MLB roundup: Jose Altuve's 3 HRs in first 3 innings carry Astros

 

[September 06, 2023]  Jose Altuve homered in each of the first three innings as the Houston Astros rolled to a 14-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas.

With the first three-homer game of his career, Altuve joined Carl Reynolds (1930 Chicago White Sox) and Manny Machado (2016 Baltimore Orioles) as the only players ever to go deep in each of the first three innings of a game, per MLB.com.

Altuve, who increased his season total to 15 long balls, has five in the past two days. He went deep twice as the Astros took the series opener against the Rangers 13-6 on Monday, then added the three solo shots on Tuesday.

Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi (11-4) exited his highly anticipated return from a forearm injury after just 1 1/3 innings, having allowed four runs on five hits, including two of Altuve's homers. Framber Valdez (11-9) fired seven innings for Houston, yielding one run on six hits and four walks with four strikeouts.

Marlins 6, Dodgers 3

Bryan De La Cruz hit a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a homer and Miami earned a victory over visiting Los Angeles in the opener of a three-game series.

Jake Burger and Josh Bell added home runs for the Marlins, who won their fifth consecutive game to keep pace in the National League wild-card chase. Andrew Nardi (7-1) pitched a scoreless eighth inning to earn the win, and Tanner Scott blanked the Dodgers in the ninth for his fifth save.

Chris Taylor hit a home run for the Dodgers, while Freddie Freeman and Will Smith each drove in a run.

Reds 7, Mariners 6

Nick Martini belted a pinch-hit, three-run, game-tying homer in the eighth inning and Christian Encarnacion-Strand singled home the winning run in the ninth as Cincinnati rallied for a win over visiting Seattle.

The Reds erased a 5-1 deficit for their 44th come-from-behind win. Noelvi Marte had three hits, including his first career homer, and Alexis Diaz (8-4) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the victory.

Julio Rodriguez homered twice for the Mariners, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Teoscar Hernandez extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a long ball. Reliever Andres Munoz (3-7) took the loss.

Twins 8, Guardians 3

Donovan Solano hit a three-run triple to highlight a five-run eighth inning and Christian Vazquez homered to lead Minnesota over host Cleveland.

Vazquez went 2-for-2 with two walks and Solano and Willi Castro each had two hits for Minnesota, which extended its American League Central lead to seven games over the second-place Guardians. Griffin Jax (6-8) picked up the win with a scoreless inning of relief.

Bo Naylor homered and Will Brennan had two hits and scored a run for Cleveland. Trevor Stephan (6-6) took the loss, allowing five runs on three hits, two walks and a hit batter in two-thirds of an inning.

Cubs 11, Giants 8

Seiya Suzuki launched a two-run homer to highlight his four-hit, three-RBI performance as host Chicago beat San Francisco for its third straight win.

Chicago's Christopher Morel belted a three-run homer and Yan Gomes had a two-run double as part of a three-hit game. San Francisco's J.D. Davis belted a two-run homer among his three hits and LaMonte Wade Jr., Mike Yastrzemski and Wilmer Flores also went deep.

After Suzuki's homer tied the game in the seventh, Jeimer Candelario doubled off Luke Jackson (1-2) and scored the tiebreaking run on a throwing error on Nick Madrigal's grounder. Drew Smyly (10-9) struck out two in one scoreless inning of relief for the win.

Brewers 7, Pirates 3

Andruw Monasterio hit an RBI triple to highlight a six-run fifth and Brandon Woodruff pitched seven scoreless innings as visiting Milwaukee topped Pittsburgh to end a two-game skid.

Woodruff (4-1), making just his eighth start after spending much of the season on the IL because of a shoulder injury, gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six. Carlos Santana added an RBI double and Brice Turang and Mark Canha each an RBI single for the Brewers.

Pittsburgh starter Andre Jackson (1-2) allowed six runs and three hits in 4 1/3 innings, with two strikeouts and five walks. He was coming off his first big-league win, Wednesday at Kansas City, as he appears to be making the transition from the bullpen to the rotation.

Mets 11, Nationals 5

Francisco Alvarez hit a three-run home run in the first inning, Brandon Nimmo homered twice more and New York romped past host Washington.

Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso hit solo homers for the Mets, who have won four of their past five games. Jose Quintana pitched seven strong innings for the win, though his efforts were somewhat overshadowed by New York's power display. Quintana (2-5) gave up one run, four hits and one walk while striking out four.

