Tigers trip Astros in 9th

HOUSTON — After coming up just short with the bases loaded in his previous at-bat, Ian Kinsler got another chance for a big hit in the ninth inning.

Kinsler came through, hitting a three-run homer with two outs to rally the Detroit Tigers past the Houston Astros 4-3 on Saturday after Max Scherzer struck out a season-high 13 batters.

Kinsler missed a chance to give Detroit the lead in the seventh when left fielder L.J. Hoes made a stellar catch for the final out of the inning.

“After that bases-loaded situation, I think Kins wanted to get some payback,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said. “He had a good at-bat and obviously a huge hit.”

Detroit trailed by one before Kinsler sent an 81 mph slider from Jerome Williams (1-4) to left-center for a 4-2 lead. Kinsler also had a double in his seventh straight multihit game and 33rd this season.

He said there’s no real secret to his recent success.

“I’ve been getting some hits to fall in. That always helps,” he said. “And when you’ve got Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez hitting behind you, that always helps, too.”

Nick Castellanos and Eugenio Suarez singled in the ninth before Kinsler connected. Suarez finished with three hits, including an RBI single in the fifth.

Scherzer, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, gave up two runs in the first before settling in. He yielded seven hits and one walk in seven innings.

“Seven strong and had a bunch of strikeouts,” Ausmus said. “That’s what we were hoping to see from Max Scherzer on a fairly regular basis.”

Phil Coke (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth and Joe Nathan allowed a leadoff homer in the ninth before earning his 17th save in 22 chances.

Detroit bounced right back after its seven-game winning streak was snapped with a 4-3 loss to the Astros in 11 innings Friday night.

Astros manager Bo Porter used closer Chad Qualls to face the middle of the order in the eighth, leaving Williams, who has allowed at least one run in eight of his last 11 appearances, to pitch the ninth.

“I made the decision to bring in our best reliever in the eighth inning with the heart of their lineup coming up with the thought process of, we might get to the ninth and there might be nothing to save,” Porter said. “We were not able to close it out in the ninth inning, but if you give me that situation again with that part of the lineup coming up, I’ll do the same thing.”

Porter said he never considered sending Qualls out for a second inning because he pitched on Friday night, too.

Alex Presley had a two-run single in the first inning and added a solo homer in the ninth for Houston. Jose Altuve extended his tear at the plate, getting two hits with a pair of steals.

It was his major league-leading 34th multihit game this season and seventh in the last 10 games. Altuve leads the majors with 113 hits and the AL with 34 stolen bases.

Scherzer had struck out five of six when Marwin Gonzalez singled to start the seventh. But he was caught trying to steal second.

It was the third time Scherzer has fanned at least 13 in his career. He had his most strikeouts since fanning a career-high 15 in 2012 against Pittsburgh.

RED SOX 2

YANKEES 1

NEW YORK — Mike Napoli stung Masahiro Tanaka by hitting a solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning, lifting Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees 2-1 Saturday night.

Napoli had struck out in his previous two at-bats before lining an opposite-field drive into the first row of the seats in right. Napoli, who also homered off Tanaka at Fenway Park in late April, raised his right arm as he rounded first base.

The Red Sox won for just the third time in nine games. The victory made the defending World Series champions 37-44 at the midpoint of the season — it’s the first time since 1997 that Boston has been under .500 at the halfway mark.

Lester (9-7) held the Yankees hitless until the sixth. He gave up an unearned run and five hits in eight innings, striking out six and walking two.

Koji Uehara pitched a perfect ninth for his 17th save in 18 chances.

Tanaka (11-3) took the hard-luck loss. The top winner in the majors and AL ERA leader allowed seven hits in a complete game, striking out eight and walking one.

A’s 7, MARLINS 6 (14)

MIAMI — Josh Donaldson’s two-out RBI single scored the go-ahead run from second base in the 14th inning to lift Oakland.

For the second game in a row, the Athletics won despite squandering a 4-0 lead. They also overcame a blown save by Sean Doolittle, whose streak of 26 2-3 scoreless innings ended when Miami tied it in the ninth on Casey McGehee’s single.

Jim Johnson (4-2) pitched 2 1-3 scoreless innings and Jeff Francis came on with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 14th to earn his first career save. Francis struck out Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Donovan Solano flied out to end the game.

AL West leader Oakland has won three in a row and is 6-1 in interleague play.

The Marlins are 0-5 in games lasting 13 or 14 innings this season, all since June 6.

DODGERS 9

CARDINALS 1

LOS ANGELES — Zack Greinke became the third NL pitcher to reach double digits in victories, and Los Angeles had four RBI doubles during a six-run second inning.

Greinke (10-4) allowed a run and four hits over seven innings, struck out 10 and did not walk a batter as the Dodgers won for the 11th time in 15 games. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner is 13-2 with a 1.98 ERA in 19 starts following a Dodgers loss since signing a $147 million, six-year contract in December 2012.

Greinke became the first Dodgers pitcher to reach double digits in wins before the All-Star break since 2007, when Brad Penny started out 10-1 and finished 16-4.

Lance Lynn (8-6) lasted just two innings and was charged with seven runs, nine hits and two wild pitches.

WHITE SOX 4

BLUE JAYS 3

TORONTO — Dayan Viciedo hit a three-run homer, Chris Sale pitched seven innings and Chicago beat Toronto.

The White Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since winning two straight over San Francisco on June 17 and 18. Chicago had dropped 11 of 14 before the consecutive victories.

Held in check through the first six innings by rookie right-hander Marcus Stroman, the White Sox took the lead with a two-out rally in the seventh inning. Jose Abreu doubled, Adam Dunn walked and right-hander Dustin McGowan came on to face Viciedo, who drilled a second-deck home run on the reliever’s first pitch.

