Astros beat Nationals 6-1 for 11th straight victory

WASHINGTON — Jose Altuve homered on the first pitch of the game, Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel also went deep and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 6-1 rout of the Washington Nationals on Friday night.

Houston manager Dusty Baker, who led Washington to consecutive NL East titles in 2016 and ‘17, won in his first game back at Nationals Park since he was fired after two seasons.

Framber Valdez (2-2) allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings foir his first victory since April 7. Houston has allowed just 12 runs during its streak with an 0.91 ERA in that stretch.

Washington has lost seven of its last nine and is 4-14 at home. Its 11-23 record after 34 games is its worst since opening 9-25 in 2007.

Valdez struck out six during his longest outing of the year, yielding his only run on Alcides Escobar’s fielder’s choice grounder in the seventh.

Josiah Gray (4-3) allowed six runs and six hits in six innings.

YANKEES 10, WHITE SOX 4

CHICAGO — Giancarlo Stanton homered in his third consecutive game, Aaron Judge went deep for the second time in two nights and New York routed Chicago.

After connecting twice and driving in a career-high six runs Thursday in a 15-7 win, Stanton smacked a two-run drive Friday in the first inning against Vince Velasquez (2-3). The Yankees have won 19 of 22 games.

Judge made it 6-0 when he hit a solo drive in the fourth for his major league-leading 12th home run. Josh Donaldson also homered in his second straight game and drove in three runs, and Joey Gallo went deep, too.

Gerrit Cole (3-0) lasted 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs and six hits. The right-hander struck out nine and walked one, helping New York improve to a major league-best 24-8.

The White Sox lost for the third time in four games.

ANGELS 2, ATHLETICS 0

OAKLAND, Calif. — Chase Silseth allowed one hit in six strong innings while becoming the first player from last year’s draft to make his major league debut, leading Los Angeles past Oakland.

An 11th-round draft pick by the Angels last July, Silseth was still pitching in college for Arizona a year ago. He made eight appearances in the minors before getting called up from Double-A Rock City before the game to pitch for the big league club — five days before his 22nd birthday.

Silseth (1-0) dazzled the A’s with a fastball clocked at 98 mph and a steady sinker and slider that helped produce eight groundouts. The right-hander finished with four strikeouts and two walks during his 81-pitch outing, and allowed only one runner to reach second base.

Aaron Loup and Ryan Tepera each retired three batters. Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his eighth save to complete the two-hitter.

Anthony Rendon had two hits for the Angels. Andrew Velazquez added his second career home run.

Jefferies (1-6) was the loser.

MARINERS 2, METS 1

NEW YORK — Ty France hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning for yet another key hit and Seattle broke through against New York’s bullpen after Max Scherzer tired in the Mariners’ first game at Citi Field.

The Mets wore black jerseys on a misty Friday the 13th behind Scherzer, who pitched superbly and left after escaping a seventh-inning jam.

Seattle, which won for just the fourth time in 16 games, went ahead in the eighth after Drew Smith (0-1) walked his first two batters, Abraham Toro and Adam Frazier. With the infield shifted for France to pull, he poked a slider on the outside corner down the right-field line.

Paul Sewald (2-1) struck out Starling Marte to strand runners at second and third in the seventh and threw a 1-2-3 eighth in his return to Citi Field, where he pitched for the Mets from 2017-20.

Drew Steckenrider pitched the ninth for his second save.

RED SOX 7, RANGERS 1

ARLINGTON, Texas — Nick Pivetta allowed a run and three hits in a season-long seven innings to win for the first time since August and Boston had a four-run sixth inning to beat Texas.

J.D. Martinez began Boston’s big inning by lining a single to left field that skipped at Brad Miller’s feet. The hit extended Martinez’s hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to 30 games to last September, both the longest active streaks in the major leagues.

Pivetta (1-4) ended a personal seven-game losing streak over 13 starts. His previous win was Aug. 13, 2021, over Baltimore. He struck out four and walked one. His shutout bid ended in the seventh inning when Kole Calhoun tripled to center and scored on a wild pitch.

