AL’s top 2 hitters going head to head
Stars Miguel Cabrera and Jason Kipnis were in a tight race for the AL batting average lead as they met in Monday night’s series opener between the Tigers and the Indians.
The Tigers had won seven of nine meetings this season, with Cabrera going 22-for-34 with five homers and 15 RBIs. He had reached base in 26 straight games at Progressive Field.
Cabrera had a .346 average to lead Kipnis, who was at .345. But Kipnis was batting .495 during a 25-game hitting streak at home, and he carried a 16-game overall hitting streak that matched his career best. Phillies 11, Yankees 8: Maikel Franco went 4-for-5 with two home runs, three runs scored and five RBIs. Ben Revere and Freddy Galvis had three hits each. Brett Gardner went 4-for-4 with a three-run homer to pace the Yankees. Brian McCann homered. Michael Pineda was shelled for eight runs on 11 hits in 31⁄
3 innings. Blue Jays 8, Rays 5: Dioner Navarro, Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista hit solo home runs, while Chris Colabello and Danny Valencia drove in two apiece. Logan Forsythe homered and Kevin Kiermaier and Joey Butler had three hits apiece for the Rays, who outhit the Jays 15-11. Drew Hutchison stuck out six in five innings and went to 7-1. Dodgers at Cubs: Clayton Kershaw tried to strike out at least 10 for the fourth straight start. The Cubs had struck out an NL-worst 637 times. The Dodgers had dropped five of seven overall but had hit .301 and averaged 6.6 runs while winning seven of their last eight at Wrigley Field. Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo was 8-for-21 with four homers in his last five games. White Sox at Twins: The White Sox owned a minus-68 run differential and looked to end their road losing streak at six. The Twins had lost 10 of 15, batting .223 and averaging 2.5 runs during that span. The Twins had won seven of 10 against the White Sox. Tommy Milone (3-1, 3.67) opposed John Danks (3-7, 5.16) in a battle of lefties. Astros at Angels: George Springer had a 14-game hitting streak for the Astros, who had won six of eight. Angels 1B Albert Pujols had hit 13 home runs this month. Royals at Mariners: Felix Hernandez tried for his AL-leading 11th win. The Mariners were 14th in the AL in runs with 238 and last in batting average at .231.