×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

Nova, Polanco Drive Buccos

Pirates wallop Astros in 7-1 romp

PITTSBURGH — Ivan Nova took a shutout into the ninth inning and finished with a six-hitter while Gregory Polanco hit two home runs to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 7-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.

Nova (10-6) struck out six, walked one and threw 69 of his 98 pitches for strikes while improving to 3-0 in four starts since being acquired from the New York Yankees in an Aug. 1 trade.

It was the fourth complete game of the right-hander’s seven-year career with the others coming in 2013.

His bid for his third career shutout ended when Alex Bregman and Jose Altuve led off the ninth with consecutive doubles.

Pittsburgh snapped its four-game losing streak and stopped Houston’s four-game winning streak. Both teams entered 3 1/2 games out of the second wild card in their respective leagues.

After the Pirates scored four runs in the first inning, Polanco hit solo shots in the third and fifth off Joe Musgrove and Tony Sipp to extend the lead to 6-0 and raise his season total to a team-high 19 homers.

It was Polanco’s second two-home run game of his three-year career. The other was July 4 at St. Louis.

The Pirates opened the first inning with six straight hits off Musgrove (1-2). Matt Joyce and Andrew McCutchen hit consecutive RBI doubles then Polanco and rookie Josh Bell drove in runs with singles.

Polanco had three of the Pirates’ 11 hits while driving in three runs and scoring three times. Joyce and Bell added two hits each.

The Astros’ Marwin Gonzalez had three hits.

Musgrove, a rookie making his fourth career start, was rocked for five runs and eight hits in four innings with two strikeouts and no walks. He has allowed a combined 13 runs in 9 1/3 innings while losing his last two starts.

The Pirates’ final run scored on a throwing error by Bregman, a rookie shortstop, in the seventh inning.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Astros: 3B Luis Valbuena will undergo surgery in the next few days to repair a torn tendon in his right hamstring. Out since July 27, Valbuena finishes the season hitting .260 with 13 home runs in 90 games. . OF Preston Tucker (strained right shoulder) will begin a rehab assignment Wednesday at Double-A Corpus Christi. . 3B/OF Yulieski Gurriel (right hamstring tightness) did not start for a second straight game after making his major league debut Sunday but is expected to be in the lineup Wednesday.

UP NEXT

Astros: RHP Collin McHugh (7-10, 4.99 ERA) starts the finale of the three-game series Wednesday. He is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in his last five starts.

Pirates: RHP Gerrit Cole (7-8, 3.30) is 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA in his last three starts.

RED SOX 2, RAYS 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Clay Buchholz pitched into the seventh inning, David Ortiz had a run-scoring single and the Boston Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Tuesday night to remain tied atop the AL East with Toronto.

Buchholz (5-9) allowed one run, five hits, two walks and struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings. Craig Kimbrel got the final three outs for his 23rd save.

Chris Archer (7-17) gave up two runs, five hits and threw 109 pitches in five innings for the Rays.

BLUE JAYS 7, ANGELS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Russell Martin had three hits and two RBIs and R.A. Dickey pitched 6 2/3 innings for his first home win since July 10.

Martin had an RBI single in the first, drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the third, singled and scored in the fifth, and doubled over the head of center fielder Mike Trout in the seventh.

Michael Saunders hit his 21st home run, a solo shot off A.J. Achter in the eighth, and Edwin Encarnacion and Darwin Barney each reached base three times as the Blue Jays won their fifth straight over the Angels.

Dickey (9-13) came in 2-8 with a 5.57 ERA in 13 home starts but held the Angels in check, allowing two runs and six hits.

Tyler Skaggs (1-3) allowed four runs and four hits in four-plus innings. His five walks were a season-worst.

Toronto remained tied with Boston for first place in the AL East.

ROYALS 1, MIAMI 0

MIAMI (AP) — Yordano Ventura escaped two threats while pitching six innings, and the Kansas City Royals extended their winning streak to nine games.

