Orioles stave off sweep by Astros
Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle homered, Félix Bautista worked through another shaky ninth inning and the Orioles extended their streak to 76 series without being swept, edging the Astros, 5-4, on Thursday in Baltimore.
The Orioles haven’t been swept in almost 15 months, a span of 76 straight series of at least two decisions. That’s the fifth-longest streak in major league history — according to information from the Elias Sports Bureau distributed by the Orioles — and the longest since the Cardinals set the record of 124 from 1942-44.
The previous sweep against Baltimore was at Detroit from May 13-15, 2022.
It was 5-3 when Bautista, who allowed a grand slam to Kyle Tucker on Tuesday night to lose that game, came on to pitch the ninth. Jose Altuve’s one-out double and Alex Bregman’s walk allowed the go-ahead run to come up, but catcher James McCann caught Yordan Alvarez’s foul pop, holding onto the ball as he lost his balance and fell.
Tucker then drew a walk to load the bases, and Yainer Diaz followed with a line drive to the left side. Third baseman Ramón Urías made a dive for it and couldn’t catch it, but he did prevent it from going all the way through and only one run came home.
Bautista finally retired Jon Singleton on a popup for his 31st save in 37 chances.
Now the AL East-leading Orioles head out on a nine-game western trip with stops at Seattle, San Diego, and Oakland.
Syndergaard triumphs
Noah Syndergaard won for the first time since April 30, rookies Brayan Rocchio and José Tena sparked Cleveland’s offense, and the Guardians defeated the Blue Jays, 4-3, in Cleveland.
Syndergaard (2-5), making his third start with Cleveland since being acquired from the Dodgers July 26 for shortstop Amed Rosario, allowed one run in 5„ innings and was removed with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. Nick Sandlin retired Nathan Lukes on a ground ball to end the inning.
Syndergaard made his third start with Cleveland since being acquired from the Dodgers for shortstop Amed Rosario on July 26. He allowed a career-high four home runs against the White Sox on Saturday.
The 30-year-old righthander has battled injuries over the past several seasons. He made 12 starts with the Dodgers before being sidelined with a blister and also underwent Tommy John surgery in 2020.
Rocchio had RBI doubles in the second and fifth. Tena had an RBI single in the second for his first major league hit and a double in the fifth.
Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 39 chances.
Tigers shut out Twins
Riley Greene broke up a pitcher’s duel with a sixth-inning homer and the Tigers beat the Twins, 3-0, in Detroit.
Detroit’s third straight victory gave the Tigers a 3-1 win of the work-week series.
“We really didn’t have a great game on Monday, but we bounced back and fought hard for these three wins,” said Tigers manager A.J. Hinch. “We had timely hits, guys were making good plays all over the defense and we obviously pitched really well.
“But we’ll see these guys again in a few days in Minnesota.”
Minnesota had won five straight after taking Monday’s opener. The Twins had two singles, the last in the fifth inning.
“We were trying to do a difficult thing — winning a game without scoring,” Baldelli said. “That’s not going to work out.”
Reese Olson (2-5) pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks while striking out eight.
Hayes powers Pirates
Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in three runs for the third straight game for the Pirates in a 7-5 victory overe the Braves, the best team in baseball.
Liover Peguero knocked in two and newly acquired reliever Thomas Hatch picked up his first win in nearly three years as Pittsburgh finished off an eight-game stretch against division leaders Atlanta and Milwaukee with a respectable 4-4 record.
“That’s what winning teams do,” Hatch said. “I think for them to do it at this age shows what is on the horizon.”
Matt Olson hit his 40th home run of the season for Atlanta to move into a tie with Shohei Ohtani for the majorleague lead but struck out looking with the tying run on the ninth to end it.
Bochy back in Bay Area
Bruce Bochy returns to San Francisco’s Oracle Park this weekend as manager of the Texas Rangers ready to face his former Giants in an interleague series.
It will be Bochy’s first time back in another uniform since managing San Francisco for 13 years and winning three World Series championships in 2010, ‘12 and ’14. “I have a lot of thank yous for everybody that played a part of my life here and made it such a wonderful 13 years,” Bochy said.