NEW YORK (AP) — Gary Sánchez, Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu homered in a hurry, connecting in a six-run fourth inning that powered the New York Yankees past the Houston Astros 10-6 on Thursday night for their sixth straight win.
Edwin Encarnación hit his AL-leading 23rd home run, and second since being acquired by New York from Seattle, as the Yankees handed Houston its season-worst fifth loss in a row.
The Astros dropped a matchup of division leaders despite Jake Marisnick’s two home runs and solo drives by Alex Bregman and rookie Yordan Álvarez.
Sánchez opened the fourth with his 22nd homer. With rain falling, Torres connected for a three-run jolt off rookie Framber Valdéz (3-3). LeMahieu tagged reliever Chris Devenski for a two-run homer and a 6-0 lead. The inning included two delays — a short break to fix the mound and a 37-minute stoppage when the showers fell too hard.
NATIONALS 7,
PHILLIES 4
WASHINGTON (AP) — Anthony Rendon and Victor Robles homered in a four-run sixth inning, and the Nationals completed a three-game sweep of Philadelphia.
Rendon led off the sixth with a tiebreaking drive against Nick Pivetta (4-2). Kurt Suzuki also went deep for the Nationals, who earned their first three-game sweep of the season. This victory followed a doubleheader win on Wednesday and postponements Monday and Tuesday. After sinking to 19-31 on May 23, Washington has used a 17-7 surge to get within two games of .500 (36-38) for the first time since April 28.
REDS 7, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jose Iglesias homered and drove in four runs, Tanner Roark allowed one run — a homer by major league leader Christian Yelich — over six solid innings and Cincinnati earned its fifth straight victory.
Iglesias followed a two-out triple by Yasiel Puig with his fifth homer to put the Reds up 5-1 in the fifth. He also singled in two runs in the first. Nick Senzel hit his seventh homer for the Reds.
Roark (5-6), who had lost three consecutive starts and five of his last six, allowed three hits, struck out seven and hit three batters. Jared Hughes followed with two scoreless innings and Zach Duke finished.
CUBS 7, METS 4
CHICAGO (AP) — Cubs top pitching prospect Adbert Alzolay tossed four innings of dazzling relief in his major league debut and the offense broke through with a six-run third to beat New York.
Javier Báez homered and tripled, and Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run double as the NL Central leaders improved to 26-12 at Wrigley Field.
Rookie slugger Pete Alonso hit his 25th homer and Todd Frazier connected for the 200th of his career for the Mets, who dropped to 15-26 on the road. Before the game, they fired pitching coach Dave Eiland and bullpen coach Chuck Hernández — but it made little difference on this night.
MARLINS 7,
CARDINALS 6,
11 INNINGS
ST. LOUIS (AP) — JT Riddle hit a two-run homer in the 11th, Zac Gallen was effective in his major league debut and the Miami Marlins edged the Cardinals.
Brian Anderson also went deep and drove in two runs for the Marlins, who earned a split of the four-game series.
Rookie infielder Tommy Edman homered for the Cardinals, who rallied from 4-1 and 5-3 deficits.
Riddle connected off Andrew Miller (3-3) with one out for a 7-5 lead.
ROCKIES 6,
DIAMONDBACKS 4, 10 INNINGS
PHOENIX (AP) — Chris Iannetta’s two-run, bases-loaded single in the 10th lifted the Colorado Rockies to a victory that completed a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Iannetta, a former Diamondbacks catcher, singled off the center-field wall against Yoshihisa Hirano (3-4) with one out to drive in Ian Desmond and Brendan Rodgers. The Rockies had tied it at 4 on Tony Wolters’ pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth off Arizona closer Greg Holland.
BLUE JAYS 7, ANGELS 5, 10 INNINGS
TORONTO (AP) — Billy McKinney’s two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th lifted the Blue Jays over the Los Angeles Angels to avoid a four-game sweep.
Randal Grichuk singled with one out and McKinney, who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning, went deep off Ty Buttrey (4-4) in his first at-bat since being recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday. It was McKinney’s fourth homer of the season.
The Blue Jays led 5-3 before the Angels pulled within one on Luis Rengifo’s RBI single to shallow in the top of the sixth, and tied it on Albert Pujols’ sacrifice fly in the seventh. Rengifo, who homered earlier in the game, finished with three hits, three RBIs and two runs scored.
RANGERS 4,
INDIANS 2
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Elvis Andrus homered and had an RBI triple to back another impressive home start by Mike Minor as the Rangers earned a series split.
Minor (7-4) limited the Indians to three hits and one run over eight innings after they had scored 10 runs each of the last two nights. The lefty struck out four and walked three while throwing 70 of 110 pitches for strikes.
Danny Santana went deep in the Rangers’ eighth, his third homer in the four-game series and seventh overall. Andrus immediately followed with his seventh homer, his first since May 12 at Houston.
ROYALS 4, TWINS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Alex Gordon had a two-run single and Lucas Duda added an RBI single as the Royals jumped on Jake Odorizzi in the first inning and beat the Minnesota Twins.
Glenn Sparkman (2-3) gave up just one run and five hits in a season high-tying seven innings. He walked one and struck out three. Duda, had two hits and scored a run to help the Royals win for the fourth time in five games.
Jake Diekman pitched a perfect eighth, and Ian Kennedy got the last three outs for his ninth save in 11 opportunities.
MARINERS 5,
ORIOLES 2
SEATTLE (AP) — Domingo Santana hit his third home run in two days, Wade LeBlanc gave the Mariners a boost on the mound after another rough outing by an opener. Santana’s homers helped the Mariners win back-to-back games for the first time since May 13-14 against Oakland.
The Orioles have lost eight straight, and have just three wins in June.
