HOUSTON (AP) Houston’s Jose Altuve drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Astros to a 10-5 win against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, leaving the two teams in a virtual tie for top spot in the American League West division.
The Astros have one more win but also one more loss than the Angels, who were missing star slugger Mike Trout.
The tightness of the West race was in marked contrast to the AL Central, where Kansas City extended its lead to nine games by edging Cleveland thanks to a dramatic last at-bat homer, and the AL East where the New York Yankees maintained their big advantage with a 21-run romp against Texas.
In the National League Central, second-placed Pittsburgh crept closer to the lead with a ninth-inning winner against Minnesota while top-placed St. Louis was shut out at home by Cincinnati.
Houston’s Altuve had an RBI single in the second, drove in two runs in the fourth inning and tacked on another two with a double in a four-run sixth to make it 10-5. He finished with three hits.
The Angels played without Trout, who missed the game with an injured left wrist. He’s listed as day to day.
Kansas City’s Eric Hosmer hit a homer with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Royals to a 2-1 victory over Cleveland, which has lost eight straight at home; its longest home losing streak in 40 years.
Hosmer hit a full-count pitch from Trevor Bauer (8-8) over the wall in right field to deny the Indians what looked like being a drought-breaking win.
Kansas City closer Greg Holland made that homer stand up by working the ninth – getting a groundout, and a game-ending double play – as the Royals won their fourth straight.
The New York Yankees trailed 5-0 after one inning at Texas, but then produced an extraordinary scoring burst to win 21-5.
Brendan Ryan doubled twice with three RBIs and Didi Gregorius had a bases-loaded triple in New York’s 11-run second inning which turned the game on its head.
The AL East-leading Yankees won for the eighth time in nine games, and are majors-best 16-5 in July – matching their most wins in a month since August 2013.
Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning, lifting the Pirates over Minnesota 8-7.
Kang’s homer came off Glen Perkins (0-3), who has allowed runs in three of his four appearances since pitching in the All-Star game, blowing a pair of saves in the process.
The Twins had scored four runs in the eighth inning to tie the game.
Cincinnati’s Joey Votto hit a three-run home run to lead the Reds to a 4-0 win at St. Louis.
Votto is the hottest hitter in the majors since the All-Star break, batting .561. He also walked, singled and doubled, giving him an NL-leading 37 multi-hit games.
Reds starter Mike Leake (9-5) pitched eight scoreless innings to win his fourth straight start. He has allowed just two earned runs in his past 30 innings for a 0.60 ERA.
Oakland’s Sonny Gray pitched his second shutout of the month, as the Athletics snapped a four-game losing skid with a 2-0 victory over Los Angeles.
Josh Reddick homered, doubled and singled for the last-place A’s, who have traded Ben Zobrist, Scott Kazmir and closer Tyler Clippard in the past week.
Oakland won anyway with another gem from Gray (11-4), who struck out nine while cruising through his fourth career shutout. He didn’t allow a runner past second base while improving to 8-1 with a 1.64 ERA on the road this season.
The New York Mets beat San Diego 4-0, with rookie pitcher Noah Syndergaard retiring his first 18 batters in his latest overpowering performance.
Syndergaard (5-5) struck out nine and walked none in eight scoreless innings. He was on track for a perfect game until giving up a single with the first pitch of the seventh inning.
Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson both hit two-run homers for the Mets.
Milwaukee’s Wily Peralta returned from two months out injured and shut down one of baseball’s hottest teams, leading the Brewers to a 5-2 win against San Francisco.
Peralta (2-5) retired the initial six batters as the Brewers ended a succession of seven successive losses at San Francisco.
Tampa Bay rookie Curt Casali had three hits and homered twice for the second straight game, leading the Rays to a 10-2 victory over slumping Detroit.
Baltimore’s Chris Davis homered twice and drove in five runs as the Orioles cruised past Atlanta 7-3 for its fourth straight victory.
Colorado’s D.J. LeMahieu had three hits and scored twice to lead the Rockies past the Chicago Cubs 7-2.
Miami pitcher Jose Fernandez improved his home ballpark record to 15-0 as he steered the Marlins past Washington 4-1.
Arizona’s Zack Godley pitched six strong innings in his second career start, guiding the Diamondbacks past Seattle 8-4 and to a fourth successive win.
Chicago’s Jose Abreu and Geovany Soto homered and drove in three runs each to power the White Sox to a 9-4 win at Boston.
Philadelphia won its first game after trading All-Star closer Jonathan Papelbon, beating Toronto 3-2 for the Phillies’ ninth victory in 10 games since the All-Star break.
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