HOUSTON — José Ramírez homered for a third straight game, Angel Martínez also went deep and the Cleveland Guardians got a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros on Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep.
Martínez homered for a second straight at-bat with his shot to the Crawford Boxes with one out in the first inning. His grand slam with two outs in the 10th inning Tuesday night lifted Cleveland to a 10-6 win.
Four pitches after Martinez’s homer Wednesday, Ramírez also connected off Brandon Walter (1-2) to make it 2-0. Walter settled in after that, retiring the next 17 batters, with seven strikeouts before Bennett Sousa took over to start the seventh.
Ramírez and Carlos Santana hit consecutive singles with no outs in the inning before David Fry walked to load the bases. Johnathan Rodríguez then singled to score two and extend the lead to 4-0.
The Astros had managed just four singles when Taylor Trammell walked with no outs in the eighth and scored on a double by Mauricio Dubón that cut the lead to 4-1. There were two outs in the inning when Jose Altuve’s RBI double made it 4-2.
BREWERS 3, DODGERS 2 (10)
MILWAUKEE — Jackson Chourio singled home the winning run in the 10th inning as Milwaukee rallied to beat Los Angeles to complete their first home sweep of the Dodgers in franchise history.
The Brewers’ only two previous sweeps of the Dodgers came at Los Angeles, in May 2012 and August 2017. The NL West-leading Dodgers have lost six straight.
Milwaukee’s Trevor Megill (2-2) struck out Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages and Tommy Edman in order in the top of the 10th.
William Contreras led off the bottom of the 10th with a fly to deep centre off Kirby Yates (4-3) that advanced automatic runner Sal Frelick to third. Chourio then singled through the left side of a drawn-in infield for his first career walk-off hit.
CHICAGO — Adrian Houser tossed seven solid innings, as Chicago stopped Toronto’s 10-game winning streak, beating the Blue Jays.
Houser (5-2) won his third straight start. Edgar Quero hit an RBI double and scored in a two-run fourth against Toronto starter Eric Lauer (4-2), and Chicago stopped the Blue Jays one win shy of their franchise record. Toronto has won 11 straight five times, most recently in August 2015.
Houser, who gave up one run and seven hits, has a 1.56 ERA through nine starts. The right-hander has allowed two earned runs in 26 innings over four outings at Rate Field.
SAN FRANCISCO — Bryce Harper homered and doubled three times, Jesús Luzardo struck out seven and gave up three hits in seven innings, and Philadelphia kept Justin Verlander winless with a rout of San Francisco.
Verlander (0-7), the 42-year-old right-hander in his first year with the Giants, gave up four runs (two earned) on seven hits in six innings. The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out seven and did not issue a walk.
It was his 15th start of the season and his longest previous streak of starts without a win was seven.
The Phillies scored an unearned run in the second before Harper opened the fourth with his 10th homer, taking Verlander to left field.
DETROIT — First-time all-star Junior Caminero homered and scored twice and Tampa Bay beat Detroit to end the major league-leading Tigers’ winning streak at five games.
Down 3-2 after five innings, the Rays scored four times in the sixth and Caminero led off the seventh with his 22nd homer — a blast over the Detroit bullpen in left.
The Rays broke it open against reliever Chase Lee in the sixth. With two out and a runner on second, Lee replaced Brant Hurter (4-1) and allowed four straight run-scoring hits, including doubles by Ha-Seong Kim and Danny Jansen.
The Tigers loaded the bases in the seventh, but Garrett Cleavinger struck out Riley Greene to end the inning.
Zack Littell (8-7) allowed three runs in 5.2 innings for the Rays.
NEW YORK — Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered twice and drove in four runs, and Cam Schlittler won his impressive major league debut as New York beat Seattle.
Jasson Domínguez had three hits, including an RBI single, and Aaron Judge added a two-run double to help the Yankees overcome four Seattle homers. New York has won three straight following its second six-game losing streak since mid-June.
One of the team’s top-rated prospects, Schlittler (1-0) was called up from the minors to start in place of injured Clarke Schmidt. The 24-year-old right-hander froze big league home run leader Cal Raleigh with a 100 mph fastball for his first strikeout and was charged with three runs on four hits in 5.1 innings.
Schlittler walked two and struck out seven, ending his outing with another strikeout of Raleigh before leaving to a standing ovation as his parents hugged in the Yankee Stadium stands.
CINCINNATI — Andrew Abbott pitched seven innings of shutout ball a day after being named an all-star, Elly De La Cruz hit a pair of RBI doubles and Cincinnati beat the Marlins, snapping Miami’s franchise-record 11-game road winning streak.
Abbott (8-1) was named to the NL All-Star team on Tuesday, replacing Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Against Miami, Abbott allowed one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five. The 26-year-old left-hander lost his shutout bid and left the game when Heriberto Hernández hit a two-out RBI single in the eighth. The Reds ended a four-game skid.
The Reds scored three runs in the first and fourth innings with De La Cruz hitting RBI doubles in each. Noelvi Marte hit a two-run homer, his fourth of the season, in the fourth. Will Benson added his eighth homer in the eighth.
Reds manager Terry Francona moved within three wins of his 2,000th career victory as a manager.
