Bregman helps the Astros sink the Yankees again, 2-1

HOUSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman hit a two-point brace early and the Houston Astros held on for a 2-1 win over the New York Yankees on Thursday night.

Thursday’s game completes a nine-game streak for the Astros against New York teams. Houston went 3-2 against the major league-leading Yankees and swept four games with the Mets, who had the second-best record in baseball before being passed by the Astros.

The Yankees were in town for just one game to be part of a series that was scrapped due to the lockout. They will end the series with a doubleheader here on July 21.

Houston starter Luis García (6-5) allowed three hits and a run with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings for his third straight win. Ryan Pressly struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 17th save.

The Astros had a chance to dig into the lead, but the third inning ended in a weird play after New York starter Luis Severino’s PitchCom device malfunctioned. Tucker saw that Severino was distracted from third base and tried to sneak home, but Severino kicked him out.

Severino (4-3) drove in three hits and two runs in six innings. Anthony Rizzo hit a solo homer for the Yankees in the sixth inning.

PIRATES 8, BREWERS 7

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Backup catcher Michael Perez hit three homers, rookies Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski hit back-to-back shots, and Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee.

It was the first multihomer match of Perez’s five-year career. He hit a two-run blast in the fourth inning against Brent Suter (1-2) to break a 3-3 tie, added another two-run homer in the sixth to make it 6-4, then shot solo in eighth. to increase the lead to 8-4.

The outburst came a day after the Pirates’ Bryan Reynolds had a three-home run game in a win at Washington.

Rookie Yerry De Los Santos relieved closest David Bednar at ninth with runners at first and third and retired Luis Urias on a pop fly for his second career save, both in the past two days.

JT Brubaker (2-7) pitched six innings, allowing four runs and seven hits. He struck out six and walked two.

KEEPERS 5, TWINS 3

CLEVELAND (AP) — Andrés Giménez hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning against Tyler Thornburg (0-2) and Cleveland beat Minnesota for its second straight victory.

José Ramírez walked his first goal, the 10th allowed by Minnesota. Josh Naylor’s groundout moved Ramírez to second and Owen Miller flew out. Giménez followed with his winning game. The Guardians lead the Majors with 17 last batting victories, including six against the rival Twins.

The Twins failed to hold a 6-3 lead in the 10th inning Wednesday night when the Guardians scored four times and won the game on Naylor’s two-run homer.

Emmanuel Clase (2-2) pitched the ninth for Cleveland.

BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 1

TORONTO (AP) — Teoscar Hernández and Santiago Espinal each hit two home runs, Yuseki Kukuchi hit a season-high eight in six innings to end a seven-start winless streak and Toronto beat Tampa Bay.

Hernández hit his eighth home run in the second, and Espinal went deep in the seventh, his sixth. Both homers came off Rays left-hander Ryan Yarbrough (0-4).

Rays left-hander Jeffrey Springs was scheduled to start against Toronto on Friday, but instead quit the team and was placed on the family medical emergency list. Rays infielder Isaac Paredes hit a solo homer at fourth, his 11th.

Kikuchi (3-4) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, his longest outing since his previous victory May 16 against Seattle. He went 0-3 with a 7.30 in all seven starts between wins.

PHILLIES 14, BRAVE 4

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber finished the month with another home run in June, Darick Hall went deep twice and Philadelphia avoided a three-game sweep with a rout of Atlanta.

Rhys Hoskins and Nick Castellanos also homered for the Phillies, who hit a season-high in scoring despite missing star Bryce Harper for the fourth straight game. The 2021 NL MVP is out indefinitely after undergoing surgery on his broken left thumb on Wednesday.

Adam Duvall and Michael Harris II went deep for the defending champion Braves, who finished June with a 21-6 mark to tie the most wins in a calendar month since the club moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta in 1966.

Aaron Nola (5-5) allowed four runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts and one walk in seven innings. The Phillies retired with seven runs and six hits in second against Ian Anderson (6-5).

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