Each night in the 2016 baseball season, we'll run down the top news, facts and highlights from action around Major League Baseball.
In two games, the Houston Astros have pounded the Baltimore Orioles for 27 runs, but the recent rough stretch in nothing new for Baltimore.
The Astros, who won 15-8 on Friday, tallied 12 runs against Chris Tillman and Orioles relievers thanks to home runs from Alex Bregman, George Springer and Jason Castro.
Bregman started the fireworks in the first inning off of Tillman, who was prescribed extended rest because of a sore shoulder. But like recent outing from O's starters, Tillman's night ended early after six runs allowed over two innings of work.
According to MLB.com, the Orioles have now gone eight consecutive games without a quality start and their starters have posted an 8.82 ERA over that span.
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Steve Pearce and Chris Davis, who homered in a fourth straight game provided the lone highlights for the O's as the club has now lost eight of their past 12 to fall into the third place in the AL East.
With the win, Houston moved to 4 1/2 games back of Baltimore for the second wild-card spot.
Player of the day
Chris Sale, White Sox: The All-Star southpaw fired eight scoreless innings against the Athletics, scattering three hits while striking out eight for his 15th win of the season in a 6-2 victory.
Highlight
MLB.com's Statcast measures the exit velocity and projected distance of Yoenis Cespedes' 457-foot home run against the Giants. It was the longest by a Met in two seasons.
Three things to know
— Boston's David Ortiz now has 1,500 RBIs in a Red Sox uniform, trailing only Carl Yastrzemski (1,844) and Ted Williams (1,839) on the club’s all-time list.
— With a 10-0 rout of the Twins, the Royals are making a playoff push after winning their 12th game over their past 14. The defending champions are currently 4 1/2 games out of the second wild card.
— Ichiro Suzuki notched career hit No. 3,008, passing Hall of Famer Al Kaline for 28th all time. He needs two more hits to tie Wade Boggs.
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What's next
Red Sox (69-53) at Tigers (64-59), 1:10 p.m. ET: Eduardo Rodriguez (2-5, 5.11 ERA) was terrible to start the season but after being sent to the minors, the Boston southpaw owns a 2.51 ERA in his last eight starts. He’ll face a potent Tigers lineup that looks to aid Justin Verlander (12-7, 3.44), who has lost only once since June 26.
Mets (61-62) at Giants (68-55), 8:05 p.m. ET: A pair of flamethrowers square off as Noah Syndergaard (10-7, 2.76) and the Mets take on Jeff Samardzija (10-8, 4.24) and the Giants. “Thor” has tweaked his mechanics of late but he could have plenty of run support as Jose Reyes and Cespedes are hitting above .300 against Samardzija.