HOUSTON — Jose Urquidy threw seven dominant innings for his first major league win and Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer, sending the Houston Astros to a 6-1 victory over the skidding Texas Rangers on Saturday night.
Making his third career start, Urquidy (1-0) held the Rangers to two baserunners — a homer by Shin-Soo Choo and an infield single by Hunter Pence. The 24-year-old rookie right-hander from Mexico struck out nine.
Tony Kemp also homered as Houston, the AL West leader, won its fourth straight and handed Texas its sixth consecutive defeat.
Urquidy retired his first nine batters before Choo’s homer to center field in the fourth. Then he set down the next 11 hitters until Pence’s single in the seventh.
Houston put together a two-out rally in the fifth that started with singles from Michael Brantley and Yordan Alvarez, setting up Gurriel’s homer to left-center. It was Gurriel’s 18th of the season, matching his career high.
Gurriel has 13 home runs in his last 21 games and has gone deep in five straight at Minute Maid Park, matching the ballpark record set in 2006 by Morgan Ensberg.
For a fourth straight game, the Astros scored in the third inning. After hitting three successive homers in Friday night’s 4-3 victory, Houston had three doubles in four at-bats, with Myles Straw, George Springer and Brantley finding the gaps for a 2-0 lead.
Kemp added a solo shot in the sixth to make it 6-1.
Rangers starter Ariel Jurado (5-6) allowed five runs and eight hits while striking out five in five innings.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rangers: C Isiah Kiner-Falefa (right middle finger) was activated off the injured list and optioned to Double-A Frisco. . LHP Joe Palumbo will not rejoin the rotation Monday as expected after experiencing ankle tendinitis. “That hurt a little bit because I was looking forward to seeing Joe,” manager Chris Woodward said. “Not that he won’t be back in a week or two at the max I guess.”
Astros: SS Carlos Correa (ribs) continued his rehabilitation assignment with Triple-A Round Rock. Correa, on the 60-day injured list, can’t be activated until July 26. . INF Aledmys Diaz (hamstring) continued his rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi, playing first base and left field, manager AJ Hinch said. “We hope it’s over the next couple days as he plays a few more games or even one game or see if he needs more. For him, it’s more of a day-to-day assessment of where he is at and how he’s doing,” Hinch said.
ASTROS 6, RANGERS 1
UP NEXT
Rangers: RHP Lance Lynn (12-5, 3.87 ERA) makes his 21st start of the season Sunday in the finale of a three-game series. Lynn is tied for the major league lead in wins.
Astros: RHP Rogelio Armenteros (0-0, 2.00) gets his first career start after throwing four scoreless innings in relief Tuesday against the Angels.
ROYALS 1, INDIANS 0
CLEVELAND — Hunter Dozier homered in the first inning and Jakob Junis pitched two-hit ball through six innings as the Kansas City Royals beat Cleveland 1-0 on Saturday night, snapping the Indians’ six-game winning streak.
Dozier sent a 349-foot shot to right off Adam Plutko for his 15th home run. That run stood up as Junis and three relievers combined for a three-hitter and the Royals’ fourth shutout of the season.
Junis (6-8) struck out seven and walked three before being removed after 94 pitches on a steamy evening with a heat index of 99 degrees at the first pitch. The right-hander did not allow a runner past second base. He won for the first time in four 2019 starts against the Indians and retired 13 in a row between the second and sixth innings.
Scott Barlow and Jake Diekman followed, while Ian Kennedy worked a perfect ninth for his 17th save. Kansas City is 7-2 since the All-Star break, with Junis accounting for two of the victories.
Right-hander Plutko (3-2) worked a season-high seven innings, giving up two hits.
Cleveland, which entered the day three games behind AL Central-leading Minnesota, is an MLBbest 27-11 since June 4.
Francisco Lindor had a leadoff single in the first and Jason Kipnis started the sixth with an infield single to account for the only hits off Junis.
Kansas City’s Cam Gallagher had two doubles, but was picked off second base with no outs in the eighth by fellow catcher Roberto Pérez. It proved costly as Whit Merrifield and Alex Gordon followed with back-to-back singles off Tyler Clippard.
