Houston Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel pitches against the Seattle Mariners in the top of the first inning at Minute Maid Park. PCITURE: USA TODAY Sports
The Sports Xchange/San Francisco
Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel matched the club record for consecutive home wins and received ample run support as the Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 8-3 at Minute Maid Park on Monday.
Keuchel (16-6) leads the American League in wins after allowing one run on six hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over seven innings to maintain his place among the American League Cy Young Award candidates.
He earned his 13th consecutive home win, a streak that dates to last season and matches the franchise mark set by right-hander Danny Darwin in 1990.
“He doesn’t have all the power in his stuff but he knows how to pitch,” Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon said of Keuchel. “He uses his arsenal very well. He’s in and out, up and down, changes his speed. He’s pretty good.”
Astros third baseman Jed Lowrie, catcher Hank Conger and rookie shortstop Carlos Correa all homered off Mariners left-hander Vidal Nuno (0-2) to help Houston clinch the season series over the Mariners.
The Astros (73-59) improved to 7-1 at home against Seattle this season. The Mariners (61-71), meanwhile, dropped an eighth consecutive road series opener against an AL opponent.
Keuchel surrendered his first home run at Minute Maid Park this season with two outs in the second inning when Mariners first baseman Mark Trumbo crushed an opposite-field shot to the upper deck in right.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Astros responded, but not until after Keuchel escaped a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the top of the frame by inducing a double play from left fielder Franklin Gutierrez before striking out Trumbo to strand a pair of base runners in scoring position.
“It was very big,” Keuchel said of his escape act in a 1-1 game. “It wasn’t an ideal situation, but (I was) thankful enough to kind of make some pitches and do some weak contact.”
Correa, Lowrie and designated hitter Evan Gattis recorded two-RBI games for the Astros.
Nuno surrendered five runs on seven hits and two walks in six innings.
“Giving up those home runs killed it a little bit,” Nuno said. “I was leaving the ball up, command was off a little bit. But otherwise, the changeup and off-speed were all working.”
Ortiz feasts on Big Apple to close on 500 home runs
After hitting two home runs against the New York Mets over the weekend, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz slugged another against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees, in a 4-3 win at Fenway Park on Monday
Ortiz’s blast in the opener of a three-game series was the 495th of his career, inching him ever closer to the 500-home run club. He now has 14 homers since the All-Star break and 29 total in 2015.
“It’s exciting for every one of us,” Red Sox interim manager Torey Lovullo said about Ortiz’s pursuit of 500. “It’s bigger than a lot of things that are happening right now.”
Ortiz had two hits, center fielder Mookie Betts hit a two-run homer and third baseman Pablo Sandoval also drove in a run as Boston (61-70) ended the month on a high note.
The last-place Red Sox went 15-12 in August, only their second winning month of the
season.
Eduardo Rodriguez (8-5) survived two bases-loaded jams with nobody out in his brief five-inning outing, as the Boston left-hander allowed just two runs—one earned—on seven hits and three walks while striking out four.
“I just try to get out of that inning, try to do the best I can do so I don’t give up too many runs in those innings,” Rodriguez said.
New York (72-58), meanwhile, squandered ample opportunities to win the game by stranding 14 runners on base.
Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius (4-for-5) nearly played the hero, barely missing a grand slam with his fly ball to the warning track in right with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth.
“I thought it had a chance,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “But obviously it’s a big ballpark when you start going that way. I’m not sure how many feet it was from the wall but I thought it had a chance.”
Red Sox closer Jean Machi pitched the ninth and picked up the save despite allowing a hit and three walks and forcing in a run with a bases-loaded walk in his one inning of work.
Ivan Nova (5-7) was an unlucky loser for New York. The right-hander gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out three in six innings.
“It was better than the last two (starts),” said Nova, who had given up 10 runs in his last nine innings pitched prior to Monday. “I was looking for a sign and I was trying to throw strikes.”
Yankees right fielder Carlos Beltran and third baseman Chase Headley each had one RBI as New York failed to gain ground in the AL East pennant race after the first-place Toronto Blue Jays also lost.
“We missed an opportunity,” Girardi said.
“But it’s really going to come down to how we play too. Like I said, we had a lot of opportunities tonight. Tonight we didn’t get the big hit.”
