Friday's MLB: Astros beat Nationals 6-1 for 11th straight victory
Washington — Jose Altuve homered on the first pitch of the game, Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel also went deep and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 6-1 rout of the Washington Nationals on Friday night.
Houston manager Dusty Baker, who led Washington to consecutive NL East titles in 2016 and ‘17, won in his first game back at Nationals Park since he was fired after two seasons.
Framber Valdez (2-2) allowed one run over 7 2/3 innings foir his first victory since April 7. Houston has allowed just 12 runs during its streak with an 0.91 ERA in that stretch.
Washington has lost seven of its last nine and is 4-14 at home. Its 11-23 record after 34 games is its worst since opening 9-25 in 2007.
Valdez struck out six during his longest outing of the year, yielding his only run on Alcides Escobar’s fielder’s choice grounder in the seventh.
Josiah Gray (4-3) allowed six runs and six hits in six innings.
More games
Seattle 2, (at) New York Mets 1: Ty France hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning for yet another key hit and Seattle broke through against New York's bullpen after Max Scherzer tired in the Mariners' first game at Citi Field.
The Mets wore black jerseys on a misty Friday the 13th behind Scherzer, who pitched superbly and left after escaping a seventh-inning jam.
Seattle, which won for just the fourth time in 16 games, went ahead in the eighth after Drew Smith (0-1) walked his first two batters, Abraham Toro and Adam Frazier. With the infield shifted for France to pull, he poked a slider on the outside corner down the right-field line.
Paul Sewald (2-1) struck out Starling Marte to strand runners at second and third in the seventh and threw a 1-2-3 eighth in his return to Citi Field, where he pitched for the Mets from 2017-20.
Drew Steckenrider pitched the ninth for his second save.
Boston 7, (at) Texas 1: Nick Pivetta allowed a run and three hits in a season-long seven innings to win for the first time since August and Boston had a four-run sixth inning to beat Texas.
J.D. Martinez began Boston’s big inning by lining a single to left field that skipped at Brad Miller’s feet. The hit extended Martinez’s hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to 29 games to last September, both the longest active streaks in the major leagues.
Pivetta (1-4) ended a personal seven-game losing streak over 13 starts. His previous win was Aug. 13, 2021, over Baltimore. He struck out four and walked one. His shutout bid ended in the seventh inning when Kole Calhoun tripled to center and scored on a wild pitch.
The Red Sox have won two of their last three games following a season-long five-game losing streak that put them in last place in the AL East.
Calhoun had three of Texas’ four hits. Dane Dunning (1-2) took the loss.
Cincinnati 8, (at) Pittsburgh 2: Mike Moustakas homered twice and Brandon Drury drove in four runs to break out of a slump and lead resurgent Cincinnati past Pittsburgh,
Moustakas hit a solo shot into the right field stands in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie. In the seventh, he had another solo homer to make it 8-2, two batters after Drury had a two-run drive.
It was the 15th multihomer game for Moustakas, who has 199 career home runs. He helped the Reds win for the sixth time in eight games following a 3-22 start.
Tyler Mahle (2-4) won for the first time since opening day, snapping a six-start winless streak. Mitch Keller (0-5) remained winless.
Ben Gamel opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his first career leadoff homer.
Milwaukee 2, (at) Miami 1: Jace Peterson walked against Anthony Bender with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to lift Milwaukee past Miami.
After starters Corbin Burnes and Pablo López dueled for seven innings, former Marlins star Christian Yelich reached on a leadoff single against Tanner Scott (0-1) in the ninth. Scott hit Luis Urías and surrendered pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor’s single to right that loaded the bases.
Bender relieved and struck out Hunter Renfroe before walking Peterson on four pitches.
Devin Williams (2-0) pitched a perfect eighth and Josh Hader closed with a perfect ninth for his 13th save.
The Brewers struck quickly on Kolten Wong’s leadoff shot in the first. Miami tied it in the third on Jesús Aguilar’s solo homer.
(At) Tampa Bay 5, Toronto 2: Brandon Lowe hit a pair of triples and Manuel Margot had a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, leading Tampa Bay past Toronto.
Lowe’s RBI triple capped a three-run eighth as the Rays sent Toronto to its fifth straight loss. The Rays broke a 2-2 tie with three straight hits off starter Kevin Gausman (3-2).
Margot returned to the lineup after missing two games with a tight hamstring and extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his go-ahead single.
Andrew Kittredge (3-0) got the win in relief. Jason Adam pitched the ninth for his first major league save.
San Diego 11, (at) Atlanta 6: Ha-Seong Kim hit a three-run homer in the seventh inning off reliever Will Smith, Wil Myers went deep in the sixth against Max Fried and San Diego beat Atlanta.
Kim homered for the fourth time after Eric Hosmer and Myers singled against Smith (0-1) to make it 7-6. Myers added a sacrifice fly in the ninth to make it 8-6. His solo shot to center in the sixth gave San Diego a 4-2 lead.
Kim, Hosmer and Myers each had three hits to help San Diego to a season-high 16.
Luis Garcia (1-2) pitched a scoreless seventh. Taylor Rogers got the last four outs for his 13th save.