AMERICAN LEAGUE

Hamels stymies Astros as 4-run 3rd lifts Rangers

RANGERS 6, ASTROS 4

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Cole Hamels pitched seven scoreless innings, Elvis Andrus scored each time after his three hits and the Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros 6-4 Friday night, the fourth consecutive loss for the team with the AL's best record.

Hamels (7-1) limited the Astros to three singles only six days after the lefty's complete game against Minnesota. Two of those were infield hits, including Jose Altuve's comebacker that ricocheted off his left knee and into foul territory in the fourth.

Houston (71-44) has lost 10 of 13, but still has a six-game lead over Boston for the American League's top mark. Two-time defending AL West champion Texas is still 15 1/2 games back and is fourth in the division.

Alex Claudio got major league batting leader Jose Altuve to look at strike three with runners on first and second for the final out.

The Rangers went ahead to stay with four runs in the third off Charlie Morton (9-5), whose fielding error on a sacrifice bunt loaded the bases with no outs. Andrus and Nomar Mazara followed with consecutive RBI singles, and Carlos Gomez drove in two with a single up the middle after Adrian Beltre and slugger Joey Gallo both struck out.

Andrus led off the fifth with a single and scored on a double by Beltre, his second hit of the game and 3,010th of his career. Andrus doubled and scored on Mazara's single in the seventh to make it 6-0.

Hamels struck out 5 and walked 2, improving to 29-7 in his 58 starts with the Rangers since being traded from Philadelphia two years ago. He is 5-0 with a 2.66 ERA in 7 home starts this season, when he missed nearly two months with a right oblique strain.

Reliever Jose Leclerc walked the No. 9 hitter leading off the eighth before George Springer's 28th home run. After a double-play grounder and a walk, Claudio took over and gave up consecutive RBI doubles to Marwin Gonzalez and Carlos Beltran before right fielder Mazara's shoestring catch of Brian McCann's liner to end the inning.

YANKEES 5, RED SOX 4 Aaron Hicks awoke a dormant offense with a two-run home run that sparked a five-run eighth inning, then threw out a runner at third in the ninth inning to help Aroldis Chapman get out of trouble, and host New York rallied to beat Boston.

INDIANS 5, RAYS 0 Carlos Carrasco took another no-hit try into the late innings at Tropicana Field, losing his bid on a two-out single in the seventh by Logan Morrison but leading visiting Cleveland over Tampa Bay.

TWINS 9, TIGERS 4 Max Kepler and Eddie Rosario homered and drove in three runs each as Minnesota extended its winning streak to six games with a victory over host Detroit.

WHITE SOX 6, ROYALS 3 Tim Anderson hit a two-run home run to cap a four-run, seventh-inning rally, Reynaldo Lopez pitched six strong innings in his White Sox debut and Chicago won its fourth consecutive over visiting Kansas City.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

METS 7, PHILLIES 6 Amed Rosario's first career home run broke a tie leading off the ninth inning, Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto also went deep, and New York beat host Philadelphia.

MARLINS 6, ROCKIES 3 Giancarlo Stanton hit his Major League-leading 40th home run as Miami beat visiting Colorado.

REDS 11, BREWERS 10 Zack Cozart and Eugenio Suarez had three hits and drove in two runs each as Cincinnati built an early eight-run lead and then held on for a victory over host Milwaukee.

CARDINALS 8, BRAVES 5 Paul DeJong had two doubles with three RBI and Randal Grichuk tripled and drove in two as surging St. Louis held off visiting Atlanta to win its season-high seventh consecutive game.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 4, BLUE JAYS 2 Jameson Taillon pitched six innings to snap a three-start winless streak, Josh Harrison had two hits and visiting Pittsburgh beat Toronto, its seventh victory in nine games.

Sports on 08/12/2017

Upcoming Events