ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Rookie Cody Anderson took a bid for a perfect game into the seventh inning in his second major league start, and the struggling Cleveland Indians snapped a three-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night.
Anderson (1-0) didn’t allow a base runner until Grady Sizemore homered against his old team on a 1-2 pitch with one out in the seventh.
Evan Longoria followed with a single before the 24-year-old right-hander settled to retire the last four batters he faced.
Yan Gomes had three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth for the Indians, who limped into town after being shut out in both games of a doubleheader at Baltimore on Sunday.
Michael Brantley also had three hits, including a RBI single, and Jason Kipnis drove in a run off rookie Nathan Karns (4-4) with one of his three hits.
Astros 6, Royals 1
HOUSTON (AP) — Chris Carter and Jose Altuve homered to back a solid start by rookie Lance McCullers, and Houston beat Kansas City.
In a matchup of teams with the best records in the American League, Houston snapped Kansas City’s four-game winning streak. The Royals are 44-29 and the Astros are 45-34.
McCullers (4-2) allowed four hits and a run with six strikeouts in seven innings in his ninth major league start.
The Astros jumped on Joe Blanton (2-1) for five runs in the first three innings and Carter added a solo home run in the fifth to help them to the win.
Angels 4, Yankees 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout and C.J. Cron homered, Albert Pujols and Kole Calhoun added run-scoring doubles, and Los Angeles beat New York for its fifth victory in seven games.
Trout hit his 20th homer of the season in the third inning against CC Sabathia (3-8). The reigning AL MVP also saved a couple of runs with two sprinting catches in center field on balls hit over his head by Chris Young.
C.J. Wilson (6-6) persevered through six eventful innings for his third victory in four starts as the Angels (40-37) moved three games above .500 for the first time since June 2.
Alex Rodriguez drove in a run and Brett Gardner had three hits for the Yankees, who have lost six of nine.
Red Sox 3, Blue Jays 1
TORONTO (AP) — Clay Buchholz pitched eight strong innings to win his third straight start, Xander Bogaerts drove in two runs and Boston beat Toronto.
Buchholz (6-6) improved to 10-3 with a 2.21 ERA in 15 career starts in Toronto as the Red Sox won back-to-back games for the first time since June 19.
The Blue Jays have scored a major league-leading 421 runs but have totaled just four in their past three games.
Buchholz allowed one run and five hits in matching his longest outing of the season. He’s won four straight decisions since losing at Minnesota on May 26.
Koji Uehara finished for his 17th save.
Athletics 7, Rockies 1
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Josh Reddick and Ike Davis hit two-run homers in the first inning to back seven scoreless innings from Kendall Graveman, and Oakland snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Colorado.
Billy Butler also homered off David Hale (2-3) and scored three runs as power-starved Oakland matched its season high for homers. The power barrage helped the A’s bounce back after getting swept in a three-game series by Kansas City to open a 10-game homestand.
Graveman (5-4) was the beneficiary of the big night from the bats, shutting down Nolan Arenado and the Rockies for his latest strong start since returning from the minors.
Rangers 8, Orioles 1
BALTIMORE (AP) — Mitch Moreland hit two of the Rangers’ four home runs off Bud Norris, and Texas got another winning effort on the road from left-hander Wandy Rodriguez in a victory over Baltimore.
Moreland hit a solo shot in the second inning and a two-run drive in the fourth.
It was his sixth career two-homer game, the first since May 2013.
Carlos Corporan and Shin-Soo Choo added solo homers to help Texas secure its second win in nine games. The four home runs tied a season high, set April 9 in Oakland.
Joey Gallo contributed a three-run triple for the Rangers, who had lost 11 of 12 to the Orioles — including six straight at Camden Yards.
The loss ended Baltimore’s four-game winning streak and dropped the Orioles to 18-9 in June, 10-2 at home.
Reds 11, Twins 7
CINCINNATI (AP) — Billy Hamilton scored three times in the first three innings to help Cincinnati open a huge lead, and the Reds held on against Minnesota.
The Reds sent 10 batters to the plate for five runs and a 9-1 lead in the third inning, when Mike Pelfrey (5-5) failed to retire any of the four batters he faced. Pelfrey gave up eight runs — matching his season high — and nine hits, retiring only six of 17 batters.
Cincinnati’s Mike Leake let most of the lead slip away. Ten Twins batted during a six-run rally in the top of the fourth inning. Brian Dozier’s three-run homer off Leake cut it to 9-7.
Nate Adcock (1-1) got the victory with two scoreless innings in relief of Leake.
Brewers 7, Phillies 4
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jonathan Lucroy had four of the Brewers’ season high-tying 16 hits and drove in two runs, leading Milwaukee to a victory over Philadelphia in a matchup of the two worst teams in baseball.
Ryan Braun had three hits with a double and an RBI, and Adam Lind and Aramis Ramirez each had a pair of RBIs for the Brewers, who have won five of seven.
Cesar Hernandez had a pair of hits and an RBI for Philadelphia.
The Phillies fell to a major league-worst 27-51 hours after the Phillies introduced Andy MacPhail as the new man in charge of the club.
The veteran baseball executive joined the Phillies with plans to take over as team president after this season.
Diamondbacks 10,
Dodgers 6
PHOENIX (AP) — Welington Castillo doubled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning, and Arizona pulled off a pair of comebacks to beat Los Angeles.
Castillo doubled against reliever Pedro Baez (1-1) to drive in Jake Lamb with none out. The Diamondbacks, who trailed 4-0 and 6-4, added three more runs in the inning on a bunt single, a throwing error by Baez, and Paul Goldschmidt’s two-out, two-run single off J.P. Howell.
Arizona tied it at 4 on a two-run homer by Yasmany Tomas in the sixth. The Dodgers regained the lead in the seventh on a two-run single by Jimmy Rollins, but the Diamondbacks fought back again with David Peralta’s two-out, two-run triple in the bottom half.
Enrique Burgos (1-2) worked a scoreless eighth for the win.
Andre Ethier, Yasmani Grandal and Joc Pederson hit solo home runs for Los Angeles in the fourth. Ethier and Grandal went back-to-back.
The NL West leaders had won seven straight against Arizona.