Astros stun Orioles 7-6 on Kyle Tucker’s grand slam off Félix Bautista

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This article was published 08/08/2023 (1154 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kyle Tucker’s grand slam off Félix Bautista in the top of the ninth inning gave the Houston Astros a 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

Houston trailed 5-0 after Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman homered off Framber Valdez in the first and second innings, but the Astros pulled off a remarkable comeback in the ninth.

Pinch-hitter Jon Singleton led off the ninth with a walk, and Jose Altuve followed with a single. Bautista (6-2) struck out Alex Bregman, but Yordan Alvarez came within a few feet of tying it with a drive to center. Jorge Mateo — a shortstop making only his second start of the year in center field — couldn’t catch it, and the ball bounced off the wall for a very long single.

Tucker then battled Bautista for nine pitches, finally hitting a 100 mph fastball to right-center field for his 20th home run of the year. Bautista had allowed only five earned runs all season before Houston scored four on him in two-thirds of an inning.

Ryne Stanek (3-1) won in relief, and Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Baltimore’s lead over Tampa Bay atop the AL East dropped to two games.

BRAVES 8, PIRATES 6

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Orlando Arcia hit a two-out, two-run double in the ninth, and Atlanta rallied from three runs down to beat Pittsburgh.

Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a leadoff homer but left the game in the sixth when he was hit on the left elbow by a pitch from Pirates reliever Colin Holderman. The Braves said X-rays were negative.

Kevin Pillar tied the game in the ninth with a two-out RBI single against Pirates closer David Bednar (3-2) before Arcia put the Braves ahead. Major league-best Atlanta stopped a three-game skid.

Kirby Yates (6-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. The Pirates put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Raisel Iglesias got Jack Suwinski to hit a game-ending comebacker for his 21st save in 23 chances.

MARINERS 2, PADRES 0

SEATTLE (AP) — Logan Gilbert struck out a career-high 12 in seven innings of one-hit ball and Seattle won its sixth straight.

Gilbert retired 21 of the 22 batters he faced, yielding only an infield single to San Diego’s Xander Bogaerts in the second inning. Star center fielder Julio Rodríguez aided Gilbert (10-5) by robbing Fernando Tatis Jr. of a potential homer with a leaping catch at the wall.

Seattle (61-52) has won 11 of 13 and pulled within two games of Toronto for the third and final AL wild-card spot. San Diego lost its third straight.

Matt Brash worked out of trouble in the eighth and Andrés Muñoz handled the ninth for his sixth save, concluding a three-hitter for Seattle.

Scott Barlow (2-5) allowed a one-out walk in the fifth and was relieved by Ray Kerr, who allowed the game’s first run on a pitch-clock violation.

RANGERS 6, ATHLETICS 1

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Max Scherzer gave up three hits over seven innings and Texas beat Oakland, extending its longest winning streak in seven years to eight games.

In his second start for the Rangers since being acquired by the New York Mets, Scherzer (11-4) struck out six, retired nine of the first 10 batters and didn’t allow a hit until JJ Bleday’s leadoff homer in the fourth.

Corey Seager had three hits including his 19th home run for the Rangers.

JP Sears (2-9) allowed nine hits and four runs in four innings. Oakland (32-82) assured itself of a losing season.

CUBS 3, METS 2

NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Tauchman hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off Drew Smith (4-4) and Jameson Taillon retired his final 16 batters to win his fourth straight start as Chicago beat New York.

Cody Bellinger also went deep and Yan Gomes had an RBI double for the surging Cubs, who won for the 16th time in 21 games.

Pete Alonso hit an early two-run homer for the sinking Mets. New York has lost seven of eight since trading Justin Verlander and other veterans at last week’s deadline.

Adbert Alzolay worked a one-hit ninth for his 15th save in 16 tries. He started a 1-6-3 double play on Daniel Vogelbach to end it.

Taillon (7-6) allowed three hits in seven innings and improved to 5-0 in his past six outings.

ROCKIES 7, BREWERS 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee’s Andrew Chafin and Abner Uribe combined to allow three straight bases-loaded walks in the 10th inning and hand the win to Colorado.

The Rockies’ Nolan Jones went deep twice, the first multi-homer game of his career. Other homers came from Colorado’s Elias Díaz and Milwaukee’s William Contreras and Andruw Monasterio.

Chafin (2-4) walked Michael Toglia to start the 10th before Brenton Doyle loaded the bases with a bunt single. Automatic runner Harold Castro scored the go-ahead run when Chafin walked Cole Tucker on four pitches. Uribe came in, started the at-bat with a pitch clock violation and then threw three more balls to Ezequiel Tovar. Uribe then walked Ryan McMahon on four pitches to put the Rockies ahead 6-3.

Matt Koch (1-0) worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief and Justin Lawrence retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th.

RAYS 4, CARDINALS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz, Brandon Lowe and Randy Arozarena hit RBI singles in the eighth inning and Tampa Bay beat St. Louis.

Josh Lowe opened the eighth with a triple against Miles Mikolas (6-8). Andre Pallante entered and retired pinch-hitter Harold Ramírez on a grounder before Díaz hit a groundball single to center that made it 2-1 — the first of four consecutive base hits.

