ANAHEIM, Calif. — Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven innings of three-hit ball in another sharp start, and Yordan Alvarez homered and drove in two runs in the Houston Astros ‘ 5,000th victory, 5-3 over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Alex Bregman hit an early two-run homer and Alvarez added his 33rd in the ninth inning for the first-place Astros, who opened a six-game Southern California trip with their second straight win after a three-game skid.
Mickey Moniak homered for the Angels, who have lost five of six.
Kikuchi (9-9) overcame early trouble and struck out six Angels while keeping the Astros unbeaten in all of his starts since joining Houston in a trade with Toronto. Kikuchi is 5-0 in an Astros uniform, and Houston is 8-0 when he takes the mound.
Josh Hader pitched the ninth for his 30th save as the Astros became the 18th big league club to reach 5,000 victories.
TIGERS 1, ORIOLES 0
DETROIT — Gunnar Henderson tripled just past the glove of diving first baseman Spencer Torkelson with two outs in the ninth inning for Baltimore’s first hit, and the Detroit Tigers held on for a 1-0 win over the Orioles on Friday night.
Beau Brieske and Brant Hurter (5-1) combined to retire Baltimore’s first 21 batters before Adley Rutschman’s eight-pitch walk leading off the eighth.
Brenan Hanifee retired the next three batters and Tyler Holton relieved to start the ninth.
Emmanuel Rivera flied out and pinch-hitter Coby Mayo took a called third strike. Henderson pulled a first-pitch sweeper into the right-field corner for the Orioles’ second baserunner.
Holton struck out Anthony Santander to remain perfect in eight save chances.
ROYALS 8, PIRATES 3
PITTSBURGH — Salvador Perez and Kyle Isbel hit home runs and drove in two runs each, Alec Marsh struck out 11 in 5 1/3 innings, and Kansas City snapped Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak with a victory over the Pirates.
Perez’s two-run shot to the bullpens in left-center capped a six-run second inning when the Royals broke a scoreless tie. Isbel’s solo homer in the fourth pushed the lead to 7-0. Adam Frazier added a solo home run in the eighth.
Marsh (8-8) allowed only one run and the 11 strikeouts matched a career high. It was the second-year right-hander’s first win since July 10.
METS 11, PHILLIES 3
PHILADELPHIA — Francisco Alvarez, Brandon Nimmo and Harrison Bader hit three-run homers, Jose Quintana allowed three hits in seven shutout innings and New York routed NL East-leading Philadelphia for their 12th win in 14 games.
Alvarez and Nimmo homered in a three-run fifth inning off Aaron Nola (12-8), Alvarez’s second three-run homer in a span of three at-bats.
Bader homered in the eighth against Tyler Gilbert and Pete Alonso went deep in the ninth off infielder Kody Clemens. It was the first big league homer allowed in 12 career pitching appearances by Clemens. His father, seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens, gave up 363 in 24 seasons.
NATIONALS 4, MARLINS 1
WASHINGTON — Luis García Jr. homered, DJ Herz allowed just one run in five innings and Washington defeated Miami.
Jacob Young added an RBI single as the Nationals scored three unearned runs on three Miami errors.
Otto Lopez homered for Miami, which has dropped four of five.
Washington mustered only one hit in six innings against Marlins starter Edward Cabrera — Dylan Crews’ infield single to lead off the first — but quickly took advantage once he left the game.
García ripped reliever Anthony Veneziano’s second pitch into the seats in right field to lead off the seventh inning for his 16th home run of the season to make it 3-1.
YANKEES 5, RED SOX 4
NEW YORK — Aaron Judge ended the longest home run drought of his career with a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning that rallied New York past Boston.
The star slugger had gone 16 games without a longball before launching a clutch drive into the lower left-field seats off reliever Cam Booser (2-3) to give New York a 5-4 advantage.
New York extended its AL East lead to three games over Baltimore, held hitless for 8 2/3 innings by four Tigers pitchers in a 1-0 loss at Detroit. It is the Yankees’ largest cushion since they led by 3 1/2 games before a June 15 defeat at Boston that started a 4-14 slide.
The fading Red Sox (74-74) began the night 4 1/2 games behind Minnesota for the league’s last wild card.
BLUE JAYS 4, CARDINALS 3
TORONTO — Alejandro Kirk drove in the winning run with a bases-loaded single in the 11th inning and Toronto beat St. Louis in the opener of a three-game series.
After the Cardinals intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to begin the 11th, Leo Jiménez advanced both Guerrero and automatic runner Nathan Lukes with a bunt single.
Will Wagner grounded into a fielder’s choice before Kirk won it with a single to deep left over the drawn-in outfield off right-hander Ryan Fernandez (1-5). It was the first game-winning hit of Kirk’s career.
Erik Swanson (2-2) worked one inning for the win as Toronto improved to 3-7 in September.
RAYS 3, GUARDIANS 1
CLEVELAND — Zack Littell shut down Cleveland for six innings and rookie Logan Driscoll hit his first career homer, a two-run shot, sending Tampa Bay to a win over the AL Central-leading Guardians.
Littell (7-9) allowed just two hits in his second straight strong start. He blanked Baltimore for five innings last week and has thrown 13 consecutive scoreless frames. The right-hander is 4-0 in his career against the Guardians.
Littell’s performance followed Tampa Bay’s bullpen shutting out Cleveland over the final seven innings in Thursday’s series opener.
