Chicago Cubs

Morales’ home run streak ends at 7 as O’s beat Blue Jays 7-0

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:35 p.m. ET

BALTIMORE (AP) — Kendrys Morales had his home run streak snapped at seven games by the Baltimore Orioles, who ended an eight-game skid by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 on Monday night.

Striving to tie the major league record of homering in eight straight games, Morales went 0 for 3 with a walk and did not hit the ball out of the infield. In his final chance, the Toronto slugger swung through a slider from Paul Fry to strike out in the eighth inning.

Though he failed to match the mark shared by Dale Long, Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr., Morales owns the big league record for successive games with a home run by a switch-hitter. He also owns the franchise record for consecutive games with a long ball.

Facing Baltimore rookie David Hess, against whom he homered last week, Morales struck out in the first inning, grounded out in the fourth and drew a four-pitch walk in the sixth.

Hess (3-8) tossed six innings of four-hit ball to earn his first win since May 25. He was 0-7 in his previous 12 starts, though he did pitch very well against Toronto his last time out.

The game was scoreless until the Orioles broke through in the sixth against Sam Gaviglio (3-7).

Trey Mancini homered and matched a career high with five RBIs as Baltimore improved to 2-12 against Toronto with its first win since Aug. 18.

ASTROS 11, ATHLETICS 4

HOUSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman and Tyler White homered and drove in four runs apiece as Houston rallied to beat Oakland in the opener of their AL West showdown.

It was the sixth straight win for the first-place Astros, who moved to 2 1/2 games ahead of the Athletics.

George Springer and Jose Altuve each drove in a run during a five-run third inning that erased an early 4-0 deficit. This was the first game with Springer, Altuve and Carlos Correa in the lineup together since June 25. Springer, who pinch-hit Sunday, missed the previous five games with a quadriceps injury.

Bregman tied a career high with four hits.

The A's jumped on starter Gerrit Cole (12-5) for four runs behind a two-run homer by Marcus Semien in the second and a two-run run shot by Matt Chapman in the third.

Cole allowed four hits and struck out eight to move ahead of teammate Justin Verlander (229) and into first place in the AL with 234 strikeouts.

Brett Anderson (3-4) allowed five runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings.

CUBS 7, METS 4

CHICAGO (AP) — Jon Lester pitched six innings, drove in two runs with a timely single off Noah Syndergaard and made two nice plays in the field to help Chicago beat New York Mets for its sixth consecutive victory.

Anthony Rizzo homered and Daniel Murphy reached three more times from the leadoff spot as the NL-leading Cubs moved a season-high 24 games over .500 by improving to 5-0 against the Mets this year. Murphy, who began his career with the Mets, is batting .407 (11 for 27) in six games since he was acquired in a trade with Washington.

Lester was in line for his 15th win before Kevin Plawecki hit a solo homer off Steve Cishek (4-1) in the seventh, tying it at 4 on a warm and windy night at Wrigley Field. But the Cubs went ahead to stay with two runs in the bottom half, including Ben Zobrist's tiebreaking double off Jerry Blevins (1-2).

New York loaded the bases in the ninth before Jesse Chavez struck out Amed Rosario and Austin Jackson for his third save of the season, helping the Cubs (77-53) increase their NL Central lead to 4 1/2 games over idle St. Louis.

Michael Conforto hit a tape-measure homer for New York. Syndergaard allowed four runs and nine hits in six innings.

NATIONALS 5, PHILLIES 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Stephen Strasburg threw six effective innings, Matt Wieters hit a solo homer and Washington defeated Philadelphia.

Strasburg (7-7) gave up two runs and five hits, striking out five. He rebounded from a rough start against Philadelphia last week in his return from the disabled list.

The Phillies fell 3 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East after losing the opener for the seventh straight series. They're 6-12 since Aug. 8 and have dropped five games in the standings during that span.

Zach Eflin (9-5) allowed five runs — three earned — and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. His throwing error in the fourth cost him.

Rhys Hoskins hit his 27th homer for Philadelphia.

Justin Miller tossed a perfect ninth for his first save.

WHITE SOX 6, YANKEES 2

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Rodon pitched two-hit ball over seven innings, Yoan Moncada doubled in two runs and the surging Chicago White Sox beat New York for their fourth straight win.

Rodon (6-3) allowed a two-run homer to Gleyber Torres but was strong otherwise, and Chicago's bullpen closed out a three-hitter. The White Sox have won 10 of 13 and clinched their first winning month this season by improving to 15-10 in August.

Rodon is 5-0 with a 1.84 ERA in his past nine starts. The 25-year-old left-hander hasn't lost since June 30.

New York (83-48) missed an opportunity to gain ground on the idle Red Sox, falling 6 1/2 games back of the AL East leaders. The Yankees were coming off four-game sweep in Baltimore and had won eight of nine, shaving 4½ games off Boston's lead in a span of eight days.

Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka (9-5) permitted four runs in seven innings. He gave up 10 hits, equaling a career high.

GIANTS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Chris Stratton threw a career-high eight innings to outpitch Patrick Corbin, and Steven Duggar hit an early two-run homer as San Francisco blanked Arizona.

The Diamondbacks remained a game up in the NL West over Colorado when the Rockies lost to the Angels.

Stratton (9-7) permitted five hits, struck out six and allowed only two runners past first base. He walked none and retired 17 of his final 18 batters to win for the first time since June 17.

Tony Watson set down two hitters and Hunter Strickland got one out for his 14th save, completing the five-hitter.

Corbin (10-5) had nine strikeouts and one walk in seven innings while absorbing his first loss in six starts against the Giants this season. He gave up four hits.

ANGELS 10, ROCKIES 7

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani homered, Eric Young Jr. drove in the go-ahead run during a five-run eighth inning and Los Angeles blew a three-run lead before rallying past Colorado to snap a six-game skid.

After DJ LeMahieu's first career grand slam put the Rockies up 7-5 in the eighth, the struggling Angels improbably mounted a five-run surge in the bottom of the inning.

Los Angeles loaded the bases against Adam Ottavino (6-3) and got a run on Andrelton Simmons' sacrifice fly before Young capped an eight-pitch at-bat with a two-out, bases-loaded single off Seunghwan Oh. The Angels added two insurance runs on shortstop Trevor Story's throwing error.

Ohtani hit a three-run shot and Trout added his first homer since returning from injury for the Angels, who have won 11 of their last 12 meetings with Colorado. Noe Ramirez earned his first career save.

Tony Wolters hit an early homer for the Rockies, but their bullpen wasted a chance to pull even with Arizona atop the NL West.

Jim Johnson (5-3) was the winner.