Gray area: 8 Ks, 1 bad inning as A’s win 6-3 at Rangers
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) _ Sonny Gray had a season-high eight strikeouts and overcame one volatile inning, Josh Reddick drove in three runs and the Oakland Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 on Tuesday night.
Reddick’s two-run homer in the fourth was one of three homers by the A’s. Coco Crisp and Marcus Semien also went deep.
Gray (5-9) pitched six innings, retiring 12 of the first 13 batters he faced without giving up a hit through four and striking out the last two batters he faced in the game. The five hits he allowed came against consecutive Texas batters to start the fifth, when top prospect Joey Gallo homered in his first start this season for the Rangers.
The A’s won for the fourth time in five games. AL West-leading Texas had its three-game winning streak snapped.
Crisp led off the fourth with his eighth homer of the season, and Reddick homered after Jed Lowrie’s single. Semien’s 21st homer started the fifth off Nick Martinez (1-3) before Reddick added a run-scoring single for a 5-0 lead.
Sabathia solid to lead Yankees over Astros 6-3
HOUSTON (AP) _ CC Sabathia allowed just two runs in 6 2/3 innings to get back on track after a tough stretch and help the New York Yankees to a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night.
Sabathia (6-8) allowed four hits and struck out five to pick up his first win since June 16 after going 0-4 and allowing 31 runs _ 29 earned _ combined in his past six starts.
Things didn’t look good early on Tuesday night when he allowed a solo home run to Marwin Gonzalez in the first inning. But he settled in after that, allowing only one single over the next five innings.
The Yankees built a five-run lead thanks in part to a two-run triple by Aaron Hicks by the time Evan Gattis homered to start Houston’s seventh and cut it to 6-2. Sabathia was lifted after a two-out single by Carlos Gomez in that inning.