DETROIT — Max Scherzer pitched three-hit ball and struck out nine over eight innings, leading the Detroit Tigers past the Houston Astros 2-0 Monday night for their season-high sixth straight victory.
DETROIT — Max Scherzer pitched three-hit ball and struck out nine over eight innings, leading the Detroit Tigers past the Houston Astros 2-0 Monday night for their season-high sixth straight victory.
Rajai Davis broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and Victor Martinez hit a solo homer in the eighth. Catcher Alex Avila threw out two runners in the late innings for the Tigers, who have the best record in the AL.
Houston, which has the worst record in the majors, has lost three in a row.
Scherzer (4-1) earned his fourth straight win.
Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his sixth save in eight chances.
Jarred Cosart (1-3) allowed an unearned run and four hits in seven innings.
TWINS 1, INDIANS 0, 10 INNINGS
CLEVELAND — Eduardo Escobar homered leading off the 10th inning against Cleveland closer John Axford, giving the Twins a win.
Escobar, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, connected on a 1-0 pitch from Axford (0-3), driving it over the wall in right for his first homer since June 20 and fourth of his career in 344 at-bats.
Caleb Thielbar (2-0) pitched a perfect ninth and Glen Perkins struck out two in the 10th for his eighth save.
MARINERS 4, ATHLETICS 2
OAKLAND, Calif. — Stefen Romero hit his first major league home run to break a tie in the fifth inning, and the Mariners beat the Athletics for their third straight victory and eighth in 10 games.
Chris Young (2-0) allowed two hits over six strong innings to win his second straight start.
The right-hander faced the minimum through three and didn’t allow a hit until Jed Lowrie’s one-out single in the fourth. Brandon Moss hit a tying two-run homer two batters later.
Scott Kazmir (4-1), off to the best start in his career, was tagged for eight hits and four runs in six innings.
ANGELS 4, YANKEES 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels scored three runs on five straight walks in the eighth inning after Jered Weaver escaped a based-loaded jam with no outs in the top half, and Los Angeles beat the Yankees.
Yankees relievers Shawn Kelley (0-2), Matt Thornton and Preston Claiborne walked six overall in the eighth, the most walks in an inning by New York since 1990.
Weaver (3-2) allowed a run and six hits in eight innings, struck out seven and walked one.
Weaver bounded off the mound pumping his fist and shouting in excitement after getting Derek Jeter to ground into an inning-ending double play in the eighth.
BLUE JAYS 3, PHILLIES 0
PHILADELPHIA — Jose Reyes hit a leadoff homer, J.A. Happ tossed three-hit ball over five innings and Toronto beat Philadelphia.
Facing his former team, Happ (1-0) walked four and pitched out of trouble often in his first start of the season. The left-hander was filling in for injured righty Brendan Morrow. Four relievers finished off the seven-hitter.
Kyle Kendrick (0-3) lost his eighth straight decision, dating to last season. He gave up three runs and seven hits in seven innings.
The Phillies failed to go two games above .500 for the first time since Oct. 1, 2012. They are 0-4 in those situations this season.
CARDINALS 4, BRAVES 3
ATLANTA — Matt Carpenter’s two-run double in the fifth inning helped carry the St. Louis Cardinals past the slumping Atlanta Braves, who shook up their lineup but still lost their seventh in a row.
Desperate for more offense, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez batted pitcher Aaron Harang eighth and put second baseman Ramiro Pena in the ninth spot. Pena had two hits, including a seventh-inning homer that brought the Braves within a run, but they couldn’t overcome a 4-0 deficit.
Taking advantage of shaky defense, Carpenter doubled in two runs and Matt Holiday followed with a run-scoring single. Peter Bourjos had an RBI single in the sixth to extend St. Louis’ lead.
Shelby Miller (4-2) got the win and Trevor Rosenthal earned his ninth save. Harang (3-3) took the loss.
MARLINS 4, METS 3
MIAMI — Casey McGehee hit a sharp grounder that caromed into right field off the back of reliever Gonzalez Germen’s foot, allowing the winning run to score, and the Miami Marlins rallied late from a three-run deficit to beat the New York Mets.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a tying double in the eighth off Daisuke Matsuzaka, who failed to retire any of the five batters he faced in relief of Jonathon Niese. Giancarlo Stanton had an RBI single and the Marlins scored another run on shortstop Omar Quintanilla’s fielding error in the eighth.
