KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Jose Altuve went 4 for 5, including a home run and two doubles, and the Houston Astros extended their winning streak to seven with a 13-5 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Saturday night.
Altuve drove in three runs and scored three runs. He is hitting .417 with a .484 on-base percentage while reaching base in 27 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
Marwin Gonzalez, Altuve and Carlos Correa, the Astros' two-three-four hitters, combined to go 8 for 15 with seven RBIs, six runs and two homers. Altuve and Correa hit consecutive homers in a seven-run second.
Houston has won 22 of 30 to move a season-best three games above .500 (39-36). The Astros are on their longest winning streak since taking 10 in a row from June 14-23 last year.
Kansas City catcher Drew Butera took the mound to get the final three outs of the ninth, his fourth big league pitching appearance and the first by a Royals position player since outfielder Mitch Maier against Cleveland on April 15, 2012. Butera gave up Jason Castro's RBI double, retired George Springer on a foulout, struck out Marwin Gonzalez on a 91 mph offering and got Danny Worth on a groundout.
Michael Feliz (5-1) won despite allowing two runs and three hits in 1 2/3 innings. Astros starter Mike Fiers, staked to a 9-1 lead in the fourth, was removed after 4 1/3 innings. He gave up three runs, nine hits and three walks and also a hit batter.
Chris Young (2-7) yielded seven runs, seven hits and four walks in 2 1/3 innings, raising his ERA to 6.54. He has allowed a major league-leading 21 homers in 53 2/3 innings-including at least one homer in all 11 starts.
Orioles 5, Rays 0, Game 1
Orioles 8, Rays 6, Game 2
BALTIMORE-Matt Wieters hit two homers, and Baltimore rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Tampa Bay 8-6 for a doubleheader sweep that extended the Rays' losing streak to 10 games.
Adam Jones and Chris Davis also homered for the AL East-leading Orioles, who trailed 4-0 in the third inning and 6-3 in the fifth.
In the opener, Kevin Gausman allowed four hits over 7 2/3 innings to earn his first win of the season and help Baltimore to a 5-0 victory.
Seeking his 10th straight win in the nightcap, Orioles starter Chris Tillman gave up six runs and 10 hits in five innings. But Baltimore's comeback kept the right-hander unbeaten in 13 starts since April 14.
The turnaround came against a struggling Rays pitching staff that has now yielded at least five runs in 10 consecutive games. Tampa Bay has been outscored 60-24 during this horrid stretch.
Indians 6, Tigers 0
DETROIT-When Carlos Carrasco shrugged off a rising pitch count and went back to the mound in the ninth inning, teammate Francisco Lindor was impressed.
"I was tired in the fifth," Lindor said.
Carrasco and Lindor led Cleveland to its eighth straight win Saturday, when Carrasco pitched a four-hitter and Lindor hit two home runs in a 6-0 win over Detroit. It was the first career multihomer game for the 22-year-old Lindor, and Carrasco's third major league shutout.
Carlos Santana and Yan Gomes also went deep for AL Central-leading Cleveland, which improved to 8-0 against the Tigers this year, outscoring them 51-17.
The Indians spoiled Anibal Sanchez's return to the Detroit rotation. The right-hander allowed a homer to Santana on the game's second pitch, and Lindor added another solo shot one out later.
Carrasco (3-2) struck out seven and walked one. He threw a season-high 117 pitches in his first shutout of the year.
Sanchez (4-8) made his first start since May 31 after being demoted to the bullpen for a bit. He allowed four runs and five hits in five innings.
Blue Jays 10, White Sox 8
CHICAGO-Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey called it "bizarro world." Manager John Gibbons broke into a hearty laugh.
No one in the Blue Jays clubhouse could easily explain how they became just the third team in major league history to give up seven home runs in a game and win.
Chicago tied a team record with those seven long balls, but it wasn't enough as Edwin Encarnacion drove in four runs, Devon Travis homered and Toronto held on to beat Chicago.
"I don't think I've ever been a part of a game like that," Gibbons said.
Chicago joined Detroit as the only teams to lose after hitting at least seven homers. The Tigers did it against the White Sox on May 28, 1995, and versus Boston on Aug. 8, 2004.
All seven homers were solo shots. Brett Lawrie became the first White Sox player since Ron Santo in 1974 to hit inside-the-park and over-the-wall homers in the same game, and Chicago hit three straight home runs in the second inning.
Yankees 2, Twins 1
NEW YORK-For the third straight game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi rolled out all three rocket arms that make up the back end of his bullpen.
Hard to hold off when they're so automatic.
"You have to win today. Tomorrow doesn't mean anything," Girardi said.
Starlin Castro drove home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning with a sharp one-hopper scored an error on shortstop Eduardo Escobar, and New York edged Minnesota with another dose of dominant relief pitching.
Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller (5-0) and Aroldis Chapman combined to throw three scoreless innings for the third consecutive game in a four-day span. The trio had teamed up to set down 26 consecutive batters during that stretch before Joe Mauer singled on a 99 mph fastball from Chapman with two outs in the ninth.
Mets 1, Braves 0, 11 innings
ATLANTA-Pinch-hitter Kelly Johnson lined a leadoff home run in the 11th inning and New York outlasted Atlanta.
Johnson pulled a pitch from Dario Alvarez (1-1) into the first row of the right-field seats for his third homer.
Johnson began the year with the Braves before he was traded to the Mets on June 8. Alvarez was claimed off waivers from the Mets by the Braves in late May.
The homer was the first extra-base hit of a game that began as a terrific duel between Jacob deGrom and Julio Teheran. They each threw eight scoreless innings.