BALTIMORE: The Baltimore Orioles’ seven-game winning streak ended under a barrage of home runs by Kendrys Morales, who went deep three times and had a career-high seven RBIs to provide the Toronto Blue Jays with an 11-8 victory Thursday night.
Looking to sustain its charge into the thick of the AL playoff picture, Baltimore bolted to a 5-2 lead in the third inning before the last-place Blue Jays stormed back behind Morales, who had four hits and scored four runs.
Morales hit a two-run homer in the third, an RBI single in a five-run fifth, added a three-run drive in the sixth and concluded his big night with a solo shot in the eighth.
It was his second career three-homer game. The first was Sept. 20, 2015, at Detroit.
Adam Jones and Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, who fell 2 ½ games back in the race for the final AL wild card.
Yankees 6 Red Sox 2: In New York, CC Sabathia shut down the Boston Red Sox for the fourth time this season and the New York Yankees got homers from Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird on the way to a 6-2 victory Thursday night in the opener of a pivotal four-game series.
Bird drove in three runs and Sanchez had two RBIs as the second-place Yankees shaved Boston’s lead in the AL East to 4 1/2 games. This weekend set in the Bronx marks the final meeting of the season between the longtime rivals — and perhaps New York’s last chance to make a serious run at its first division title in five years. New York maintained a tenuous hold on the league’s top wild card.
Cardinals 5 Giants 5-2: In San Francisco: Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings and Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-2.
The Giants were without staff ace Madison Bumgarner, a late scratch with flu symptoms, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Wacha (10-7) gave up one run, four hits and two walks as he bounced back from a tough stretch. In his three previous starts he was 0-3 with a 10.22 ERA.
The Cardinals moved within 5 1/2 games of the idle Colorado Rockies in the NL wild card race. They failed to gain ground in the NL Central as the first-place Chicago Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves to maintain a six-game lead.
Tommy Pham was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs for St. Louis.
Brewers 6 Nationals 3: In Milwaukee, Zach Davies won his 16th game to tie Arizona’s Zack Greinke for the most victories in the majors, Jonathan Villar homered and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals 6-3.
Davies (16-7) scattered six hits, walked two, struck out four and lowered his ERA to 1.77 over the last nine starts, five of them victories for himself and the team.
Greinke (16-6) beat the Dodgers 8-1 on Thursday afternoon. Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) and Chris Sale (Red Sox) are one game behind Davies and Greinke.
Villar hit a two-run homer off Gio Gonzalez (13-6) in the fifth. It was his 11th of the season, second two-run in as many days and came after Davies walked.
Trea Turner greeted Anthony Swarzak with a triple to start the eighth and scored on Jayson Werth’s groundout.
Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his 31st save.
Phillies 3 Marlins 2: In Miami: Ben Lively hastened Giancarlo Stanton’s slide into a slump, and the Philadelphia Phillies sent the Miami Marlins below .500 by winning 3-2.
Stanton failed to get the ball out of the infield in three plate appearances against Lively and finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. The major league home run leader (51) is 1 for 15 this week.
His young counterpart, Phillies rookie Rhys Hopkins, singled in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. That is the longest hitting streak by a Phillies player in the first month of his career since Hall of Famer Chuck Klein had a 13-game streak in 1928.
Astros boost rotation with trade for Verlander
The Houston Astros have acquired Justin Verlander in a trade with the Detroit Tigers.
The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that includes Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.
Astros owner Jim Crane says: “He adds a boost to our rotation. He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dimension we didn’t have.”
The 34-year-old Verlander, who won the Cy Young Award in 2011, is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA this season. The Tigers will receive three minor league prospects.
Crane hopes Verlander is a piece that can help the Astros in the postseason. He says: “We hope it positions us to get into the playoffs, get by the first round, get into the second round and get to the world series and win it. That’s what we’ve been working at and that’s what we’ll continue to work at and we want to win.”