The Red Sox have won two of their last three games following a season-long five-game losing streak that put them in last place in the AL East.

Calhoun had three of Texas’ four hits. Dane Dunning (1-2) took the loss.

REDS 8, PIRATES 2

PITTSBURGH — Mike Moustakas homered twice and Brandon Drury drove in four runs to break out of a slump and lead resurgent Cincinnati past Pittsburgh,

Moustakas hit a solo shot into the right field stands in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie. In the seventh, he had another solo homer to make it 8-2, two batters after Drury had a two-run drive.

It was the 15th multihomer game for Moustakas, who has 199 career home runs. He helped the Reds win for the sixth time in eight games following a 3-22 start.

Tyler Mahle (2-4) won for the first time since opening day, snapping a six-start winless streak. Mitch Keller (0-5) remained winless.

Ben Gamel opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his first career leadoff homer.

TWINS 12, INDIANS 8

MINNEAPOLIS — Royce Lewis hit a grand slam for his first big league homer, capping a nine-run fifth inning that sent Minnesota past coronavirus-struck Cleveland.

Byron Buxton, Jorge Polanco and Gary Sánchez also homered for Minnesota. The spree came after Minnesota was shut out in two of its three games against Houston.

The Guardians returned after having a game Wednesday at the Chicago White Sox called off — that was the first COVID-19-related postponement in the majors this season.

Cleveland pitching coach Carl Willis ran the team in place of manager Terry Francona, who entered MLB’s health and safety protocols this week. First base coach Sandy Alomar, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, bench coach DeMarlo Hale, assistant pitching coach Joe Torres and hitting analyst Justin Toole also are out. Earlier Friday, Cleveland outfielder Josh Naylor was put on the COVID-19-related injured list.

Griffin Jax (3-0) got the win despite giving up four runs on four hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings. Aaron Civale (1-3) was the loser.

BREWERS 2, MARLINS 1

MIAMI — Jace Peterson walked against Anthony Bender with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to lift Milwaukee past Miami.

After starters Corbin Burnes and Pablo López dueled for seven innings, former Marlins star Christian Yelich reached on a leadoff single against Tanner Scott (0-1) in the ninth. Scott hit Luis Urías and surrendered pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor’s single to right that loaded the bases.

Bender relieved and struck out Hunter Renfroe before walking Peterson on four pitches.

Devin Williams (2-0) pitched a perfect eighth and Josh Hader closed with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.

The Brewers struck quickly on Kolten Wong’s leadoff shot in the first. Miami tied it in the third on Jesús Aguilar’s solo homer.

TIGERS 4, ORIOLES 2

DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera doubled and homered to help slumping Detroit beat Baltimore.

Eduardo Rodriguez (1-2) pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and walking four as the Tigers won for just the second time in 11 games. The Orioles left the bases loaded in each of the last three innings.

Cabrera gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the third. It was his 602nd career double, moving him ahead of Barry Bonds for sole possession of 17th place in major league history and drawing a standing ovation from the Comerica Park crowd.

His 504th career homer in the sixth inning made it 2-0. The homer moved him into a tie with Eddie Murray for 27th on the career list and gave him 1,123 extra-base hits, breaking a tie with Manny Ramirez for 17th place.

Trey Mancini and Anthony Santander homered for Baltimore on Jacob Barnes’ first two pitches of the eighth, making it 4-2. Will Vest finished fir his first career save.

Jordan Lyles (2-3) took the loss.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, CUBS 3

PHOENIX — Ketel Marte had three hits and drove in a run, Zach Davies pitched effectively into the sixth inning and Arizona beat Chicago.

Marte struggled to start the season after signing a long-term contract in spring training, but has started to round back into All-Star form the past couple of weeks. He had a pair of doubles off Drew Smyly (1-4) and finished 3 for 4, raising his average to .222.

