Rangers avoid sweep to O’s; Astros fall to Blue Jays

Rangers beat Orioles 5-3 to dodge 3-game sweep

BALTIMORE (AP) _ Jonathan Lucroy hit his first homer with Texas, Ian Desmond drove in two runs and the Rangers beat Wade Miley and the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 Thursday night to avoid a three-game sweep.

Texas received contributions from all three players it acquired before Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline. Lucroy homered in the second inning, Carlos Beltran singled in a run in the fifth and Jeremy Jeffress pitched a scoreless seventh.

Shin-Soo Choo came off the disabled list to get two hits and scored a run for the Rangers, who took back from Baltimore the distinction of owning the best record in the AL.

Texas won the season series 4-3 and would have home-field advantage in the postseason if the teams finish with the same regular-season record and meet in the playoffs.

Mark Trumbo hit his major-league leading 31st homer for the Orioles, who fell to 39-17 at home. Pedro Alvarez and Hyun-Soo Kim also hit solo shots.

 

Happ wins 9th straight decision as Blue Jays beat Astros 4-1

HOUSTON (AP) _ J.A. Happ won his ninth consecutive decision, Edwin Encarnacion reached 30 home runs for the fifth straight season and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros 4-1 on Thursday night for their eighth victory in 11 games.

Happ (15-3), who already has set his career high for wins, retired 12 of his first 13 batters and allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He is 9-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 10 starts since losing at Detroit on June 6.

Happ struck out six and walked none, and Joaquin Benoit, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna completed the five-hitter. After walking rookie Alex Bregman leading off the ninth, Osuna struck out Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis for his 24th save in 26 chances.

After being given a day off Wednesday, Bregman was 1 for 4 with a sixth-inning single. The second overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft, is hitting .056 (2 for 36) since he was brought up July 25.

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