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Morton’s streak comes to an end as Angels beat Rays

4 min read

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Charlie Morton’s luck finally ran out.

He suffered his first loss in 22 starts on Saturday when the Angels hit three homers in a 5-3 victory over Tampa Bay. It was his first loss since Aug. 11, when he pitched for the Houston Astros.

He struck out nine in six innings, giving up four runs on five hits, including a couple of home runs.

David Fletcher, Justin Bour and Kevan Smith homered for the Angels. Fletcher’s three-run home run in the second spotted left-hander Jose Suarez an early lead in his third major league start, and the Angel bullpen preserved it with 3 1/3 shutout innings.

Hansel Robles pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 12 opportunities.

The Angels’ victory, coming quickly after a bullpen meltdown in a 9-4 loss on Friday night, was good for manager Brad Ausmus’ appetite.

“It’s good to get that off your back,” Ausmus said. “We had a rough one yesterday out of the pen, but to come back less than 24 hours later and get the job done, it certainly makes it a lot easier to enjoy dinner.”

The Angels’ fourth win in five games came without a hit from Mike Trout (0 for 4), Shohei Ohtani (0 for 4) or Albert Puljols, who had the day off. Trout saw it as a big confidence boost for the beleaguered bullpen on a day when veteran Cody Allen was designated for assignment.

Houston 7, Toronto 2: Yordan Alvarez homered again and Jack Mayfield hit three doubles as Houston’s rookies delivered in a big way, leading the Astros over the Toronto Blue Jays 7-2.

Alvarez became the fourth player in major league history to hit four home runs in his first five games. The 21-year-old from Cuba sent a solo drive into the upper deck in right field and finished with three hits, making him 8 for 17 in his brief career.

San Francisco 8, Milwaukee 7: Catcher Steven Vogt hit two triples and left fielder Mike Yastrzemski made a nifty catch for the final out to help San Francisco beat Milwaukee.

The Giants rallied from a 5-1 deficit for their fourth straight win.

Christian Yelich hit his major league-leading 26th homer for the Brewers, who have lost three of four. Yelich extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Manny Piña also homered for the Brewers.

Giants reliever Trevor Gott (3-0) pitched an inning and got the win. Will Smith picked up his 18th save in 18 tries. Starter Madison Bumgarner gave up three earned in six innings.

Arizona 10, Washington 3: Ketel Marte hit two of Arizona’s four solo homers off Stephen Strasburg in a victory over Washington.

Strasburg (7-4) allowed four homers in a game for the second time in his career, the first since August 8, 2014, at Atlanta. Strasburg gave up a season-high nine hits and tied a season-high by allowing six earned runs.

Adam Jones and Christian Walker also homered off Strasburg. Kevin Cron hit a pinch-hit homer.

The Nationals scored all their runs un the bottom half of the first. Trea Turner scored on Adam Eaton’s sacrifice fly before Juan Soto and Matt Adams hit solo homers.

Cleveland 4, Detroit 2: Shane Bieber pitched impressively into the eighth inning, and Leonys Martin stole home to lift Cleveland past Detroit.

Bieber (6-2) allowed four hits and struck out 12 in 7 2/3 innings. Detroit managed only one baserunner through the first six innings before scoring twice in the seventh.

Martin provided the highlight of the game in the eighth, taking off from third while reliever Victor Alcantara was preparing to make a pitch. Alcantara stepped off and threw to the plate, and although the ball arrived at the same time as Martin, the Cleveland runner’s hand knocked the ball away as he reached for home.

Brad Hand earned his 20th save in 20 chances.

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