MLB roundup: Dallas Keuchel pitches Astros to 10th straight win
The Houston Astros won their 10th straight game, with Dallas Keuchel getting three-run homers from Max Stassi and Alex Bregman to rout the Kansas City Royals 10-2 on Saturday in Kansas City, Missouri.
Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the first inning to send the World Series champions on their way. The Astros had an 11-game win streak last season that ended in Kansas City.
The Royals have lost five in a row and are just 2-12 in June.
Keuchel (4-8) began 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.
Danny Duffy (3-7) had been pitching well of late, but the Royals left-hander allowed seven runs on seven hits and three walks in six innings.
Yankees 4, Rays 1: In New York, Luis Severino pitched eight sharp innings and New York won for the 13th time in 16 games with a victory over Tampa Bay.
Giancarlo Stanton and Sanchez hit back-to-back home runs to help the Yankees send the Rays to their 18th loss in 22 games at Yankee Stadium.
Severino (10-2) simply overwhelmed a weak-hitting Rays lineup that has produced just one run over its last 21 innings. The 24-year-old righty gave up three hits, struck out nine and walked two, tying Cleveland’s Corey Kluber for the A.L. wins lead.
Chasen Shreve gave up a leadoff homer in the ninth to Matt Duffy, who went deep for just the fourth time this year. Jake Bauers followed with a triple and Aroldis Chapman then set down the next three batters for his 20th save.
Ryan Yarbrough (5-3) gave up a run in the second on rookie Gleyber Torres’ two-out double. Didi Gregorius hit an RBI single in the third.
Tigers 7, White Sox 5: In Chicago, Nicholas Castellanos homered twice and Jose Iglesias hit a tiebreaking RBI single in Detroit’s two-run eighth that carried the Tigers past Chicago for their fourth straight win.
Castellanos hit a three-run drive in the third and a two-run shot in the fifth. It was his first multihomer game since Aug. 22 against the Yankees and No. 4 for his career.
The Tigers blew a 5-0 lead but recovered in time to improve to 7-1 against the lowly White Sox this year. Buck Farmer (3-3) pitched a scoreless inning for the win and Shane Greene worked the ninth for his 19th save.
Victor Martinez sparked the winning rally in the eighth with a leadoff single against Jace Fry (0-1). Bruce Rondon then walked John Hicks and couldn’t make a diving grab of JaCoby Jones’ bunt popup, loadiing the bases.
Iglesias hand a run scoring infield sing and Niko Goodrum drew a four-pitch walk.
Blue Jays 2, Nationals 0: In Toronto, Max Scherzer lost his second straight start for the first time since 2015 when Marco Estrada pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings and Devon Travis homered to lead Toronto past Washington.
Scherzer (10-3) gave up four hits, including the two-run homer by Travis, in six innings. The two-time N.L. Cy Young Award winner struck out 10, increasing his major league-leading total to 152.
Travis homered for the second game in a row when he connected in the fifth, right after Scherzer hit Luke Maile with a pitch.
Estrada (4-6) allowed three hits, one a bunt single, to win back-to-back starts for the first time this season.
Danny Barnes and Aaron Loup each got two outs and former Nationals closer Tyler Clippard finished the three-hitter for his third save in six opportunities.
Toronto has won six straight at home after losing 10 of its previous 11 at Rogers Centre.
Braves 1, Padres 0: In Atlanta, Sean Newcomb pitched six scoreless innings and Charlie Culberson homered to lead Atlanta over San Diego.
The N.L. East-leading Braves improved to 25-7 when their starter pitches at least six innings, and Newcomb has been a big reason for the success.
A winner in eight of his last nine decisions, Newcomb (8-2) allowed two hits, walked one and struck out seven. He retired the last 13 batters he faced.
Dan Winkler faced four batters in the seventh, A.J. Minter faced the minimum in the eighth and closer Arodys Vizcaino earned his 14th save in 16 chances by working through a shaky ninth.
Jordan Lyles (2-4) allowed two base runners – a single by Dansby Swanson in the first and another by Culberson in the second – before Culberson’s third homer made it 1-0 in the fifth.
Marlins 5, Orioles 4: In Baltimore, J.T. Realmuto homered twice and had four RBIs off Alex Cobb, and Miami handed Baltimore its ninth straight loss.
Realmuto singled in a run in the first inning, hit a two-run shot in the third and led off the fifth with his ninth home run. It was his fourth career multihomer game, the second this season.
The Orioles, who have their longest skid since a 10-game stretch in July 2011, tied a club record with their 11th consecutive home loss and fell to 19-50 overall, the worst record in the majors.
Jonathan Schoop homered and Manny Machado had two RBIs for the Orioles. They have gone more than a month without winning at Camden Yards.
Wei-Yin Chen (2-3) limited Baltimore to three runs over six innings to earn his first victory since April 28. Drew Steckenrider worked the ninth for his first save.
Cobb (2-9) allowed five runs and seven hits over seven innings.
Athletics 6, Angels 4: In Oakland, California, Stephen Piscotty hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the sixth inning and Oakland held on to beat Los Angeles.
Chad Pinder homered and tripled, Marcus Semien also went deep and Jonathan Lucroy drew a bases-loaded walk to help Oakland end its season-high four-game losing streak.
Sean Manaea (6-6) pitched four-hit ball and allowed three runs over six innings. The left-hander retired the first 12 batters, stumbled through a shaky fifth, then recovered for his first win in more than a month.
