CHICAGO — Chris Sale went the distance on a masterful four-hitter on Thursday night, becoming the first major league pitcher since 2008 to win his first nine starts, and the Chicago White Sox edged the Houston Astros 2-1 to snap their season-high four game losing streak.
Sale walked none and struck out a season-high nine en route to his second straight complete game. No other pitcher has more than seven victories in the big leagues this season.
The Arizona Diamondbacks’ Brandon Webb had been the last to post a 9-0 record in his first nine starts. The last White Sox to accomplish the feat was Eddie Cicotte in 1919, when he won 12 in a row.
Houston broke the shutout bid in the eighth, when Evan Gattis clubbed Sale’s first pitch for a home run.
BREWERS 5, CUBS 3
MILWAUKEE — Junior Guerra struck out a career-high 11, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Chris Carter homered and Milwaukee slowed Chicago.
Jason Hammel (5-1) allowed four runs and five hits in six innings. He had been 8-0 with a 2.37 ERA in 11 career starts against the Brewers. Chicago, a big-league best 28-11, has lost three times in a four-game span for the first time this season. The Cubs scored seven runs in the three-game series.
Making his first start against Chicago, Guerra (3-0) gave up Dexter Fowler’s 15th career leadoff homer but settled down to allow three runs and five hits in seven innings.
Tyler Thornburg got his first big league save.
BLUE JAYS 3, TWINS 2, 11 INNINGS
MINNEAPOLIS — Troy Tulowitzki drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out, two-strike single in the 11th inning the Toronto stopped a five-game losing streak.
Edwin Encarnacion’s two-run home run tied the game in the sixth for the only big hit during a duel between Marco Estrada and Ervin Santana, who pitched eight innings apiece. Estrada and Roberto Osuna (2-0) held the Twins hitless from the fourth through the 10th, and Joe Biagini worked the 11th inning for his first save.
Ryan Pressly (1-3) gave up the one-out single to Encarnacion in the top of the 11th that set up the winning run, and Tulowitzki delivered against Fernando Abad to send the Twins to their 16th loss in the last 19 games.
NATIONALS 9, METS 1
NEW YORK — Unbeaten Stephen Strasburg struck out 10, Daniel Murphy homered against his old team and Bryce Harper finally got a hit off shaky Matt Harvey as Washington routed New York.
Slumping Ben Revere singled to start a seven-run burst in the third inning and capped it with a two-run triple for a 9-1 lead, chasing Harvey and sending boos bouncing all around Citi Field.
The NL East-leading Nationals handed the Mets their sixth loss in seven games.
Strasburg (7-0) gave up one run and six hits in six innings, and tied Cubs ace Jake Arrieta for the league lead in wins. Harvey (3-6) was tagged for a career-worst nine runs.
CARDINALS 13, ROCKIES 7
ST. LOUIS — Matt Carpenter homered and drove in a career-high six runs and Matt Adams added four RBIs to lead St. Louis.
Stephen Piscotty, hitting cleanup for only the third time this season, had three hits and drove in two runs for the Cardinals.
Trevor Story hit his 12th home run of the season for the Rockies, a solo shot in the seventh. He had three hits.
Tyler Lyons (1-0) allowed one run over three innings in relief of Michael Wacha, who gave up eight hits and six runs in four innings.
Colorado starter Jon Gray (1-2) gave up nine runs and eight hits over 3 1/3 innings.
MARINERS 7, ORIOLES 2
BALTIMORE — Adam Lind broke open a close game with a three-run homer in the sixth inning, and Seattle beat Baltimore to complete another successful road series.
Leonys Martin also homered for the Mariners, who took two of three from Baltimore to improve to an AL-best 15-7 in away games. Seattle is 6-0-1 in seven road series.
Nathan Karns (4-1) allowed one run and four hits in five innings, striking out five and walking none.
The Mariners were nursing a 2-1 lead when Robinson Cano led off the sixth with a double off Tyler Wilson (2-2). After Kyle Seager received an intentional walk, Lind hit an opposite-field drive that barely cleared the left-field wall.
INDIANS 7, REDS 2
CINCINNATI — Carlos Santana hit two two-run homers, and Josh Tomlin stayed unbeaten by allowing only five hits while pitching into the eighth inning, leading Cleveland to its the first sweep of their annual intrastate series.
The Indians won two games in Cleveland and two at Great American Ball Park by outscoring the Reds 43-16. Neither team had swept the season series that started in 1997.
Tomlin (6-0) won his sixth straight decision on the road. The right-hander gave up Joey Votto’s two-run homer and fanned seven in 7 2/3 innings.
Santana connected in the fourth off Tim Adleman, who left the game a few pitches later with a strained left oblique. Santana hit his seventh homer the following inning off Caleb Cotham (0-3), the 34th homer allowed by the major leagues’ worst bullpen.
PIRATES 8, BRAVES 2
PITTSBURGH — Gregory Polanco homered and tripled, John Jaso collected three hits and Pittsburgh rolled.
Polanco hit a two-run shot to left-center in the second off Mike Foltynewicz (1-2) and finished 2 for 4. The left fielder is hitting .461 (12 for 26) in his last seven games.
Jeff Locke (2-3) allowed two runs and seven hits in seven innings to win for just the second time in eight starts this season.
Jeff Francouer went 3 for 4 with his fifth home run of the season for Atlanta.
YANKEES 4, ATHLETICS 1
OAKLAND, Calif. — Ivan Nova pitched six innings for his second win since moving into the starting rotation, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer and the Yankees held on to beat the Athletics.
Aaron Hicks added an RBI double while Brett Gardner had two hits and two walks to help the Yankees win the opener of the four-game series.
Oakland swept New York when the teams played in the Bronx but got little going against Nova and three relievers.
Nova (3-1) allowed one run and four hits in his longest outing this season since replacing the injured CC Sabathia in the Yankees’ rotation. The right-hander threw just 62 pitches, had three strikeouts and lowered his ERA to 1.65 in three starts.
Josh Reddick homered for Oakland before leaving after appearing to injure his left hand stealing second base in the seventh.
GIANTS 3, PADRES 1
SAN DIEGO — Jeff Samardzija pitched eight strong innings, Joe Panik had four hits and Brandon Crawford homered for the NL West-leading Giants, who beat San Diego for their season-high eighth straight victory.
The Giants went 7-0 on a swing through Arizona and San Diego. They head home to open a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs, who at 28-11 have the best record in the majors.
Samardzija (6-2) held San Diego to three hits and one run, struck out eight and walked none. He retired his final 19 batters after giving up an RBI double to Alexi Amarista with two outs in the second.
Samardzija was trying to become the third straight Giants pitcher to get a complete game, after Madison Bumgarner and Johnny Cueto went the distance in the first two games of the series. Samardzija threw 105 pitches.
ANGELS 7, DODGERS 4
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Johnny Giavotella singled in the tying and go-ahead runs with two outs in the fifth inning and the Angels rallied to beat the Dodgers, taking three out of four games in the Freeway Series.
Mike Trout homered for the second straight game and Carlos Perez added a solo shot for the Angels, who have scored 52 runs in the last eight games after just eight in their previous five games. They have won six of seven.
Trout was 2 of 3 with a walk, drove in three runs and scored twice in front of 45,007, the largest crowd for a regular-season game since Angel Stadium was renovated in 1998. Trout has raised his average to .327 after being at .220 a month ago.
Jose Alvarez (1-1) worked 1 2/3 innings for the win. Joe Smith pitched the ninth for his fifth save.