Homering Astros top Yanks, 9-4
NEW YORK >> Jose Altuve hit a leadoff homer, rookie Yordan Alvarez connected again and the Houston Astros beat the streaking New York Yankees 9-4 Sunday to end a seasonhigh seven-game skid.
New York had won eight straight but was stopped by ace Justin Verlander and a quartet of homers, including a grand slam from Tyler White.
DJ LeMahieu hit a threerun drive in the fifth, giving New York a home run in a franchise-record 26 consecutive games. The major league mark is 27, set by the 2002 Texas Rangers.
Altuve homered two pitches in, reaching the second deck in left field off J.A. Happ (7-4) as Houston snapped its first seven-game skid since 2015. White hit his first career slam in the fourth, and Alvarez reached the second deck in right field in the fifth with a two-run drive that knocked out Happ.
Alvarez has seven homers in 12 big league games since debuting this month.
Yuli Gurriel added a solo shot off Luis Cessa for Houston, which rebounded nicely from blowing a late lead Saturday.
Houston scored its other run on a single by Michael
Brantley in the second that made it 2-0.
Verlander (10-3) became the third 10-game winner in the AL, allowing three runs and four hits over seven innings. He struck out nine, walked two and completed seven innings for the 11th time this year, the most in the majors.
Including two starts in the 2017 ALCS, the seventime All-Star is 4-0 in six starts against the Yankees since joining the Astros.
Happ tied career worsts by allowing 11 hits and eight runs in four-plus innings to lose for the first time in seven decisions. Happ allowed eight runs for the fifth time in his career and 11 hits for the first time since June 13, 2012. in Cooperstown next month as baseball’s first unanimous selection. from right elbow surgery, began a rehab assignment with Class A Tampa.