The Guardians had only two hits and didn’t score until the eighth, when rookie Jhonkensy Noel and David Fry hit back-to-back doubles off Mason Montgomery. Fry’s shot to left missed being a two-run homer by inches.
BRAVES 6, DODGERS 2
ATLANTA — Spencer Schwellenbach kept Shohei Ohtani in the park and off the bases, while Gio Urshela and Jorge Soler went deep for Atlanta in a victory over Los Angeles.
Ohtani was hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, putting a hold on his quest to become the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season. He was 0 for 3 against Schwellenbach (6-7) before striking out on a rising, 95 mph fastball from Joe Jiménez that was well out of the zone.
The Dodgers star is at 47 homers and 48 stolen bases with 15 games left in the regular season.
Schwellenbach, who started the season in the Class A Sally League, surrendered two runs on four hits in six strong innings.
ATHLETICS 2, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO — Rookie Brady Basso pitched five-hit ball into the sixth inning in his first major league win, and Oakland handed Chicago their 16th consecutive home loss with a victory.
Chicago was shut out for the 18th time, finishing with six hits. At 33-115, the White Sox are approaching the post-1900 record for losses — 120 by the 1962 New York Mets in their inaugural season.
Basso (1-0) struck out two and walked one in 5 1/3 innings in his second major league start and fifth appearance overall. He pitched six scoreless innings in a no-decision against Detroit in his previous outing last week.
Zack Gelof hit an RBI double, and Brent Rooker added a run-scoring single. The A’s won for the third time in four games.
REDS 8, TWINS 4
MINNEAPOLIS — Elly De La Cruz hit his first big league grand slam in a six-run seventh inning, and Cincinnati beat Minnesota.
Minnesota (78-69) lost for the seventh time in 10 games and is 2 1/2 games ahead of Detroit for the final AL wild card.
TJ Friedl drove in the Reds’ first two runs with a second-inning home run and a tiebreaking squeeze bunt single in the seventh off Bailey Ober (12-7) that put Cincinnati ahead 2-1. Ty France hit an RBI double and De La Cruz followed with his 24th home run, his second since Aug. 21.
De La Cruz stood at the plate and held his bat high, watching the drive off Jorge Alcala soar into the right-field second deck.
ROCKIES 9, CUBS 5
DENVER — Hunter Goodman hit two home runs, including a tiebreaking grand slam in the eighth inning, and Colorado came back to beat Chicago.
Goodman finished with three hits and a career-high seven RBIs, the first seven-RBI game by a Rockies player since Elías Díaz also had seven on Sept. 9, 2022 against Arizona.
Ezequiel Tovar hit his 23rd home run of the season and Brendan Rodgers added a run-scoring double for the Rockies, who snapped a six-game losing streak to the Cubs. With the loss, Chicago fell six games behind the Mets for the third NL wild card.
ASTROS 5, ANGELS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Former Blue Jay Yusei Kikuchi pitched seven innings of three-hit ball in another sharp start, and Yordan Alvarez homered and drove in two runs in the Houston Astros ′ 5,000th victory, 5-3 over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night.
Alex Bregman hit an early two-run homer and Alvarez added his 33rd in the ninth inning for the first-place Astros, who opened a six-game Southern California trip with their second straight win after a three-game skid.
Mickey Moniak homered for the Angels, who have lost five of six.
Kikuchi (9-9) overcame early trouble and struck out six Angels while keeping the Astros unbeaten in all of his starts since joining Houston in a trade with Toronto. Kikuchi is 5-0 in an Astros uniform, and Houston is 8-0 when he takes the mound.
BREWERS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1
PHOENIX — Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run homer, Freddy Peralta pitched five effective innings and Milwaukee increased their NL Central lead with a victory over Arizona.
Hoskins hit his 24th homer off Eduardo Rodriguez (2-3) in the fourth inning and five Milwaukee pitchers shut down baseball’s highest-scoring offense. Peralta (11-8) allowed a run on six hits and Devin Williams worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.
The Brewers extended their NL Central lead to 10 games after the Chicago Cubs lost 9-5 to Colorado.
MARINERS 5, RANGERS 4
SEATTLE — Julio Rodríguez hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to help spoil Jacob deGrom’s return to the mound and send Seattle Mariners to a victory over Texas.
Back after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2023, DeGrom left after 3 2/3 innings with a 2-0 lead and the Rangers had a 4-0 advantage.
Rodríguez began Seattle’s rally with a double in the seventh that set up two runs. Then in the next inning, he hit his 15th homer of the season to deep left field with two outs off David Robertson (3-4).
JT Chargois (3-1) struck out three in the eighth for the victory, and Andrés Muñoz struck out one in the ninth en route to his 21st save.
PADRES 5, GIANTS 0
SAN FRANCISCO — Fernando Tatís Jr. hit a two-run homer, Dylan Cease struck out 10 in six shutout innings and San Diego beat San Francisco.
The Padres are a half-game ahead of the Diamondbacks atop the National League wild card standings and 1 1/2 games in front of the Mets for the third and final wild card spot. The Giants have lost three of four.
Luis Arráez had three hits and a walk on Friday, extending his streak to 129 consecutive at bats without a strikeout. It’s the longest since Juan Pierre went 147 at bats without a strikeout in 2004.
Cease (13-11) recorded his 1,000th career strikeout in the third inning when he got Donovan Walton looking. He held the Giants to four hits and two walks, and also got some help from defense in the sixth when Tatís and Jake Cronenworth combined to cut down Heliot Ramos at the plate on a double by Patrick Bailey.