Jays win third straight, down Astros
Russell Martin had three hits, including a solo home run, as the Toronto Blue Jays used a five-run fifth inning to defeat the MLB-best Houston Astros 7-4 on Thursday night.
Martin led off the sixth inning with a shot to right field — his second long ball in as many days — for his ninth homer of the season.
Kendrys Morales added an RBI double and scored twice for the Blue Jays (40-45), who won their third straight. The win also ended Toronto’s fivegame losing streak at home in its last series before the all-star break.
Francisco Liriano threw sixplus innings while allowing three runs on nine hits and striking out four on a warm summer evening at Rogers Centre. Roberto Osuna pitched the ninth and picked up his 22nd save of the season in his third straight day of work. It was Osuna’s 21st consecutive save and tied Billy Koch for the fourth longest save streak in franchise history.
Lance McCullers Jr., a 2017 all-star, took the loss after giving up six runs — five earned — on nine hits and walking two over 4 1/3 innings for the Astros (58-28), who had a four-game winning streak snapped.
Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman each had three hits for the Astros, with Altuve adding two RBIs.
Josh Donaldson gave the Blue Jays their first lead of the game in the fifth with a tworun single to right field. It snapped an 0 for 15 drought at the plate for the 2015 American League MVP. Morales extended the lead to 4-2 shortly after with an RBI double to right-centre field that scored Donaldson.
Troy Tulowitzki then ended an 0 for 22 skid with runners in scoring position after an RBI single drove in Morales. The run chased McCullers Jr. from the game. Ryan Goins added another run before the inning was over with a double to score Tulowitzki.
Altuve drove in Alex Bregman with a single in the fifth to give the Astros a 2-1 lead.
Marwin Gonzalez opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo shot to left field for his 15th home run of the season. Gonzalez was later ejected in the sixth innings after striking out.