Ventura (9-9) allowed six hits and one walk while striking out six. Three relievers closed out the win and extended the bullpen’s streak of 32 consecutive shutout innings since Aug. 10. Kelvin Herrera pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save.

Andrew Cashner (4-10) had his best outing in five starts for the Marlins but fell to 0-3 since joining them on July 30. He allowed one run in six innings.

REDS 3, RANGERS 0

CINCINNATI (AP) — Dan Straily extended his surge since the All-Star break by pitching six innings and Joey Votto drove in a pair of runs to lead Cincinnati over Texas.

Straily (10-6) hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his eight starts since the break, going 6-0. He gave up three singles and two walks.

Tony Cingrani gave two walks in the ninth before retiring Ryan Rua on a grounder to complete his 16th save in 21 chances.

Votto singled home a run in the sixth off left-hander Derek Holland (5-6), who had been on the disabled list since June 22 with an inflamed pitching shoulder. Holland gave up four hits and a walk in six innings. He also got his first major league hit, a single off the plate that bounced over Votto’s head at first base.

ORIOLES 8, NATIONALS 1

BALTIMORE — Kevin Gausman scattered six hits over six shutout innings, Adam Jones went 4 for 5 and Baltimore breezed past Washington.

Chris Davis hit his 30th home run for the Orioles.

Gausman (5-10) walked two, struck out two and permitted only one runner past second base.

The 25-year-old outpitched Nationals rookie Reynaldo Lopez, a 22-year-old making his fifth major league start. Lopez (2-2) yielded six runs, four earned, and seven hits in 2 2/3 rocky innings.

Mets 7

Cardinals 4

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Wilmer Flores and Justin Ruggiano homered as the New York Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-4 on Tuesday night.

Jose Reyes reached four base times and scored three runs. Asdrubal Cabrera had three hits, drove in a run and scored once.

The offense helped Robert Gsellman (1-0) get the decision in his major league debut. Gsellman, pressed into action after starter Jonathon Niese left with an injury in the first inning, pitched 3 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run.

Jeurys Familia earned his 42nd save, one shy of the Mets’ season record set by Familia last year and Armando Benitez in 2001.

Cardinals lefty Jaime Garcia (10-9) gave up a season-high six runs at home, in just four innings. New York broke a 22 1/3-inning streak in which Garcia hadn’t given up an earned run at home to the Mets.

Tigers 8

Twins 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Cameron Maybin drove in three runs, including a go-ahead two-run single in the sixth inning, to spark the Detroit Tigers over the Minnesota Twins 8-3 on Tuesday night.

Anibal Sanchez (7-12) pitched seven innings to win a start on the road for the first time since the first week of the season, and the Tigers broke the game open in the seventh with soaring home runs by Erick Aybar and Victor Martinez.

Brian Dozier gave Minnesota the lead in the fifth with his 29th homer, a new career high, but Kyle Gibson (5-8) couldn’t hold it. He threw two of the team’s three wild pitches in the decisive sixth, when rain started to fall hard and the Tigers tallied three runs on three singles and a walk.

White Sox 9

Phillies 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Jose Abreu homered for a third straight game, Carlos Rodon threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings and the Chicago White Sox beat the slumping Philadelphia Phillies 9-1 on Tuesday night.

Abreu hit a two-run home run and Justin Morneau followed with a solo shot in the fifth off Jake Thompson (1-3), who gave up seven runs and eight hits in five innings.

Rodon (4-8) allowed three hits and has a 1.46 ERA in his past four starts after missing most of July with a sprained left wrist suffered when he slipped on the dugout steps.

Adam Eaton tripled, singled and scored twice and Tim Anderson tripled, reached base three times and drove in a run as Chicago built a 9-0 lead in its third straight win.

Freddy Galvis homered off Chris Beck in the seventh to end a 17-inning scoreless streak for the Phillies, who have dropped five of seven.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today