BALTIMORE (AP) — Kyle Tucker’s grand slam off Félix Bautista in the top of the ninth inning gave the Houston Astros a 7-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
Houston trailed 5-0 after Ryan Mountcastle and Adley Rutschman homered off Framber Valdez in the first and second innings, but the Astros pulled off a remarkable comeback in the ninth.
Pinch-hitter Jon Singleton led off the ninth with a walk, and Jose Altuve followed with a single. Bautista (6-2) struck out Alex Bregman, but Yordan Alvarez came within a few feet of tying it with a drive to center. Jorge Mateo — a shortstop making only his second start of the year in center field — couldn't catch it, and the ball bounced off the wall for a very long single.
Tucker then battled Bautista for nine pitches, finally hitting a 100 mph fastball to right-center field for his 20th home run of the year. Bautista had allowed only five earned runs all season before Houston scored four on him in two-thirds of an inning.
Ryne Stanek (3-1) won in relief, and Ryan Pressly pitched a perfect ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.
Baltimore’s lead over Tampa Bay atop the AL East dropped to two games.
BRAVES 8, PIRATES 6
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Orlando Arcia hit a two-out, two-run double in the ninth, and Atlanta rallied from three runs down to beat Pittsburgh.
Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a leadoff homer but left the game in the sixth when he was hit on the left elbow by a pitch from Pirates reliever Colin Holderman. The Braves said X-rays were negative.
Kevin Pillar tied the game in the ninth with a two-out RBI single against Pirates closer David Bednar (3-2) before Arcia put the Braves ahead. Major league-best Atlanta stopped a three-game skid.
Kirby Yates (6-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. The Pirates put two runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but Raisel Iglesias got Jack Suwinski to hit a game-ending comebacker for his 21st save in 23 chances.
CUBS 3, METS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Mike Tauchman hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning off Drew Smith (4-4) and Jameson Taillon retired his final 16 batters to win his fourth straight start as Chicago beat New York.
Cody Bellinger also went deep and Yan Gomes had an RBI double for the surging Cubs, who won for the 16th time in 21 games.
Pete Alonso hit an early two-run homer for the sinking Mets. New York has lost seven of eight since trading Justin Verlander and other veterans at last week’s deadline.
Adbert Alzolay worked a one-hit ninth for his 15th save in 16 tries. He started a 1-6-3 double play on Daniel Vogelbach to end it.
Taillon (7-6) allowed three hits in seven innings and improved to 5-0 in his past six outings.
RAYS 4, CARDINALS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Yandy Díaz, Brandon Lowe and Randy Arozarena hit RBI singles in the eighth inning and Tampa Bay beat St. Louis.
Josh Lowe opened the eighth with a triple against Miles Mikolas (6-8). Andre Pallante entered and retired pinch-hitter Harold Ramírez on a grounder before Díaz hit a groundball single to center that made it 2-1 — the first of four consecutive base hits.
Díaz went 4 for 4 and raised his average from .315 to .322 as the Rays improved to 7-3 over their last 10 games. Isaac Paredes hit his 22nd homer of the season in the seventh inning, when he knotted the game at 1-all.
Tampa Bay center fielder Jose Siri helped preserve the 1-all tie with a leaping catch at the wall on Nolan Gorman’s two-out drive off Jason Adam (3-2) with a runner on first in the top of the eighth.
Pete Fairbanks gave up a solo homer to Willson Contreras in the ninth before nailing down his 15th save and completing the five-hitter.
GUARDIANS 1, BLUE JAYS 0
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tanner Bibee pitched seven innings and Ramón Laureano drove in the game’s only run in his debut for Cleveland, which ended Toronto's four-game winning streak.
Bibee (8-2) allowed six singles — three by Whit Merrifield — and remained unbeaten in his last nine starts.
Laureano, claimed off waivers on Monday from Oakland, hit an RBI double in the second inning off Yusei Kikuchi (9-4), who gave up three hits in seven innings.
Trevor Stephan pitched the eighth and Emmanuel Clase worked around two infield singles in the ninth for his 30th save.
MARLINS 3, REDS 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Jorge Soler hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and Miami rallied past Cincinnati in a matchup of NL wild-card contenders.
Soler connected on a four-seam fastball from reliever Lucas Sims (3-3), sending it just out of the reach of leaping center fielder TJ Friedl. The Marlins held on to snap a five-game skid and move within one-half game of the Reds for the final wild-card spot. Cincinnati has lost seven of eight.
Miami starter Braxton Garrett (6-3) gave up two runs and six hits in six innings. David Robertson worked the ninth for his second save with Miami and 16th overall.
PHILLIES 8, NATIONALS 4, GAME 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kyle Schwarber homered twice to reach 30 for the season and drove in five runs as Philadelphia beat Washington in the first game of a doubleheader.
Schwarber hit a two-run shot off Nationals starter Trevor Williams (5-7) in the third and Alec Bohm made it back-to-back homers with his 12th of the year that tied the game at 3-all.
Schwarber's 30th homer was a 447-foot three-run blast off Williams in the fourth. Jake Cave added a two-run homer in the sixth for the Phillies.
Zack Wheeler (9-5) settled down after allowing early homers to Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz. Wheeler struck out six and walked none over six innings.
TIGERS 6, TWINS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Eduardo Rodriguez pitched seven solid innings and Detroit stopped Minnesota's five-game winning streak.
Rodriguez (8-5) allowed four hits — all singles — struck out five and walked three.
Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera went 2 for 4 and scored a run. He has 3,142 hits, passing Tony Gwynn and moving into a tie with Robin Yount for 19th place on the career list.
Twins ace Sonny Gray (5-5) struck out 10 in six innings. He was charged with three runs — two earned — and seven hits.
ROYALS 9, RED SOX 3
BOSTON (AP) — Drew Waters, MJ Melendez and Michael Massey each hit two-run home runs and Kansas City beat Boston to snap a three-game skid.
Brady Singer (8-8) allowed three runs over 6 2/3 innings.
Adam Duvall homered for Boston, which has lost five of six. Kutter Crawford (5-6) allowed three runs in 3 1/3 innings.
Trevor Story made his season debut for the Red Sox following offseason shoulder surgery. The shortstop went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts.
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