AMERICAN LEAGUE

Keuchel gets HR help as Astros win 10th in a row

ASTROS 10, ROYALS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Houston Astros won their 10th consecutive game, with former Arkansas Razorback Dallas Keuchel getting three-run home runs from Max Stassi and Alex Bregman to rout the Kansas City Royals 10-2 on Saturday.

Jose Altuve hit a two-run double in the first inning to send the World Series champions on their way. The Astros had an 11-game win streak last season that ended in Kansas City.

The Royals have lost five in a row and are just 2-12 since the calendar flipped to June.

Keuchel (4-8) began to emerge from a monthlong funk, allowing 2 unearned runs and 6 hits in 6 innings. The 2015 Cy Young winner had surrendered a combined 17 runs over his last three outings, and had not won since tossing seven scoreless innings against Texas on May 13.

Danny Duffy (3-7) had been pitching well of late, but the Royals left-hander allowed 7 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings.

Duffy was in trouble from the start. George Springer drew a leadoff walk, Bregman added a single and Altuve ripped a double to give the Astros a 2-0 lead.

The Astros tacked on two more runs in the fifth, getting a little help from Mike Moustakas in the process. The Royals third baseman flubbed an easy grounder that led to an unearned run.

Kansas City matched the tally in the bottom half, after an error by shortstop Carlos Correa. Ryan Goins, White Merrifield and Moustakas strung together hits to drive in two runs, but Keuchel bounced back to strike out Salvador Perez with the tying run on base.

Stassi took all the drama out of things in the sixth, when he swatted Duffy's 1-0 pitch to left field for a 7-2 lead. Bregman added his home run in the ninth.

The only consolation for the Royals was that they weren't grand slams. Their pitching staff had served up one of them in each of the past two games, including Evan Gattis' in the series opener.

ATHLETICS 6, ANGELS 4 Stephen Piscotty hit a tiebreaking, two-run single with two outs in the sixth inning and Oakland held on to beat visiting Los Angeles.

YANKEES 4, RAYS 1 Luis Severino pitched eight sharp innings and also jumped to steal away a popup from catcher Gary Sanchez, leading host New York over Tampa Bay.

TIGERS 7, WHITE SOX 5 Nicholas Castellanos homered twice and Jose Iglesias hit a tiebreaking RBI single in visiting Detroit's two-run eighth, helping the team beat Chicago for its fourth consecutive victory.

TWINS 9, INDIANS 3 Eddie Rosario hit his 16th home run, drove in two runs and stole a base, and Eduardo Escobar, Max Kepler and Logan Morrison had two-run doubles as Minnesota beat host Cleveland.

MARINERS 1, RED SOX 0 Wade LeBlanc pitched into the eighth inning and Nelson Cruz had an RBI single as host Seattle beat Boston.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

PIRATES 6, REDS 2 Josh Harrison hit a two-run home run, Colin Moran and Elias Diaz added solo shots and host Pittsburgh pulled away from Cincinnati.

PHILLIES 4, BREWERS 1 Rhys Hoskins and Andrew Knapp hit home runs and visiting Philadelphia, despite stranding 15 runners, defeated Milwaukee.

BRAVES 1, PADRES 0 Sean Newcomb pitched six scoreless innings, Charlie Culberson homered, and host Atlanta beat San Diego. The NL East-leading Braves improved to 25-7 when their starter pitches at least six innings, and Newcomb has been a big reason for their success.

CUBS 6, CARDINALS 3 Addison Russell and Jason Heyward homered and Ian Happ’s double broke a 3-3 tie as Chicago rallied to beat host St. Louis.

DODGERS 3, GIANTS 1 Enrique Hernandez and Matt Kemp each homered for the second consecutive game, Alex Wood got his first victory since May 20 and Los Angeles beat visiting San Francisco.

INTERLEAGUE

RANGERS 5, ROCKIES 2 Adrian Beltre hit a tiebreaking two-run triple in the eighth inning, and Texas stopped a seven-game slide with a victory over visiting Colorado.

MARLINS 5, ORIOLES 4 J.T. Realmuto homered twice and had four RBI off Alex Cobb, and Miami kept host Baltimore in a downward spiral.

BLUE JAYS 2, NATIONALS 0 Max Scherzer lost his second consecutive start for the first time since 2015 when Marco Estrada pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings and Devon Travis homered for Toronto in a victory over visiting Washington.

Sports on 06/17/2018

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