Astros win their fourth straight
HOUSTON—Chris Carter, Marwin Gonzalez and Evan Gattis homered and Houston beat Toronto, 6-5, for its fourth straight win.
This is the latest point in a season the AL West-leading Astros have been in first place since May 22, 2004, when they topped the NL Central. At 24-13, Houston has its best 37-game start since 1999.
With Houston trailing 3-2, Carter hit a three-run shot off reliever Liam Hendricks in the sixth inning. One out later, Gonzalez homered to center field.
Giants 11, Reds 2
CINCINNATI—Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam and drove in a careerhigh six runs and Hunter Pence scored three times in his return from a broken forearm, leading San Francisco to a victory over Cincinnati.
The defending World Series champions are hoping their offense gets a boost from Pence’s return. The right fielder was hit by a pitch during spring training, causing a fracture just above the left wrist. He had hits in his first two at-bats off Mike Leake (2-2), helping San Francisco pull ahead 5-0.
Crawford’s fourth career grand slam in the fifth inning made it 9-0, the most runs that Leake has allowed in his career. Brandon Belt and Gregor Blanco had solo shots off Leake.
The Reds managed two runs and six hits in 5 2-3 innings off Ryan Vogelsong (2-2), including Jay Bruce’s solo homer.
Yankees 5, Royals 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—Chase Headley and Alex Rodriguez homered, CC Sabathia found his form in his eighth start of the season, and New York beat Kansas City.
The Yankees snapped their skid at four and evened the three-game series.
With rain approaching the entire evening, Sabathia (2-5) made quick work of the Royals, who had pounded out 12 runs on 17 hits the previous night. The lefty allowed the lone run on six hits without a walk in seven innings to win his second straight start.
Headley hit a three-run drive and Rodriguez added his 10th homer of the season in the ninth.
Danny Duffy (2-3) lost his third straight start, allowing four runs on four hits and four walks in five innings. It was a modest improvement over his previous two starts, when he’d been hammered for 10 runs in 4 2-3 innings by the Indians and Rangers.
Cubs 4, Pirates 1
CHICAGO—Jon Lester outpitched Gerrit Cole with seven gutsy innings, and Chicago beat Pittsburgh for its sixth straight win.
Kris Bryant went 2 for 2 with two walks and scored twice as the Cubs moved six games over .500 for the first time since they were 83-77 on Oct. 3, 2009, according to STATS. It is the longest win streak for Chicago since a seven-game run in 2011.
Lester (4-2) allowed one run and nine hits in his fourth consecutive win. The left-hander struck out seven, running his career total to 1,504 Ks, and walked one.
Sean Rodriguez homered for Pittsburgh, which has dropped four in a row. Starling Marte and Jung Ho Kang had three hits apiece.
NEW YORK—Wilmer Flores hit a grand slam off Matt Garza from the No. 9 slot in the batting order, sparking a 10-run fourth inning and leading New York to a romp over Milwaukee.
Jacob deGrom had three singles— including two in the fourth—to become the second pitcher since at least 1914 to have three hits batting eighth, according to STATS.
Flores followed deGrom’s second hit of the night with a drive into the leftfield party deck, an area where the Mets brought in the fence before the 2012 season, for a 6-0 lead.
He became the first starting NL position player to hit a grand slam from the No. 9 hole in an NL ballpark, STATS said.
DeGrom (4-4) gave up one run in six innings, while Garza (2-5) allowed a career-high 10 runs in 3 1-3 innings.
Braves 5, Marlins 3
MIAMI—Rookie Jace Peterson hit a grand slam for his first major league home run, and Atlanta overcame
another tape-measure shot by Giancarlo Stanton to remain undefeated this year in Miami.
Major league RBIs leader Stanton hit his third long homer in as many games, a solo shot into the upper deck in center field, where a spectator made a one-handed catch five rows in front of the 502-foot sign.
Stanton homered into the TV camera well in center field Friday, and pulled a drive out of Dodger Stadium on Wednesday. He has five of his team’s nine homers at Marlins Park this year, and 11 home runs overall.
Angels 6, Orioles 1
BALTIMORE—Matt Shoemaker scattered three hits and allowed one run over seven innings, leading Los Angeles to a season-high five-game winning streak.
Mike Trout and David Freese homered for the Angels, who will try for their first three-game sweep of the season Sunday. The Orioles have lost eight of their past 11 games.
Shoemaker (3-3) won his seventh consecutive game on the road. He had seven strikeouts and no walks, winning for the first time since April 13.
Twins 6, Rays 4
MINNEAPOLIS—Brian Dozier homered, Eduardo Escobar had four hits and Minnesota took advantage of a rare Tampa Bay error to win.
After Tim Beckham hit a two-run homer to tie it at 3 in the top of the seventh, Torii Hunter singled and Joe Mauer walked with one out in Minnesota’s half of the inning.
Trevor Plouffe tapped a bouncer back to reliever Kevin Jepsen (1-3), whose wide throw to second pulled Beckham off the base.
Kurt Suzuki followed with a sacrifice fly to give Minnesota the lead. Escobar added an RBI single, which right fielder Steven Souza Jr. misplayed for another error.