McGowan (4-3) blew his second straight save opportunity.

Sale (7-1) allowed two runs and four hits, walked a season-high five and struck out six.

RAYS 5, ORIOLES 4

BALTIMORE — Desmond Jennings opened the game with the first of Tampa Bay’s three home runs off Wei-Yin Chen, and the Rays got an impressive performance from former Orioles pitcher Erik Bedard.

Tampa Bay built a five-run lead in the fourth inning, then held off a late comeback bid to improve to 3-8 against the Orioles this season.

Logan Forsythe and rookie Kevin Kiermaier each hit a two-run shot against Chen (7-3), who lasted only 3 1-3 innings in the shortest outing of his three-year career. Of the 15 home runs Chen has yielded this season, five have come against the light-hitting Rays.

Bedard (4-5) struck out seven in a season-high seven-plus innings. The 35-year-old lefty gave up three runs and five hits against the team he began his career with in 2002.

NATIONALS 3, CUBS 0

CHICAGO — Gio Gonzalez pitched two-hit ball over seven innings, leading Washington past Chicago in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

Gonzalez (5-4) had his way with one of the weakest lineups in the majors, outperforming Dallas Beeler in the right-hander’s major league debut.

Anthony Rendon had three hits, including a two-out double against Beeler (0-1) in the sixth before scoring the game’s first run on a wild pitch. He added an RBI triple off Justin Grimm and came home on a sacrifice fly by Adam LaRoche against Wesley Wright in a two-run eighth.

Tyler Clippard worked the eighth and Rafael Soriano finished for his 19th save in 21 chances.

BRAVES 10, PHILLIES 3

BRAVES 5, PHILLIES 1

PHILADELPHIA — Ryan Doumit homered and Tommy La Stella had two doubles and drove in a pair of runs in the second game to lead Atlanta to a doubleheader sweep of Philadelphia.

Chris Johnson had three hits with an RBI and Justin Upton had two hits and drove in a run for the Braves, who have won five of six

Cameron Rupp had two hits with a double for the Phillies, who have lost seven of nine.

David Hale (3-2) allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in five innings.

The Phillies called up Sean O’Sullivan (0-1) from Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a spot start and the right-hander lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits.

Upton had two hits and three RBIs in the first game as Atlanta was helped by two straight errors by Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard.

Tommy La Stella hit a three-run triple and Johnson drove in two runs for the Braves.

Tony Gwynn Jr. and Ben Revere had a pair of hits for the slumping Phillies.

Ervin Santana (6-5) snapped a four-game winless streak after allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 6 2-3 innings.

Roberto Hernandez (3-7) didn’t allow a hit through 3 1-3 innings and ended up giving up just three hits in seven innings with two strikeouts and three walks.

ANGELS 6, ROYALS 2

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — David Freese drove in three runs, Albert Pujols had two RBIs and Los Angeles beat Kansas City after a long rain delay for its seventh victory in eight games.

The first rain delay, after the first inning, lasted only 7 minutes. But the second one, after the fourth, went on for 3 hours, 58 minutes. The game didn’t end until nearly 7 hours after it started.

Pujols, who has 14 RBIs in his past 13 games, singled home runs in the third and sixth. Freese, who had three hits, has six RBIs in his past seven games after driving in three in his previous 26 games.

Kole Calhoun added three hits and scored twice. The Angels’ four-run sixth included three stolen bases.

Rookie right-hander Mike Morin (2-1), who went to high school in a Kansas City suburb, allowed two runs in two innings for the win. Angels left-hander Hector Santiago was not allowed to come back out after the second delay. He pitched four scoreless innings.

Royals rookie Yordano Ventura (5-7) yielded two runs and seven hits over four innings.

METS 5, PIRATES 3

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jonathon Niese extended his streak of solid starts with six gritty innings, rookie Eric Campbell had three hits while subbing for injured star third baseman David Wright and New York spoiled Gerrit Cole’s return from the disabled list.

Niese (5-4) gave up three runs and scattered seven hits. It was his 20th straight outing without allowing more than three runs, dating to last season. Jenrry Mejia pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Campbell was filling in for Wright, the seven-time All-Star who returned to New York to undergo an MRI Saturday on his sore left shoulder.

Campbell drove in the first run in a three-run first inning with a double off Cole (6-4). Daniel Murphy capped the Mets’ scoring with a two-run single with two outs in the second.

BREWERS 7, ROCKIES 4

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Carlos Gomez launched a three-run homer and Matt Garza pitched into the seventh inning for his first win in four starts to help Milwaukee beat Colorado again.

Garza (5-5) took a shutout into the sixth and allowed four runs in 6 2-3 innings. His first win since June 7 improved the Brewers to 6-0 this season against the Rockies.

Francisco Rodriguez, who got the win Friday night after blowing a save, pitched a perfect ninth for his major league-best 27th save.

Gomez staked the Brewers to a 3-0 lead in the first against Jhoulys Chacin (1-7). Ryan Braun had a two-run triple in the fifth.

RANGERS 5, TWINS 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yu Darvish allowed just four hits over eight sharp innings and Texas handed Minnesota its fifth straight loss.

Darvish (8-4) allowed only one hit and one walk after the second inning in lowering his earned run average to 2.42 and his home ERA to 1.83. With 10 strikeouts, he hit double digits for the fifth in his last eight starts.

Adrian Beltre had three hits for the Rangers and scored Texas’ first run, which proved to be all the Rangers needed, in the second inning. Shin-Soo Chin and Leonys Martin added two hits each.

The Twins have lost nine consecutive road games. Phil Hughes (8-4) lost for only the second time in eight road starts this season, allowing all five runs on 11 hits in 7 2-3 innings.