BALTIMORE (AP) — Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle homered, Félix Bautista worked through another shaky ninth inning and the Baltimore Orioles extended their streak to 76 series without being swept, edging the Houston Astros 5-4 on Thursday.
It was 5-3 when Bautista came on to pitch the ninth. Jose Altuve’s one-out double and Alex Bregman’s walk allowed the go-ahead run to come up, but catcher James McCann caught Yordan Alvarez’s foul pop, holding onto the ball as he lost his balance and fell.
Tucker then drew a walk to load the bases, and Yainer Diaz followed with a line drive to the left side. Third baseman Ramón Urías made a dive for it and couldn’t catch it, but he did prevent it from going all the way through and only one run came home.
Bautista then retired Jon Singleton on a popup for his 31st save in 37 chances.
Dean Kremer (11-4) allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings for AL East-leading Baltimore. Hunter Brown (8-8) allowed five runs and eight hits in six innings.
Houston got homers from Diaz and Altuve, who also singled and doubled twice.
PIRATES 7, BRAVES 5
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ke’Bryan Hayes drove in three runs for the third straight game, Liover Peguero knocked in two and Pittsburgh rallied past Atlanta.
Pittsburgh salvaged a split of a four-game series with the NL East leaders by overcoming an early four-run deficit behind Hayes and a strong effort out of the bullpen by Thomas Hatch (1-0), who worked four scoreless innings in earning his first win in nearly three years. Colin Holderman earned the second save of his career.
Matt Olson hit his 40th home run of the season for Atlanta to move into a tie with Shohei Ohtani for the major-league lead. Orlando Arcia also homered for the Braves and Austin Riley added three hits. Bryce Elder (8-4) gave up five runs and six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings.
TIGERS 3, TWINS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Riley Greene homered in the sixth inning and Detroit won a pitchers' duel to take three of four games against Minnesota.
The Twins, who managed two singles, had won five straight after taking Monday’s opener.
Reese Olson (2-5) pitched six scoreless innings, allowing the two hits and three walks while striking out eight. Chasen Shreve pitched the seventh, and converted starter Beau Brieske pitched the last two innings for his second save.
Kenta Maeda (3-7) took the loss despite only allowing Greene’s homer in his six innings. He gave up three hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Zack McKinstry hit a two-run double for Detroit.
GUARDIANS 4, BLUE JAYS 3
CLEVELAND (AP) — Noah Syndergaard won for the first time since April 30 and rookies Brayan Rocchio and José Tena sparked Cleveland’s win over Toronto.
Syndergaard (2-5) allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings and was removed with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth. Nick Sandlin retired Nathan Lukes on a ground ball to end the inning. Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his 31st save in 39 chances.
Rocchio had RBI doubles in the second and fifth. Tena had an RBI single in the second for his first major league hit and a double in the fifth as the teams split the four-game series.
Alek Manoah (3-9) allowed four runs and four hits in four innings, striking out six and walking three. Whit Merrifield, Brandon Belt and Santiago Espinal had RBIs for Toronto.
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