BOSTON — Masataka Yoshida went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI in his season debut after undergoing shoulder surgery in October, and Boston completed a three-game sweep with a win over Colorado.
Carlos Narváez, Wilyer Abreu, Romy Gonzalez and Jarren Duran homered for the Red Sox, who matched a season best with their sixth straight win.
Lucas Giolito (6-1) went six scoreless innings, giving up four hits and no walks with six strikeouts.
Narváez led off the second inning with his eighth home run of the season. Abreu added a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth.
Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the eighth, scoring Yoshida after his ground-rule double, and Jarren Duran added a three-run shot in the inning.
MINNEAPOLIS — Ryan Jeffers and Carlos Correa each had an RBI as Minnesota scored a pair of first-inning runs for the second straight game in a win over Chicago.
Matt Wallner added a solo homer for the Twins in the third, which proved to be enough for right-hander David Festa (3-3), who went 5.1 innings and allowed a pair of runs in the fourth inning.
Minnesota’s bullpen tossed 3.2 scoreless innings. Closer Jhoan Duran, who was unavailable Tuesday due to illness, earned his 14th save of the season.
The Twins lost all-star centre fielder Byron Buxton to injury. Buxton was hit in the hand in the first inning. He remained in the game initially but came out in the second inning. The Twins announced Buxton suffered a left-hand contusion.
Cubs starter Cade Horton (3-3) didn’t make it through the fifth inning. He was lifted after 4.2 innings and surrendered four runs on six hits. It’s the third time in his last four starts he failed to complete five innings.
SAN DIEGO — Geraldo Perdomo hit a grand slam and all-stars Eugenio Suárez and Corbin Carroll, as well as James McCann, also homered for the Arizona Diamondbacks in an 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night.
Brandon Pfaadt (9-6) held the Padres to two runs and four hits in a career-high eight innings, with four strikeouts and no walks. His only big mistake was allowing Gavin Sheets’ 437-foot home run deep into the seats in right field leading off the seventh, his 14th.
Perdomo, Suárez and McCann homered off starter Dylan Cease (3-9). Carroll, who struck out in his first four at-bats, connected off Eduarniel Núñez leading off the ninth.
Perdomo hit his third career slam and 10th homer this season with two outs in the fifth. It was the third slam given up by Cease in his seven seasons imn the majors. Cease allowed two walks — including to McCann — and allowed a single ahead of Perdomo’s slam.
Arizona has nine grand slams this season, two off the team record set last year.
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit two home runs, including a towering blast to lead off Wednesday night’s game against the Athletics, and Atlanta hit a season-high five homers in a victory.
The Braves had lost 13 consecutive games in the state of California.
It was the 14th career multi-homer performance for Acuña, who opened the game with a shot to left field that went out of the Triple-A ballpark.
Acuña, who will compete in Monday’s Home Run Derby in his home stadium, added another solo homer in the fourth inning to right field on a pitch well outside the strike zone.
Drake Baldwin hit a three-run homer for the Braves, Austin Riley had a two-run shot and Marcell Ozuna added a solo home run — all off A’s starter Mitch Spence (2-5), who lasted six innings despite allowing nine hits and eight runs.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, Mike Trout went deep twice and Los Angeles beat Texas.
Trout hit a two-run homer in the third and added his 16th of the season in the fifth, a solo shot that gave the Angels a 6-5 lead. His fly ball out to center in the seventh advanced two runners before Taylor Ward drove in both with a single, tying the score at 8.
Travis d’Arnaud hit his sixth home run for Los Angeles in the fourth inning.
José Fermin (2-0), the seventh of eight Angels pitchers, worked a scoreless inning and earned the victory. Kenley Jansen picked up his 16th save.
ST. LOUIS — James Wood hit his 24th homer, Nathaniel Lowe added a three-run shot and Washington beat St. Louis to give interim manager Miguel Cairo his first victory.
Cairo took over when Washington fired manager Dave Martinez and president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo hour after a 6-4 loss to Boston on Sunday.
Wood hit a solo homer in the seventh inning with an exit velocity of 115.9 mph that traveled 433 feet to center field. Wood has been named an All-Star and will take part in the Home Run Derby.
Lowe staked Washington to a lead in the first inning with his 14th homer of the season. The Nationals added three more runs in the sixth on an RBI double by Alex Call and a bloop single with the bases loaded by Jacob Young that scored two runs.
Amed Rosario hit a solo homer, his fifth, in the fifth inning, for a 7-1 lead. MacKenzie Gore (4-8) pitched six innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk while striking out seven as the Nationals snapped a four-game skid.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Salvador Perez homered twice, Jac Caglianone hit the longest measured homer by a Royals rookie, and Kansas City beat Pittsburgh to complete a three-game sweep.
Perez broke a 3-3 tie in the eighth inning with his longball off Isaac Mattson (2-1). He opened the scoring with a 444-foot shot to center in the second.
But the most impressive homer of the game belonged to Caglianone — a 466-foot, two-run drive to center in the fourth against Bailey Falter. It was the longest homer by a Royals rookie since Statcast started tracking in 2015 and the fourth-longest by any Kansas City player at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals have won six of seven overall. They did not have a multi-homer game this season before doing it Monday night against Pittsburgh, and now they’ve done it three games in a row. Kansas City hit nine homers in the series.
