Each night in the 2016 baseball season, we'll run down the top news, facts and highlights from action around Major League Baseball.
With a fifth-inning home run, Astros rookie Teoscar Hernandez gave starting pitcher Doug Fister all the run support he needed against the Pirates to earn his 12th win of the season Monday.
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Making an interleague start against a fellow wild-card contender, Fister retired 11 of the first 12 batters he faced, but Pirates rookie Jameson Taillon matched him inning for inning until Hernandez blasted a two-run shot in the fifth.
Fister finished with seven scoreless innings, paving the way for Will Harris and Ken Giles, who allowed an unearned run in a 3-1 victory.
Alex Bregman, another Astros rookie, hit the fourth home run of his young career in the ninth inning off Neftali Feliz to push his average to .324 with 14 RBIs in 16 games since recording just two hits in his first 10 MLB games.
The win marked Houston's fourth in a row while Pittsburgh has lost fourth straight. The Astros are 3 1/2 games behind the Orioles for the second wild card in the AL, while the Bucs are 3 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL.
Taillon pitched well in the loss, hurling eight innings, allowing two runs and four hits with a career-high eight strikeouts.
Player of the day
Adrian Gonzalez hit three of the Dodgers' seven home runs and drove in a career-high eight runs in an 18-9 mashing of the Reds. Los Angeles holds a one-game lead over the idle Giants in the NL West standings.
Highlight
Red Sox rookie Andrew Benintendi made an unbelievable catch that took part of his body over the wall to rob a home run in the bottom of the eighth against Tampa Bay.
Three things to know
— Yankees young slugger Gary Sanchez hit his eighth homer since Aug. 10 — the most in MLB in that span. Sanchez has hit more homers than any Yankee in his first 19 career games.
— With a scoreless inning against the Nationals, Orioles closer Zach Britton has gone 43 straight appearances without allowing an earned run, good for the longest streak of its kind since the statistic became official. The last time he allowed an earned run was April 30 (156 batters ago).
— Red Sox veteran David Ortiz hit his 624th career double in the first inning against the Rays, tying Hank Aaron for 10th all time.
What's next
Royals (64-60) at Marlins (65-59), 7:10 p.m. ET: Looking for their eighth consecutive win, the Royals send Yordano Ventura (8-9, 4.46 ERA) to the mound looking to stay hot. Ventura hasn’t allowed more than three runs in an outing since July 3, but has never faced the heart of the Marlins lineup. Andrew Cashner (4-9, 4.92 ERA) toes the rubber for the Fish.
Giants (68-56) at Dodgers (69-55), 10:10 p.m. ET: Madison Bumgarner (12-7, 2.25 ERA) and Kenta Maeda (12-7, 3.29 ERA) begin a crucial three-game series between the NL West contenders. The Giants and Dodgers will meet nine more times this season, including a three-game set at AT&T Park to conclude the season.