Christian Yelich led off the ninth with a single off Scott Rice (0-1). He advanced to second on Ed Lucas’ sacrifice. Germen intentionally walked Giancarlo Stanton before McGehee got his RBI single.
Marlins closer Steve Cishek (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win.
NATIONALS 4, DODGERS 0
WASHINGTON — Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer in the first inning, and — thanks to an odd-moving storm that produced an interminable rain delay — the Washington Nationals didn’t finish off the Los Angeles Dodgers until some six hours later on Tuesday morning, gaining sole possession of first place in the NL East.
Jordan Zimmerman pitched four shutout innings before the game was halted, and five relievers threw an inning apiece after play resumed. In between, there was a delay of 3 hours, 17 minutes while a narrow, cigar-shaped storm took its time soaking D.C. and not much else.
As it was, Aaron Barrett (2-0) got the win, Zack Greinke (5-1) got a hard-luck first loss of the season and Danny Espinosa added a two-run homer in the eighth.
GIANTS 11, PIRATES 10, 13 INNINGS
PITTSBURGH — A throwing error by pitcher Jared Hughes on a sacrifice bunt by reliever Jean Machi in the 13th allowed the San Francisco Giants to score the winning run and overcome a six-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Hughes (1-1) came on to start the 13th. With one out, he walked Hunter Pence and hit Juan Perez with a pitch. Machi (5-0), in just the second plate appearance of his four-year career, then dropped down a bunt, which Hughes fielded and threw wildly past first base as Pence scored from second base.
Backup catcher Hector Sanchez had four hits and three RBIs in the Giants 20-hit attack, while Buster Posey, who got a day off from catching, had three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Machi pitched two scoreless innings and Sergio Romo worked the 13th for his 10th save.
WHITE SOX 3, CUBS 1, 12 INNINGS
CHICAGO — Marcus Semien hit a tiebreaking RBI double in a two-run 12th, Jose Quintana pitched one-hit ball over seven innings, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cubs.
Quintana and five relievers combined on a four-hitter, and the White Sox came away with the win after dropping four straight and six of seven to their crosstown rivals. The winning rally started when Alexei Ramirez singled off Justin Grimm with two out and stole second. Tyler Flowers walked, and Semien lined a 1-1 pitch over third baseman Mike Olt’s head to make it 2-1.
Grimm (1-1) plunked pinch-hitter Paul Konerko on the left arm to load the bases and walked Alejandro De Aza to make it a two-run game.
BREWERS 8, DIAMONDBACKS 0
MILWAUKEE — Carlos Gomez hit a home run and drove in three runs to lead the Milwaukee Brewers over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Martin Maldonado and Jean Segura also homered for Milwaukee, which had lost four of its last five entering the game. The Brewers still have the best record in baseball at 22-11.
Milwaukee remained the only team in baseball to not lose when scoring at least four runs, improving to 18-0 in those games. Matt Garza (2-3) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings for Milwaukee.
Mike Bolsinger (1-2) took the loss for the Diamondbacks after giving up four runs and seven hits in five innings.
ROCKIES 8, RANGERS 2
DENVER — Troy Tulowitzki homered twice, Jordan Lyles pitched eight strong innings and the Colorado Rockies beat the Texas Rangers.
Nolan Arenado also homered to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. It is the longest in the majors this season.
Tulowitzki had his first multi-homer game of the season and the ninth of his career. He hit a two-run shot off Texas starter Martin Perez in the fifth and hit another two-run homer off reliever Shawn Tolleson to give Colorado a 7-1 lead in the seventh.
It was more than enough for Lyles (4-0), who came within three outs of the second complete game of his career.
PADRES 6, ROYALS 5, 12 INNINGS
SAN DIEGO — Will Venable hit a two-run single in the 12th inning to give the San Diego Padres a win over the Kansas City Royals.
Venable singled off Tim Collins (0-2) and over the head of right fielder Lorenzo Cain to score Chris Denorfia with the tying run and Yonder Alonso with the winning run from second base.
Mike Moustakas hit an RBI single in the 12th off Tim Stauffer (1-0) to give the Royals a brief lead.
Jedd Gyorko’s solo homer with one out in the ninth inning off Royals closer Greg Holland tied the game at 4. It was Holland’s first blown save in eight chances.
Eric Hosmer homered and drove in three runs for Kansas City, which extended its season-high losing streak to five games despite a season-high 16 hits.