KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Logan Morrison, Steven Souza Jr. and Adeiny Hechavarria each went deep and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Kansas City Royals 5-3 on Wednesday night for their latest series victory.
The Rays took two out of three and have won three consecutive series. The Royals lost 18 of 28 games in August, including six of seven to end the month.
Morrison, who was born in Kansas City, has four home runs, eight RBIs and six runs in the first six games of Tampa Bay’s current road trip. Morrison hit his 33rd homer with two outs in the fifth against Jason Vargas (14-9).
Souza hit his 29th earlier in the fifth, snapping a 3-3 tie.
Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi (7-7), who failed to make it out of the fourth inning in his previous two starts, allowed three runs and four hits over five-plus innings.
Hechavarria homered with one out in the Rays’ three-run third. The inning also included Souza’s RBI single and Evan Longoria’s sacrifice fly.
Whit Merrifield hit a three-run homer in the third to account for all of the Royals’ runs.
Vargas gave up five runs and seven hits, including the three home runs, over six innings. The All-Star left-hander started the year 12-3 with an AL-leading 2.22 ERA, but is 2-6 with a 7.20 ERA over his past 10 starts.
Alex Colome gave up a single in the ninth, but picked up his major league-leading 40th save in 45 chances.
RANGERS 8, ASTROS 1 Andrew Cashner pitched eight strong innings, Mike Napoli hit a three-run homer and the Texas Rangers beat the Houston Astros 8-1 Wednesday night in a game relocated to Florida because of Hurricane Harvey. A crowd of 6,123 — up from 3,485 the previous night for the opener of a three-game series at Tropicana Field — watched Cashner (8-9) limit the AL West leaders to three hits, one after the second inning.
RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 1 Mitch Moreland had a pinch-hit homer and drove in four runs, Hanley Ramirez added a solo blast and Boston beat Toronto to complete a three-game sweep. Rick Porcello (9-15) allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings as the AL East-leading Red Sox moved 5 1/2 games ahead of the second-place New York Yankees, who were swept in a doubleheader by Cleveland. New York and Boston begin a four-game series at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Ramirez connected for the second straight game as the Red Sox improved to 8-1 in Toronto this season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BREWERS 6, CARDINALS 5 Domingo Santana and Jonathan Villar homered in the sixth inning, and center fielder Keon Broxton made a leaping catch over the wall for the final out. Corey Knebel pitched the ninth for his 30th save. Chase Anderson (8-3) gave up two hits — both homers — in six innings, three earned runs, struck out six and walked two to improve to 4-0 in nine starts at Miller Park this season. Carlos Martinez (10-10) allowed 10 hits, six runs — three earned — and struck out seven in 5 2/3 innings.