Chris Young hit a three-run home run for Los Angeles.
Semien homered leading off the sixth to chase Angels starter John Lamb. Reliever Noe Ramirez (2-3) hit Pinder with a pitch, walked Khris Davis an out later before hitting Matt Olson to load the bases. Ramirez struck out pinch-hitter Dustin Fowler but Lucroy walked to force in the tying run and Piscotty hit a two-run single.
Pirates 6, Reds 2: In Pittsburgh, Josh Harrison hit a two-run homer, Colin Moran and Elias Diaz added solo shots and Pittsburgh pulled away from Cincinnati.
Moran and Diaz both went deep off Luis Castillo (4-8) to give Pittsburgh the lead. Harrison hit his fourth of the season off reliever Austin Brice in the sixth.
Harrison finished 2 for 4 and is hitting .368 this season against the Reds. Rookie Austin Meadows also went 2 for 4 to boost his average to .333.
Ivan Nova (4-5) worked through heavy traffic in six innings to pick up his second victory in two starts since returning from the 10-day disabled list with a sprained right ring finger.
Rockies 5, Rangers 2: In Arlington, Texas, Adrian Beltre hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in the eighth inning, and Texas snapped a seven-game losing streak.
The 39-year-old Beltre, who has been on the disabled list twice this season because of a strained left hamstring, got the triple on a fly ball that went over the head of right fielder Carlos Gonzalez and ricocheted off the bottom half of the outfield wall. It was Beltre’s 3,095th career hit, tops among active players.
Delino DeShields drew a leadoff walk against Harrison Musgrave (0-2), and went to third on Jurickson Profar’s single. Both scored on Beltre’s 38th career triple. Ryan Rua took over as a pinch runner and came home on Rougned Odor’s sacrifice fly.
Jose Leclerc (2-2) struck out two in a perfect eighth and Keone Kela worked the ninth for his 15th save, the most in the majors without a blown chance.
Twins 9, Indians 3: In Cleveland, Indians starter 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 Cleveland.
Carrasco grabbed his arm after being hit by Joe Mauer’s leadoff liner in the second inning and went to his knees on the infield grass. The Indians announced he was taken to a hospital for examination of a forearm contusion.
Rosario hit his 16th homer for the Twins, who have won five straight against the A.L. Central leaders to improve to 6-2 against Cleveland this season. Rosario also scored four times, drove in two runs and swiped a base.
Minnesota scored four runs in the first off Carrasco (8-5). Eduardo Escobar and Max Kepler each hit a two-run double in the inning. Logan Morrison had three RBIs, including a two-run double in the sixth.
Matt Magill (2-1) got the win with three scoreless innings in relief of Fernando Romero.
Phillies 4, Brewers 1: In Milwaukee, Rhys Hoskins and Andrew Knapp hit home runs and Philadelphia overcame stranding 15 runners on base to beat Milwaukee.
Zach Eflin (4-2) beat Milwaukee for the second time in a week. The Brewers began the day with the best record in the National League, and had scored 40 runs against the Phillies in four previous games before being stymied by Eflin and four relievers.
Eflin gave up one run in five innings. Hector Neris pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 13 chances.
Hoskins hit a towering home run in the fourth off the window of a restaurant on Miller Park’s third level to tie the score at 1-1. Junior Guerra (3-5) had retired eight in a row before Hoskins, who also doubled, singled and walked, hit his ninth homer.
The Phillies took the lead in the fifth on Knapp’s leadoff homer to straightaway center.
Mariners 1, Red Sox 0: In Seattle, Wade LeBlanc pitched into the eighth inning and Nelson Cruz had an RBI single as Seattle beat Boston.
LeBlanc gave up just two hits and struck out nine over 7 2/3 innings. After a single by Mookie Betts on the opening at-bat of the game, LeBlanc (3-0) retried the next 22 batters until Eduardo Nunez singled with two outs in the eighth.
Alex Colome got pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland to pop out to end the inning, and Edwin Diaz struck out the side in the ninth for his 27th save.
Dodgers 3, Giants 1: In Los Angeles, Enrique Hernandez and Matt Kemp each homered for the second consecutive game, Alex Wood got his first victory since May 20 and Los Angeles beat San Francisco.
The Dodgers have won five straight, all at home, and are 11-2 in June and 21-6 since May 17.
The Giants have lost 17 of their last 23 road games and are 3-6 on their 10-game trip to Washington, Miami and Los Angeles.
Hernandez hit his 10th home run and fourth career against starter Madison Bumgarner. Kemp hit his 12th home run and has reached base in 15 of his last 18 games against the Giants. Both players went deep in a 3-2 win Friday over the Giants.
The Dodgers lead the majors with 34 home runs in 13 games in June.
Cubs 6, Cardinals 3: In St. Louis, Addison Russell and Jason Heyward homered and Ian Happ’s double broke a 3-all tie as the Chicago rallied to beat St. Louis.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (5-6) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings, snapping a career-high three game losing streak. Brandon Morrow got the last three outs for his 16th save in 17 chances.
Chicago trailed 2-0 and then 3-2 before Kyle Schwarber’s RBI single in the fifth tied the score for the second time. Happ’s double off Sam Tuivailala (1-2) in the seventh gave the Cubs their first lead.
Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1: In Phoenix, Michael Conforto hit a three-run home run and added an RBI double to power New York past Arizona.
Steven Matz picked up the win for the Mets, pitching 6 2/3 innings and allowing one run on six hits with three strikeouts.