Houston
Former Cy Young Award winners Justin Verlander and David Price each pitched six innings before handing off to the bullpens. Will Harris (1-3) allowed homers to Vazquez and Benintendi in the seventh, setting up Price (6-4) for a victory.
Craig Kimbrel earned his 19th save by striking out two during a scoreless ninth.
Verlander allowed two runs, three hits and two walks while striking out six. He had earned AL Pitcher of the Month in May with an 0.86 ERA in six starts.
J.D. Martinez scored Benintendi following a leadoff walk in the first inning. It was just the second time in 23 starts with Houston, including the playoffs, that Verlander allowed a run in the first inning.
Martinez added another RBI single in the sixth.
The Astros put the lead back in Verlander’s hands in the third inning when Alex Bregman hit a cutter into the Crawford Boxes for his sixth homer. In the previous inning, Marwin Gonzalez tied it with a triple to deep center that scored Yuli Gurriel.
Gurriel had an RBI single that scored Jose Altuve in the eighth to trim Boston’s lead to 5-4.
Price threw a season-high 109 pitches, but grew increasingly efficient in his later innings, retiring the last 11 batters he faced. He allowed five hits and three runs while walking one and striking out seven.
Nationals 5, Braves 3 (14)
Atlanta
In his third big league pinch-hit appearance, Scherzer singled up the middle against Miguel Socolovich (0-1) and sped home from first base on Difo’s hit to right-center field. Spencer Kieboom added an RBI single.
Yankees 8, Orioles 5
Baltimore
Tanaka (7-2) allowed four runs and eight hits with seven strikeouts and one walk over 5⅓ innings.
Brewers 5, White Sox 0
Chicago
Chacin (4-1) pitched three-hit ball over 5⅔ innings and the Brewers won for the sixth time in eight games.
Cardinals 3, Pirates 2
St. Louis
Austin Meadows had tied the score in the top half with a home run off Bud Norris (2-1), who blew a save for the first time in 12 chances.
Royals 5, Athletics 4
Kansas City, Mo.
Tim Hill (1-1), a 28-year-old rookie left-hander, allowed Chad Pinder’s tying single in the eighth and got his first major league win.
Twins 7, Indians 1
Minneapolis
Dozier hit an RBI triple in the third inning against Trevor Bauer (4-4).
Tigers 7, Blue Jays 4
Detroit
Dodgers 12, Rockies 4
Denver
Pederson turned in his fifth multihomer game and first since Sept. 10, 2016 at Miami.
He also doubled and singled to tie a career high with four hits.
Kemp kept up his torrid hitting against Colorado by lining a cutter from reliever Bryan Shaw (2-4) for a two-run homer to break open a tight game. Kemp leads all active players with 44 homers against the Rockies.