Davies (2-1) allowed three runs and four hits with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings. Ian Kennedy worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth after shortstop Geraldo Perdromo’s two-out error and Mark Melancon pitched a perfect ninth for his seventh save in eight chances.

Arizona has won eight of 10 to move three games over .500 after struggling at the start of the season.

GIANTS 8, CARDINALS 2

ST. LOUIS — Logan Webb pitched six strong innings and San Francisco Giants beat St. Louis for its sixth straight victory.

Curt Casali hit his first homer of the season during a five-run burst in the eighth inning. St. Louis has lost five of six.

Webb (5-1) gave up just one run despite allowing the leadoff batter to reach in five innings. He didn’t permit a hit until Brendan Donovan’s shift-aided single to lead off the fifth and his defense turned a pair of double plays behind him. Webb allowed three hits, walked three and struck out one.

Dominic Leone, Zack Littell and Jarlín García each pitched an inning to complete the combined six-hitter.

Paul Goldschmidt homered off Littell in the eighth to extend the Cardinals’ home run streak to nine games. Cardinals starter Jordan Hicks (1-3) was the loser.

RAYS 5, BLUE JAYS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Lowe hit a pair of triples and Manuel Margot had a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, leading Tampa Bay past Toronto.

Lowe’s RBI triple capped a three-run eighth as the Rays sent Toronto to its fifth straight loss. The Rays broke a 2-2 tie with three straight hits off starter Kevin Gausman (3-2).

Margot returned to the lineup after missing two games with a tight hamstring and extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his go-ahead single.

Andrew Kittredge (3-0) got the win in relief. Jason Adam pitched the ninth for his first major league save.

PADRES 11. BRAVES 6

ATLANTA — Ha-Seong Kim hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off reliever Will Smith, Wil Myers went deep in the sixth against Max Fried and San Diego beat Atlanta.

Kim homered for the fourth time after Eric Hosmer and Myers singled against Smith (0-1) to make it 7-6. Myers added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 8-6. His solo shot to center in the sixth gave San Diego a 4-2 lead.

Kim, Hosmer and Myers each had three hits to help San Diego to a season-high 16.

Luis Garcia (1-2) pitched a scoreless seventh. Taylor Rogers got the last four outs for his 13th save.

ROYALS 14, ROCKIES 10

DENVER — Andrew Benintendi hit a two-run homer and an RBI triple, Hunter Dozier had his first career five-hit game and Kansas City outscored Colorado.

Ryan O’Hearn also homered, Michael A. Taylor had three hits and drove in two, and Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a two-run triple for the Royals. They entered the night with the second fewest runs in the majors.

Brendan Rodgers hit a two-run homer, doubled twice and drove in four, and Sam Hilliard homered for the Rockies in their fifth straight loss. Kyle Freeland (1-4) allowed 12 of Kansas City’s 18 hits over 4 1/3 innings, and Colorado gave up six unearned runs.

Dylan Coleman (1-1) relieved Zack Greinke after Colorado got to 8-7 in the sixth and got out of the inning. Then Benintendi, who beat Kansas City in an arbitration hearing earlier in the day to earn an $8.5 salary, hit his second triple of the season in a four-run seventh against Alex Colome to give Kansas City another cushion.

PHILLIES 12, DODGERS 10, 10 INNINGS

LOS ANGELES — Nick Castellanos had a two-run double during Philadelphia’s three-run 10th, and the Phillies battered the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitching staff for the second straight game.

Justin Turner hit a tying two-run homer in the ninth and drove in four runs for the Dodgers, who have lost three straight for the first time since July 21-23, 2021.

Bryce Harper hit a tiebreaking RBI double in the sixth and a solo homer in the eighth for the Phillies, who have 27 hits and 21 runs in their first two games against the NL’s best pitching staff at Chavez Ravine. Kyle Schwarber homered, rookie Bryson Stott drove in a career-high three runs and Castellanos also had three RBIs. Jeurys Familia (1-0) got the win in relieve after blowing the save in the ninth.

Brusdar Graterol (0-2) took the loss.