Díaz went 4 for 4 and raised his average from .315 to .322 as the Rays improved to 7-3 over their last 10 games. Isaac Paredes hit his 22nd homer of the season in the seventh inning, when he knotted the game at 1-all.

Tampa Bay center fielder Jose Siri helped preserve the 1-all tie with a leaping catch at the wall on Nolan Gorman’s two-out drive off Jason Adam (3-2) with a runner on first in the top of the eighth.

Pete Fairbanks gave up a solo homer to Willson Contreras in the ninth before nailing down his 15th save and completing the five-hitter.

GUARDIANS 1, BLUE JAYS 0

CLEVELAND (AP) — Tanner Bibee pitched seven innings and Ramón Laureano drove in the game’s only run in his debut for Cleveland, which ended Toronto’s four-game winning streak.

Bibee (8-2) allowed six singles — three by Whit Merrifield — and remained unbeaten in his last nine starts.

Laureano, claimed off waivers on Monday from Oakland, hit an RBI double in the second inning off Yusei Kikuchi (9-4), who gave up three hits in seven innings.

Trevor Stephan pitched the eighth and Emmanuel Clase worked around two infield singles in the ninth for his 30th save.

MARLINS 3, REDS 2

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and Miami rallied past Cincinnati in a matchup of NL wild-card contenders.

Soler connected on a four-seam fastball from reliever Lucas Sims (3-3), sending it just out of the reach of leaping center fielder TJ Friedl. The Marlins held on to snap a five-game skid and move within one-half game of the Reds for the final wild-card spot. Cincinnati has lost seven of eight.

Miami starter Braxton Garrett (6-3) gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. David Robertson worked the ninth for his second save with Miami and 16th overall.

ANGELS 7, GIANTS 5

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Brandon Drury had three hits and Lucas Giolito picked up his first win for Los Angeles, which beat San Francisco to stop a seven-game skid.

Giolito (7-8) went six innings and allowed three runs on three hits with seven strikeouts. He had given up 12 runs in nine innings since being acquired from the Chicago White Sox on July 26.

Drury’s single in the Angels’ four-run first inning chased Giants starter Scott Alexander (6-2), who allowed hits to the only three batters he faced.

Wilmer Flores had two hits, including a two-run homer in the eighth inning, and drove in four runs for the Giants. Flores has reached base in 19 straight games, the longest streak of his career.

DODGERS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4

PHOENIX (AP) — Freddie Freeman had three hits, Julio Urías threw six quality innings and Los Angeles held on to beat fading Arizona.

The Dodgers have won three straight and seven of eight. The D-backs have lost seven straight and fell to .500 (57-57) for the first time since April 7, when they were 4-4.

Arizona scored twice in the ninth to get within one run, but Evan Phillips induced a game-ending double play from rookie Corbin Carroll to earn his 15th save in 17 chances.

Urías (9-6), who gave up four hits, struck out five and walked one. The left-hander has thrown 14 straight scoreless innings dating to July 25.

Rookie Brandon Pfaadt (0-6) threw 4 2/3 innings, giving up four runs and six hits.

YANKEES 7, WHITE SOX 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Aaron Judge and Kyle Higashioka homered and New York beat Chicago.

Clarke Schmidt (8-6) pitched neatly into the sixth inning and combined with two relievers for 13 strikeouts.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a two-run double and scored during New York’s four-run fourth against Touki Toussaint (1-5), and the Yankees scored three more in the eighth behind the long balls by Higashioka and Judge off Tanner Banks.

Luis Robert Jr. hit his 31st homer for the White Sox, whose three-game winning streak ended.

PHILLIES 8, NATIONALS 4, GAME 1

NATIONALS 5, PHILLIES 4, GAME 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joey Meneses’ second homer of the game was a solo shot off Philadelphia All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel (6-3) in the ninth inning that gave Washington a doubleheader split.

Meneses also hit a two-run shot off reliever Jeff Hoffman in the seventh that tied the game at 4-all. Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer for the Phillies.

Jordan Weems (3-0) tossed a scoreless eighth and Kyle Finnegan worked the ninth for his 18th save, fanning Harper to end it.

In the opener, Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber homered twice off Washington’s Trevor Williams (5-7) to reach 30 for the season and drove in five runs.

Zack Wheeler (9-5) settled down after allowing early homers to Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz, working six innings.

TIGERS 6, TWINS 0

DETROIT (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez pitched seven solid innings and Detroit stopped Minnesota’s five-game winning streak.

Rodriguez (8-5) allowed four hits — all singles — struck out five and walked three.

Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera went 2 for 4 and scored a run. He has 3,142 hits, passing Tony Gwynn and moving into a tie with Robin Yount for 19th place on the career list.

Twins ace Sonny Gray (5-5) struck out 10 in six innings. He was charged with three runs — two earned — and seven hits.

ROYALS 9, RED SOX 3

BOSTON (AP) — Drew Waters, MJ Melendez and Michael Massey each hit two-run home runs and Kansas City beat Boston to snap a three-game skid.

Brady Singer (8-8) allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings.

Adam Duvall homered for Boston, which has lost five of six. Kutter Crawford (5-6) allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Trevor Story made his season debut for the Red Sox following offseason shoulder surgery. The shortstop went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.

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