HOUSTON -- Robinson Chirinos hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the ninth inning, and the Texas Rangers snapped Houston's 10-game winning streak with a 2-1 victory over the Astros on Monday night.
Former Arkansas Razorback star Dallas Keuchel, who was named the AL pitcher of the month for April earlier in the day, allowed one run on five hits with a season-high eight strikeouts in eight innings, earning a no-decision for Houston.
Keuchel retired nine consecutive during one stretch, including striking out the side in the second and third innings, and 14 out of 15 batters between the first and fifth innings.
Chirinos' sacrifice fly to center scored Adrian Beltre, who led off the inning with a double off Chad Qualls (0-2), moved to third on Kyle Blanks' single and slid in as Jake Marisnick's throw to the plate went to the backstop.
Keone Kela (2-1) pitched the eighth for the victory, and Neftali Feliz pitched the ninth for his third save.
Houston scored in the first as Jose Altuve and George Springer drew walks, worked a double steal and Altuve scored on Evan Gattis' sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
Jake Smolinski tied it in the eighth with a one-out RBI single to center.
Other than his struggles in the first inning, Texas starter Ross Detwiler matched Keuchel, allowing 1 run and 4 hits with 7 strikeouts in 7 innings.
Leonys Martin left the game in the fifth with a left wrist sprain and was going for precautionary X-rays. Martin injured his wrist while diving for Altuve's double in the third, but after the trainer and Manager Jeff Banister came out to look at him, Martin stayed in. DeShields replaced Martin in center.
BLUE JAYS 3, YANKEES 1 Russell Martin singled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning and host Toronto beat New York, snapping the Yankees' road winning streak at six games. R.A. Dickey (1-3) allowed 1 run and 3 hits in 8 innings for his first victory in six starts. Brett Cecil earned his second save.
RAYS 5, RED SOX 1 Jake Odorizzi pitched seven strong innings, Joey Butler hit his first career home run and visiting Tampa Bay downed Boston. David DeJesus drove in two runs for the Rays, who scored four runs in a three-game set this past weekend against Baltimore. Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez was injured in the first inning and left the game with a sprained left shoulder after he ran into a padded side wall attempting to make a catch.
TWINS 8, ATHLETICS 7 Torii Hunter (Pine Bluff) hit a three-run home run in the sixth inning, giving Phil Hughes his first victory and streaking Minnesota held off visiting Oakland. Brian Dozier and Jordan Schafer each drove in two runs for the Twins, who won their fifth consecutive game.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CARDINALS 10, CUBS 9 Tony Cruz hit a tiebreaking two-run double to cap a four-run seventh inning and host St. Louis rallied to beat the Chicago Cubs for its seventh consecutive victory. Mark Reynolds started the comeback for the NL Central leaders, who trailed 5-0 in the first, with his fourth career grand slam in the bottom of the inning. The Cardinals improved to 19-6 for the franchise's best start since 1900. Miguel Socolovich (2-0) allowed a hit in a scoreless seventh and Seth Maness gave up a home run to rookie Addison Russell with two outs in the ninth before earning his second save. Miguel Montero had two hits and three RBI and pitcher Travis Wood (Bryant) had an RBI in the first for the Cubs. Anthony Rizzo homered and Kris Bryant had an infield hit and four walks for Chicago.
BREWERS 4, DODGERS 3 Host Milwaukee rallied for three runs in the eighth inning to win Craig Counsell's managerial debut, a victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was denied his 100th career victory, and took a no-decision. The Brewers overcame a 3-0 deficit with one run in the sixth and three in the eighth in Counsell's first game since taking over for Ron Roenicke, who was fired Sunday night.
NATIONALS 6, MARLINS 4 Yunel Escobar had a career-high five hits, the last a tiebreaking, two-run single in the eighth inning, and host Washington rallied to beat Miami. Washington trailed 4-2 before sending eight batters to the plate in the eighth against Bryan Morris (3-1). A leadoff walk and a home run by Ian Desmond tied it, and with two outs the Nationals used three consecutive hits to take the lead for the first time. Pinch-hitter Tyler Moore singled, Denard Span doubled and Escobar hit a liner to right.
PHILLIES 5, BRAVES 2 Jeff Francoeur had four hits and drove in two runs, Aaron Harang allowed one run over six innings and Philadelphia earned a victory over host Atlanta.
Sports on 05/05/2015