ARLINGTON, Texas — Dallas Keuchel did what aces do: stop their team’s longest losing streak of the season.
Keuchel (Arkansas Razorbacks) took a shutout into the sixth inning, Jose Altuve hit a home run and the AL-leading Houston Astros ended a five-game skid and avoided a sweep by their Texas rival, beating the Rangers 2-1 on Sunday.
Carlos Beltran had a tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh. Adrian Beltre’s 12th home run of the season and 3,015th career hit had pulled the Rangers even at 1-1 in the sixth.
Keuchel (10-2) struck out seven in 6 2/3 innings for his first victory since June 2 against the Rangers, just before the lefty’s nearly twomonth stint on the disabled list. It was the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner’s fourth start since his second trip to the DL for neck soreness.
Keuchel had lost two in row, that skid coming after a career-best 11-game winning streak going back to last season.
ASTROS 2, RANGERS 1
It was just the third victory in 12 games in August for the AL West-leading Astros.
“It’s amazing how many people start freaking out when you don’t have a couple good starts,” Keuchel said. “The world’s ending or you’re not as good any more. You’re a scrub. Stay the course, and that’s good. That’s what you’ve got to do if you want to last in this game.”
Joey Gallo lined into an inning-ending double play with runners at second and third in the Texas eighth against Ken Giles. First baseman Yuli Gurriel caught Gallo’s smash and threw to second behind Drew Robinson, who was running for Beltre.
Giles struck two in the ninth for his 23rd save.
“It’s challenging to sweep a series,” said Texas Manager Jeff Banister, who was ejected in a wild top of the fifth. “Happy with how we played, happy with the effort. There’s a lot of tremendous takeaways in this series and in this game.”
Altuve’s 17th home run came in the fourth off Andrew Cashner (7-9), the Houston-area native who was scratched from his previous scheduled start at the New York Mets because of neck stiffness.
INDIANS 4, RAYS 3 Austin Jackson hit a tiebreaking home run off Tommy Hunter (2-3) leading off the eighth inning and Corey Kluber (11-3) struck out nine in seven innings for the visiting Indians in his 14th consecutive start of fanning eight or more.
TWINS 6, TIGERS 4 Brian Dozier and Miguel Sano hit home runs for visiting Minnesota. The Twins blew an early 4-0 lead but Byron Buxton hit a tiebreaking single off Warwick Saupold after Bruce Rondon (1-3) walked the first two batters in the eighth.
ROYALS 14, WHITE SOX 6 Whit Merrifield hit a three-run home run and drove in a career-high five runs. Drew Butera had four of visiting Kansas City’s 16 hits. Jason Vargas (14-6) allowed 3 runs and 6 hits in 6 innings, matching his career high for victories set in 2012 with Seattle.
ATHLETICS 9, ORIOLES 3 Matt Chapman hit a tiebreaking three-run home run off Jeremy Hellickson (1-2) in a five-run fourth as host Oakland overcame a 2-0 deficit.
ANGELS 4, MARINERS 2 Parker Bridwell (7-1) yielded 1 run and 4 hits in 6 innings, winning his fifth consecutive decision and extended visiting Los Angeles’ winning streak to six as the Angels moved into the second spot in the AL wild-card race.
RED SOX 3, YANKEES 2 (10) Rafael Devers hit a home run off Aroldis Chapman to tie the game in the ninth inning, and fellow Red Sox rookie Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas Razorbacks) singled home the go-ahead run in the 10th as visiting Boston beat the New York Yankees.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
MARLINS 5, ROCKIES 3 Giancarlo Stanton homered for the fourth consecutive game, hitting his 42nd of the year to tie the Marlins’ season record, and host Miami completed its first series sweep of the Colorado Rockies since 2006. Stanton homered leading off the third inning to match Gary Sheffield’s team record set in 1996. DODGERS 6, PADRES 4 Justin Turner hit two home runs, Yasmani Grandal also went deep and host Los Angeles won for the 28th time in 33 games, improving the best record in the majors to 83-34.
GIANTS 4-2, NATIONALS 2-6 Howie Kendrick hit a game-ending grand slam in the 11th inning, and the Nationals salvaged the finale of a day-night doubleheader. hit home runs for Washington in the makeup of Friday night’s rainout. Max Scherzer struck out 10 in seven innings and Matt Albers (6-2) pitched two scoreless innings for the victory.
CUBS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Jake Arrieta (12-8) won consecutive starts for the first time since early April, Javier Baez and Ian Happ hit consecutive home runs in the eighth inning and visiting Chicago reopened a one-game lead over St. Louis in the NL Central.
METS 6, PHILLIES 2 Michael Conforto and Curtis Granderson hit two-run home runs for the visiting Mets and the Phillies ran themselves into trouble after Chris Flexen (2-1) loaded the bases in the fifth inning with no outs. Nick Williams hit a shallow fly to center, and Conforto’s throw home scooted away from Travis d’Arnaud. Odubel Herrera put his head down and sprinted for third, unaware Freddy Galvis hadn’t moved off the base. D’Arnaud hustled to third to complete a short toss and an 8-2-5 double play.
BREWERS 7, REDS 4 Neil Walker had two hits in his Milwaukee debut, and Domingo Santana hit a three-run home run in the fifth off Sal Romano (2-5) for the host Brewers. .
BRAVES 6, CARDINALS 3 R.A. Dickey (8-7) allowed 1 run and 7 hits in 7 innings, Brandon Phillips hit a two-run home run and visiting Atlanta stopped the Cardinals’ season-high, eightgame winning streak and the Braves’ five-game losing streak.
INTERLEAGUE
BLUE JAYS 7, PIRATES 1 J.A. Happ (6-8) allowed 1 run and 4 hits in 6 innings to win his third consecutive start, Josh Donaldson hit a two-run home run and Justin Smoak and Darwin Barney added solo home runs for host Toronto.
Sports on 08/14/2017