Patrick Corbin (9-13) took the loss, allowing eight runs on seven hits and a walk in four innings. He struck out two. Washington relievers Andres Machado and Amos Willingham each gave up one homer.

Yankees 5, Tigers 1

Giancarlo Stanton became the 58th player in major league history to reach 400 career homers by hitting a tiebreaking, two-run shot with two outs in the sixth inning as host New York beat Detroit.

With the victory, New York returned to the .500 mark for the first time since Aug. 15.

Stanton reached the milestone in his 1,520th career game, becoming the fourth-fastest player to accomplish the feat. Only Alex Rodriguez (1,489 games), Babe Ruth (1,475) and Mark McGwire (1,412) were faster.

Cardinals 10, Braves 6

Nolan Gorman hit two homers and drove in three runs as visiting St. Louis outslugged Atlanta.

Tyler O'Neill hit a two-run homer and Jordan Walker went 3-for-4 with a solo homer, an RBI double and three runs for the Cardinals, who won for the fourth time in the past six games. St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas (7-10) earned his first victory since July 17.

Braves starter Michael Soroka (2-2) struggled in his return to the big leagues. He allowed five runs on four hits in three innings in his first game back from Triple-A Gwinnett. Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley, Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna hit solo homers for Atlanta.

Royals 7, White Sox 6

Kansas City rallied from an early six-run deficit to earn a walk-off win over visiting Chicago.

Gregory Santos (2-2) balked in the winning run, blowing his fourth save of the season as the White Sox dropped their fifth straight game.

Bobby Witt Jr. tied the game with a one-out RBI double before Santos failed to come set while pitching to Edward Olivares, forcing home Maikel Garcia.

Rays 8, Red Sox 6 (11 innings)

Brandon Lowe smashed a walk-off, three-run homer as Tampa Bay evened its home series with Boston.

With Christian Bethancourt placed on second base and Yandy Diaz drawing a leadoff walk, Lowe roped a 2-2 pitch from Kenley Jansen (3-6) around the right-field foul pole for his 18th home run. Jansen blew his fourth save in 33 opportunities.

Erasmo Ramirez (3-3) allowed an unearned run in the top of the frame to get the win.

Padres 8, Phillies 0

Rookie Pedro Avila shut out visiting Philadelphia on two hits over 6 2/3 innings and Xander Bogaerts had four hits as San Diego evened the three-game series at a win apiece.

Tom Cosgrove and Ray Kerr followed with 2 1/3 scoreless innings to complete the three-hit shutout and give Avila (1-2) his first major league win.

Triggered by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s 23rd homer, the Padres scored three runs in the fourth and four in the sixth against Phillies starter Michael Lorenzen, who continues to struggle since his Aug. 9 no-hitter. Lorenzen (8-9) allowed seven runs, six earned in six innings.

Rockies 3, Diamondbacks 2

Kyle Freeland pitched six solid innings to help Colorado notch a victory over Arizona on Phoenix.

Freeland (6-14) allowed two runs and six hits over six innings. He had been 0-6 with a 6.68 ERA in 11 starts vs. the Diamondbacks over the past five seasons. Tyler Kinley tossed a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.

Ketel Marte and Christian Walker each had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Arizona's Brandon Pfaadt (1-8) allowed three runs and six hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Blue Jays 7, A's 1

Chris Bassitt took a shutout into the seventh inning and George Springer highlighted a walk-filled, six-run seventh with a two-run single as Toronto busted out late to win at Oakland.

Alejandro Kirk and Cavan Biggio each walked twice as part of a 12-batter uprising in the seventh that allowed the Blue Jays to win for the fifth time in their last six games on a night when the contest was scoreless through six innings.

A's reliever Zach Neal (1-1) opened the seventh by walking three of the four men he faced, then watched all three score off Sam Long. Bassitt (14-7) completed eight innings, charged with one run on seven hits.

Orioles 5, Angels 4 (10 innings)

Ryan Mountcastle had three hits and Baltimore overcame some bullpen failures to beat Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.

The winning run came in the top of the 10th when automatic runner Austin Hays came around on back-to-back groundouts against Jose Soriano (0-2), the second one a grounder to shortstop by Jordan Westburg.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Angels tied it on Mickey Moniak's RBI single. Joey Krehbiel (1-0) got the win, and Shintaro Fujinami registered his second save.

--Field Level Media

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