Sports

Yanks drop Astros to win eighth straight

June 23, 2019
New York Yankees left fielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) hits a two run single against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. — Reuters
New York Yankees left fielder Giancarlo Stanton (27) hits a two run single against the Houston Astros during the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium. — Reuters

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton drove in his first four runs of the season on a pair of two-run singles as the host New York Yankees extended their season-high winning streak to eight games with a 7-5 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

The Yankees picked up their latest win on a night when they blew a pair of two-run leads and homered for the 25th straight game, tying the team record set from June 1-29, 1941. New York is two shy of the all-time record set by the Texas Rangers from Aug. 11-Sept. 9, 2002, and became the seventh team to homer in 25 straight games.

In the bottom of the seventh, Austin Romine forged a 5-5 tie with a solo homer into the right field seats off Ryan Pressly (1-1). It came after Jonathan Holder (5-2), in relief of Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, allowed a two-strike, two-out, three-run homer to Yordan Alvarez in the top of the seventh.

DJ LeMahieu followed Romine's second homer of the season by reaching on an infield hit, and Aaron Judge reached on catcher's interference. After the runners moved up a base on Luke Voit's groundout, Stanton hit a 107 mph ground ball to third base that deflected into left field off third baseman Yuli Gurriel as he attempted to make a diving stop, bringing home LeMahieu and Judge.

Giants 7, Diamondbacks 4

Five relievers combined to shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks on two hits over the final five innings, allowing the San Francisco Giants to hold on for a victory over their National League West rival in Phoenix.

Alex Dickerson, who drove in six runs in his Giants debut in Friday's 11-5 win, tormented the Diamondbacks again, this time with two doubles that combined to drive in three runs.

The Giants overcame a 3-0 deficit and led 5-4 when manager Bruce Bochy pulled starter Tyler Beede in favor of Trevor Gott (4-0) after Arizona's David Peralta led off the fifth inning with a double.

Dodgers 5, Rockies 4 (11 innings)

Alex Verdugo had four hits and hit two home runs, including the walk-off blast, as Los Angeles rallied to defeat visiting Colorado in a near mirror-image of Friday's series opener.

One day after rookie Matt Beaty ended a victory on a ninth-inning homer, it was another Dodgers rookie to rip his first game-ending home run. Verdugo's second home run of the game was his seventh of the season.

Raimel Tapia hit a home run and rookie starter Peter Lambert pitched five solid innings in his fourth career outing but the Rockies dropped to 0-5 against the Dodgers this season and lost on consecutive days following a successful three-game sweep at Arizona.

Twins 5, Royals 3 (10 innings)

Minnesota scored twice in the top of the 10th inning to defeat host Kansas City as Luis Arraez led off the inning with a single and moved to second when Jake Cave was hit by a pitch. After Jorge Polanco flied to left, C.J. Cron's ground ball eluded Hunter Dozier at third to score Arraez. Nelson Cruz struck out, but Eddie Rosario's double scored Cave to give the Twins an insurance run.

Trevor May (2-1) pitched the ninth and picked up the win for the Twins. Wily Peralta (2-3) took the loss for the Royals. Blake Parker picked up his 10th save in 11 chances.

Miguel Sano led off the second inning with a 454-foot bomb to center for his ninth home run of the season. He has more home runs (12) and RBIs (43) against the Royals than he does against any other major league team. Cave led off the eighth inning for the Twins with his first home run of the season, a 437-foot shot to right center. One out later, Cron planted one in the left field bullpen.

Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 7

Boston reliever Ryan Brasier walked Eric Sogard and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the bases loaded to force in two runs — including the go-ahead run — in a three-run eighth inning and visiting Toronto came back to win.

Freddy Galvis and Rowdy Tellez homered for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 6-0 deficit and scored four runs in the seventh to close the gap to one.

Christian Vazquez homered for Boston. The Blue Jays tied the game in the eighth against Matt Barnes (3-2) on an infield single by Teoscar Hernandez, who took second on a wild pitch and scored on Cavan Biggio's single.

Barnes walked the next two batters to load the bases and was replaced by Brasier, who walked Sogard and Guerrero to give Toronto a two-run lead. Nick Kingham (3-1) struck out three and walked one in two innings to earn the win.

Cardinals 4, Angels 2

Albert Pujols provided one of the few highlights for visiting Los Angeles in a loss to St. Louis, but his home run and the standing ovations every time he came to the plate, were memorable for many who previously watched him win two World Series titles and three National League Most Valuable Player awards with the Cardinals.

Pujols played 11 seasons in St. Louis before signing with the Angels following the 2011 season. This series is his first trip back. The home run by Pujols was the lone blemish against St. Louis right-hander Dakota Hudson (6-3).

He went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits for his eighth consecutive quality start. Marcell Ozuna homered against the Angels for the second straight game, a two-run blast into the third deck in the sixth, stretching the lead to 4-0.

Braves 13, Nationals 9

Freddie Freeman had two hits and drove in five runs and Dansby Swanson lashed out two hits with four RBIs, including a key three-run homer, as Atlanta stormed back to beat host Washington in Washington, D.C.

The Braves, who trailed 8-4, have won 12 of their last 15 games. Washington was trying to reach the .500 mark for the first time since April 23, but its bullpen gave up nine runs, including three by Trevor Rosenthal in the seventh when he failed to retire a batter.