WHITE SOX 2, RAYS 1, 11 INNINgS.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Yoan Moncada scored from first base on a single in the 11th inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Saturday night.
Moncada drew a walk off Adam Kolarek (3-3) to lead off the 11th, and sprinted around the bases when Jose Abreu punched a single into right field off Chaz Roe.
BLUE JAYS 7, TIgERS 5
DETROIT — As it does, the rain found the Detroit Tigers.
An hour into Saturday evening’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays, as inclement weather moved across Comerica Park from the north, the skies opened, delaying a game for the third time this week.
ATHLETIcS 5, TwINS 4
MINNEAPOLIS — Khris Davis lined a two-out, two-run single off the glove of diving first baseman Ehire Adrianza in the ninth inning and the Oakland Athletics won again, beating the Minnesota Twins .
The A’s won for the 21st time in 27 games. Miguel Sanó, Mitch Garv-er and Nelson Cruz all homered for the AL Central-leading Twins, who have lost five of six.
RED SOX 17, ORIOLES 6
BALTIMORE — Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a pair of three-run homers, Mookie Betts homered and had three RBIs, and the Boston Red Sox used their most prolific offensive performance of the year to blow out the Baltimore Orioles.
Rafael Devers and Sandy Leon also went deep for the Red Sox, who have gone 10-5 in July to get into the AL playoff picture.
INTERLEAgUE
YANKEES 11, ROcKIES 5
NEW YORK — Not even the steamy summer weather could wilt the offense of the Yankees. Excessive heat warnings were met with excessive displays of offense as the Yankees batted around in a five-run second inning and nearly again with three runs in the fourth during a rout of the Rockies.
Aaron Judge got the Yankees offense early with a double in the first inning that scored DJ LeMahieu from first. Judge would be thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice later in the inning to limit the damage to just one run.
NATIONAL LEAgUE
CUBS 6, PADRES 5
CHICAGO — Javier Baez hit a go-ahead, three-run homer and four Cubs relievers combined for one-hit ball over the final four innings, lifting Chicago to a victory over the San Diego Padres.
The game started out as a slugfest in sweltering conditions at Wrigley Field before the wind suddenly shifted in the seventh, the temperature dropped and the pitchers took command.
Anthony Rizzo had two hits and drove in two runs and Robel Garcia added an RBI triple as NL Central-leading Chicago improved to 7-1 since the All-Star break.
METS 11, GIANTS 4
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants’ seven game win streak came to an abrupt end Saturday, as the New York Mets had 17 hits and four home runs in a 11-4 win at Oracle Park.
With the Giants looking to go over.500 for first time in over 11 months, starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija allowed home runs to Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil and reliever Derek Holland gave up two more to Todd Frazier and Pete Alonso as the Giants fell to 49-50. The Giants have not been above .500 since Aug. 14 of last year.
REDS 3, CARDINALS
CINCINNATI — Yasiel Puig hit a game-tying double to end Miles Mikolas’ shutout bid, Josh VanMeter followed with his first major league home run and the Cincinnati Reds snapped a four-game losing streak with a win over the Cardinals.
VanMeter and Eugenio Suarez each had two hits for the Reds, who are in last place in the NL Central, a season-high nine games behind first place Chicago.
PIRATES 5, PHILLIES
PITTSBURGH — Joe Musgrove scattered two hits over six innings, collected his first double of the season and scored on a textbook headfirst slide to beat a throw by Philadelphia right fielder Bryce Harper and lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a win.
Musgrove (7-8) tied a season high with eight strikeouts, walked two and allowed only an unearned run in the sixth to win his third consecutive decision.
NATIONALS 5, BRAVES 3
ATLANTA — Anibal Sanchez outpitched Mike Soroka and scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, Matt Adams homered and the Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves.
Second-place Washington pulled within 5½ games of the NL East-leading Braves, improving to 33-14 since May 24, best in the majors over that span. Atlanta has dropped four of five.