New York: Houston’s Carlos Gomez and Evan Gattis both homered and drove in four runs to power the Astros to a 15-1 rout of the New York Yankees in Tuesday’s clash of American League divisional leaders.
The lopsided result dropped the Yankees out of top spot in the AL East division, while Kansas City maintained their giant lead in the AL Central by edging Baltimore.
In the key National League meetings, St Louis cruised past Arizona to bolster their lead in the Central division, while the in-form Chicago Cubs continued their surge with victory at San Francisco.
Houston’s Gomez busted out of a hitting slump along with several teammates and rankled the Yankees with his flashy style.
The centre fielder exchanged words with players in New York’s dugout after flipping his bat aside when he flied out in the sixth inning, then stood nose to nose with young catcher John Ryan Murphy before they were separated. Both benches and bullpens emptied, but the teams quickly went their respective ways without any contact.
His next time up, Gomez launched a three-run homer into the Yankees’ bullpen to cap a six-run seventh inning.
Astros starter Dallas Keuchel (15-6) held New York scoreless for the second time this season and became the first 15-game winner in the American League.
Kansas City relied on their bullpen to secure a 3-2 home win against Baltimore.
Royals starter Danny Duffy (7-6) dodged trouble for the most part but left with the Orioles threatening to pull ahead in the sixth inning.
Luke Hochevar calmed things down with an inning of relief. Kelvin Herrera had no trouble with the rest of the seventh and eighth, and Wade Davis pitched a perfect ninth in place of regular closer Greg Holland.
Kendrys Morales hit a solo homer, while Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer also drove in runs for Kansas City.
St Louis’ Tommy Pham had his second career three-hit game to help the Cardinals cruised past Arizona 9-1.
Just three days after his first three-hit game, Pham singled twice and got his second career triple. He scored three times.
St Louis starter Jaime Garcia (6-4) allowed one run and one walk in six innings, striking out six, as the Cardinals boosted their lead in the NL Central back out to 4-1/2 games.
The Chicago Cubs notched a sixth straight victory with an 8-5 win at San Francisco, with Kyle Schwarber, Miguel Montero and Starlin Castro all hitting home runs.
Schwarber’s towering, three-run homer in the third inning set the tone for the Cubs, who have won 21 of 25 games to pull 7-1/2 games ahead of the Giants for the second NL wild-card spot.
Chicago starter Jake Arrieta (16-6) had his 13th consecutive quality start — the longest streak by a Cubs pitcher in 23 years. He allowed one unearned run and one walk while striking out eight over six-plus innings. He lowered his season ERA to 2.22, second in the NL.
