 4, Rays 1: Luis Severino pitched eight sharp innings and also jumped to steal away a pop-up from catcher Gary Sanchez as host New York won for the 13th time in 16 games. Giancarlo Stanton and Sanchez hit back-to-back home runs to lead the Yankees.

Mariners 1, Red Sox 0: Wade LeBlanc pitched into the eighth inning and Nelson Cruz had an RBI single to lead host Seattle. LeBlanc gave up just two hits and struck out nine over 72⁄3 innings. After a single by Mookie Betts on the opening at-bat of the game, LeBlanc (3-0) retired the next 22 batters until Eduardo Nunez singled with two outs in the eighth.

Tigers 7, White Sox 5: Nicholas Castellanos homered twice and Jose Iglesias hit a tiebreaking RBI single in visiting Detroit’s two-run eighth for its fourth straight win.

Blue Jays 2, Nationals 0: Max Scherzer lost his second straight start for the first time since 2015 when Marco Estrada pitched 62⁄3 shutout innings and Devon Travis homered to lead host Toronto past Washington.

Braves 1, Padres 0: Sean Newcomb pitched six scoreless innings and Charlie Culberson homered to lead host Atlanta. The NL East-leading Braves improved to 25-7 when their starter pitches at least six innings. A winner in eight of his last nine decisions, Newcomb (8-2) allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven.

Marlins 5, Orioles 4: J.T. Realmuto homered twice and had four RBIs off Alex Cobb, and visiting Miami handed Baltimore its ninth straight loss.

Pirates 6, Reds 2: Josh Harrison hit a two-run homer, Colin Moran and Elias Diaz added solo shots and host Pittsburgh pulled away from Cincinnati.

Rangers 5, Rockies 2: Adrian Beltre hit a tie-breaking tworun triple in the eighth inning, and host Texas snapped a seven-game losing streak. The triple was Beltre’s 3,095th career hit, tops among active players.

Twins 9, Indians 3: Cleveland pitcher Carlos Carrasco was pulled after he was struck on the right arm by a line drive, and Minnesota got four hits from Eddie Rosario in a win over host Cleveland. Carrasco grabbed his arm after being hit by Joe Mauer’s leadoff liner in the second. The Indians announced he was taken to a hospital for examination of a forearm contusion.

Phillies 4, Brewers 1: Rhys Hoskins and Andrew Knapp hit home runs and visiting Philadelphia overcame stranding 15 runners on base.

Cubs 6, Cardinals 3: Addison Russell and Jason Heyward homered and Ian Happ’s double broke a 3-all tie as visiting Chicago rallied to beat St. Louis .

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1: Michael Conforto homered and doubled and knocked in four runs as visiting New York defeated Arizona.

Brian Davidson / Getty Images Alex Bregman of the Astros hits a three-run homer against the Royals. He had four RBIs in the win.