Sep 8, 2018 4 min read

Alex Bregman hit his 30th home run, Charlie Morton returned from the disabled list with five solid innings and the Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 5-3 on Saturday for their seventh straight win.

Martin Maldonado also homered for AL West-leading Houston, which won the first two legs of the three-game rematch of last year’s AL Division Series. The defending World Series champion Astros will try to sweep the major league-leading Red Sox on Sunday night.

Morton (14-3) was activated from the DL after missing his last start with discomfort in his right shoulder. He allowed a run and three hits in the first inning, but Boston didn’t score again until Xander Bogaerts’ solo homer in the fifth.

Morton matched his win total from 2017. He allowed two runs and seven hits, striking out three and walking two. Roberto Osuna took over in the ninth and got his 15th save despite allowing a run. Osuna got out of a jam when J.D. Martinez grounded into a double play.

Eduardo Rodriguez (12-4) pitched 3 1/3 innings. Houston tagged him for five runs and six hits, including solo homers by Bregman and Maldonado.

Cleveland 9, Toronto 8: Roberto Perez homered and drove in four, Michael Brantley hit a two-run shot and the Cleveland Indians outslugged the Toronto Blue Jays 9-8.

Brantley returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games because of a sore left foot and went 2 for 4 with two walks as Cleveland inched closer to clinching a playoff berth. The Indians began the day with a magic number of seven to lock up their third straight AL Central title.

Josh Tomlin (1-5) got two outs for the win and Cody Allen, Cleveland’s seventh pitcher of the game, pitched around a one-out double in the ninth to earn his 26th save.

Oakland 8, Texas 6: Khris Davis hit his major league-leading 41st home run, Matt Olson homered to drive in the go-ahead run and the Oakland Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers 8-6 for their fifth win in six games.

Davis hit a two-run homer in the first. He has 10 homers against the Rangers this year, matching his total against Texas in 2016.

Olson broke a 6-6 tie against Chris Martin (1-4) leading off the eighth. Olson has a career-high 25 homers, one more than last year.

Oakland is a major league-best 62-0 when leading after seven innings.

Cincinnati 7, San Diego 2: Joey Votto ended his two-month homer drought with Cincinnati’s 11th grand slam – one shy of the NL record – and the Reds beat the San Diego Padres 7-2 in a game called because of rain in the top of the seventh inning.

The game started an hour early because of a foreboding forecast and was played in a steady rain that intensified with one out in the top of the seventh.

Votto connected off Robbie Erlin (3-6) during a seven-run second inning, his first homer since July 9 – the second-longest drought of his career. Votto had gone 36 games without a homer.

It was Votto’s second grand slam this season and the fourth of his career.

Washington 10, Chicago 3: Max Scherzer pitched a complete game and the Washington Nationals took advantage of the sloppy Chicago Cubs in a 10-3 victory.

Scherzer, bidding for a third straight NL Cy Young Award, allowed nine hits. He struck out 11 without a walk and hit a batter while improving to 17-6.

Scherzer also had an RBI single, raising his average to .270 this season. It was one of just six hits by Washington, which capitalized on nine walks and three errors from the Cubs. The Nationals scored five runs in the sixth inning on just two hits thanks for two errors and a wild pitch that resulted in a run.

It was Scherzer’s second complete game of the season and 10th of his career.

Juan Soto and Trea Turner drove in two runs each for Washington.

Victor Caratini had two hits for Chicago.