Looking to sustain its charge into the thick of the AL playoff picture, Baltimore bolted to a 5-2 lead in the third inning before the last-place Blue Jays stormed back behind Morales, who had four hits and scored four runs.
Morales hit a two-run homer in the third, an RBI single in a five-run fifth, added a three-run drive in the sixth and concluded his big night with a solo shot in the eighth.
It was his second career three-homer game. The first was Sept. 20, 2015, at Detroit.
Adam Jones and Chris Davis homered for the Orioles, who fell 2 ½ games back in the race for the final AL wild card.
Yankees 6 Red Sox 2: In New York, CC Sabathia shut down the Boston Red Sox for the fourth time this season and the New York Yankees got homers from Gary Sanchez and Greg Bird on the way to a 6-2 victory Thursday night in the opener of a pivotal four-game series.
Bird drove in three runs and Sanchez had two RBIs as the second-place Yankees shaved Boston’s lead in the AL East to 4 1/2 games. This weekend set in the Bronx marks the final meeting of the season between the longtime rivals — and perhaps New York’s last chance to make a serious run at its first division title in five years. New York maintained a tenuous hold on the league’s top wild card.
Cardinals 5 Giants 5-2: In San Francisco: Michael Wacha pitched six strong innings and Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 5-2.
The Giants were without staff ace Madison Bumgarner, a late scratch with flu symptoms, as they lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Wacha (10-7) gave up one run, four hits and two walks as he bounced back from a tough stretch. In his three previous starts he was 0-3 with a 10.22 ERA.
The Cardinals moved within 5 1/2 games of the idle Colorado Rockies in the NL wild card race. They failed to gain ground in the NL Central as the first-place Chicago Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves to maintain a six-game lead.
Tommy Pham was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs for St. Louis.
Brewers 6 Nationals 3: In Milwaukee, Zach Davies won his 16th game to tie Arizona’s Zack Greinke for the most victories in the majors, Jonathan Villar homered and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Washington Nationals 6-3.
Davies (16-7) scattered six hits, walked two, struck out four and lowered his ERA to 1.77 over the last nine starts, five of them victories for himself and the team.
Greinke (16-6) beat the Dodgers 8-1 on Thursday afternoon. Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) and Chris Sale (Red Sox) are one game behind Davies and Greinke.
Villar hit a two-run homer off Gio Gonzalez (13-6) in the fifth. It was his 11th of the season, second two-run in as many days and came after Davies walked.
Trea Turner greeted Anthony Swarzak with a triple to start the eighth and scored on Jayson Werth’s groundout.
Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his 31st save.
Phillies 3 Marlins 2: In Miami: Ben Lively hastened Giancarlo Stanton’s slide into a slump, and the Philadelphia Phillies sent the Miami Marlins below .500 by winning 3-2.
Stanton failed to get the ball out of the infield in three plate appearances against Lively and finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts. The major league home run leader (51) is 1 for 15 this week.
His young counterpart, Phillies rookie Rhys Hopkins, singled in the fifth inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. That is the longest hitting streak by a Phillies player in the first month of his career since Hall of Famer Chuck Klein had a 13-game streak in 1928.
Astros boost rotation with trade for Verlander
The Houston Astros have acquired Justin Verlander in a trade with the Detroit Tigers.
The right-hander joins the American League West leaders and a rotation that includes Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers.
Astros owner Jim Crane says: “He adds a boost to our rotation. He’s been pitching well. We think he’ll give us some leadership. He’s been in the playoffs before and adds a dimension we didn’t have.”
The 34-year-old Verlander, who won the Cy Young Award in 2011, is 10-8 with a 3.82 ERA this season. The Tigers will receive three minor league prospects.
Crane hopes Verlander is a piece that can help the Astros in the postseason. He says: “We hope it positions us to get into the playoffs, get by the first round, get into the second round and get to the world series and win it. That’s what we’ve been working at and that’s what we’ll continue to work at and we want to win.”