Washington, which had won a season-high five straight games, led 8-4 before the Braves scored four in the seventh and four in the eighth. Juan Soto was 3-for-4 with four RBIs for the Nationals.

Brewers 6, Reds 5

Milwaukee's Yasmani Grandal homered and had two RBIs as the Brewers broke their five-game losing streak with a win over visiting Cincinnati after Grandal had a solo homer, double, two runs scored and a walk in a 2-for-3 day batting from the leadoff spot.

Mike Moustakas went 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Christian Yelich was 0-for-3 and had his 18-game hitting streak broken. Reliever Matt Albers (4-2) collected the win with 1 1/3 innings of hitless relief. Lefty closer Josh Hader recorded six straight outs to notch his 18th save in 19 chances, striking out four.

Athletics 4, Rays 2

Matt Chapman highlighted a two-run seventh inning with a tie-breaking double, sending Oakland to victory over visiting Tampa Bay, the A's fourth in six games against the Rays over the past two weeks.

After twice seeing one-run leads disappear, the A's took charge for good in the seventh, when Beau Taylor drew a leadoff walk from Rays reliever Diego Castillo (1-6). After a single by Marcus Semien, Chapman laced his go-ahead double to center, scoring pinch runner Josh Phegley.

The Rays chose to load the bases by intentionally walking Matt Olson, but after Castillo got Khris Davis to hit into a fielder's choice with the out at home, he hit Ramon Laureano with a full-count pitch, allowing the inning's second run to score.

Indians 2, Tigers 0

Rookie Aaron Civale (1-0) scattered two hits and struck out six over six innings in his major league debut as host Cleveland beat Detroit after Jose Ramirez ripped an RBI triple in the second inning and rookie Oscar Mercado had an RBI single in the third.

The Indians have won seven of their last nine overall and moved a season-high six games over .500. They outscored Detroit by a 34-12 margin over the past nine days to win each of the five games. JaCoby Jones and Niko Goodrum each collected two of the six hits for the Tigers, who have surrendered 53 runs while losing seven of their last eight games.

Rangers 6, White Sox 5

Nomar Mazara homered twice and Lance Lynn pitched resiliently after a shaky first inning to help host Texas beat Chicago in Arlington, Texas. Mazara connected against White Sox starter Odrisamer Despaigne for both homers. He also drilled a towering home run estimated at 505 feet in Friday's series opener.

Lynn (9-4) went seven innings, allowing five runs and six hits, with six strikeouts and one walk. After allowing four runs in the first inning, the right-hander settled down and retired 13 in a row during one stretch. Lynn is 7-2 in his past 11 starts.

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double and a career-high-tying four RBIs. Anderson highlighted Chicago's first inning outburst with a two-out, bases-clearing double and scored on Yolmer Sanchez's double one batter later.

Mets 10, Cubs 2

Pete Alonso, Todd Frazier and Wilson Ramos homered, Zack Wheeler pitched seven strong innings, and New York cruised over host Chicago as the Mets scored in each of the first six innings and came within one run of matching their season high.

Alonso has 26 home runs, setting a record for a National League rookie prior to the All-Star break. The blast tied Alonso for the Mets' franchise record for most home runs by a rookie, matching Darryl Strawberry in 1983.

Jason Heyward had two singles and a double to lead the Cubs at the plate. Wheeler (6-5) limited the Cubs to one run on five hits. He walked one and struck out five.

Marlins 5, Phillies 3

Wilkin Castillo's go-ahead two-run double capped a three-run seventh inning for visiting Miami, which went on to beat Philadelphia, sending the Phillies to their sixth straight loss and dropping them to 6-13 this month.

The Marlins have won three straight, including the first two games of the three-game series. The Phillies carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh, thanks to a pair of third-inning solo homers by Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins and a fifth-inning RBI single by Harper. But the Marlins rallied against Adam Morgan (2-2), who, in his first appearance since coming off the injured list, gave up three runs on two hits and a walk.

Pirates 6, Padres 3

Adam Frazier drove in two runs and Elias Diaz and Jung Ho Kang added one each in a four-run eighth inning that boosted Pittsburgh to its third straight win by beating visiting San Diego.

With the game knotted 2-2, Starling Marte opened the eighth with a triple against Craig Stammen (5-4). Josh Bell walked, and Colin Moran was intentionally walked, loading the bases before Frazier chopped a two-run single up the middle. Diaz followed with an RBI base hit, and Kang hit a sacrifice fly for a 6-2 lead.

Jose Osuna hit a two-run homer for Pittsburgh. Manny Machado hit a solo homer for the second day in a row and had an RBI single for San Diego, which has lost two straight.

Orioles 8, Mariners 4

Jonathan Villar and Anthony Santander hit home runs and Andrew Cashner pitched six solid innings as Baltimore snapped a 10-game losing streak with a victory against host Seattle.

Domingo Santana homered for the Mariners, who were wearing the uniforms of the 1969 Seattle Pilots on Turn Back the Clock Day. Seattle had a three-game winning streak end. Cashner (7-3), a right-hander, allowed two runs on five hits, with one walk and three strikeouts.

Trailing 1-0, Villar hit a three-run homer off Mariners left-hander Tommy Milone (1-2) with one out in the top of the fourth. With one out, Pedro Severino lined a single to left and Renato Nunez followed with a double to left to send Severino to third. Villar then hit an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left. — Reuters


June 23, 2019
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