HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez homered again and Jack Mayfield hit three doubles as Houston’s rookies delivered in a big way, leading the Astros over the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-2, on Saturday.
Alvarez became the fourth player in major league history to hit four home runs in his first five games. The 21-year-old from Cuba sent a solo drive into the upper deck in right field and finished with three hits, making him 8-for-17 in his brief career — he has driven in eight runs, scored eight times and also has drawn six walks.
The 28-year-old Mayfield was 2 for 34 as a big leaguer before breaking loose.
Framber Valdez (3-2), another rookie, struck out eight in six solid innings. The 25-year-old lefty allowed two runs and four hits.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Charlie Morton lost for the first time in 22 starts and Los Angeles hit three homers to beat Tampa Bay.
The loss was Morton’s first since Aug. 11, when he was pitching for Houston against Seattle. He struck out nine in six innings, giving up four runs on five hits.
David Fletcher, Justin Bour and Kevan Smith homered for the Angels. Fletcher’s three-run home run in second inning off Morton (8-1) spotted left-hander Jose Suarez an early lead in his third major league start, and the Angel bullpen preserved it with 3⅓ shutout innings.
SAN FRANCISCO — Catcher Steven Vogt hit two triples and left fielder Mike Yastrzemski made a nifty catch for the final out to help San Francisco beat Milwaukee.
Christian Yelich hit his major league-leading 26th homer for the Brewers, who have lost three of four after a four-game winning streak.
Yelich connected for a solo drive with two outs in the ninth and Ryan Braun followed with a single for his third hit. Yasmani Grandal then hit a drive to left-center field, but Yastrzemski rushed over and in for a diving grab to end it.
WASHINGTON — Ketel Marte hit two of Arizona’s four solo homers off Stephen Strasburg and the Diamondbacks beat Washington.
Marte homered on the first pitch of the game and added his 19th homer of the season leading off the fourth inning as Arizona took the first and third games of the four-game set.
Strasburg (7-4) allowed four homers in a game for the second time in his career, the first since August 8, 2014, at Atlanta. Strasburg, who had won four straight decisions, gave up a season-high nine hits and tied a season-high by allowing six earned runs.
Adam Jones also homered in the first inning, his 13th, to push Arizona’s lead to 2-0.
The Nationals countered by scoring three times in the bottom half of the inning for a 3-2 lead. Trea Turner scored on Adam Eaton’s sacrifice fly before Juan Soto and Matt Adams hit solo homers.
Christian Walker hit his 12th homer of the season in the second, tying the game at 3-all, and Carson Kelly hit an RBI single as the Diamondbacks moved ahead to stay at 4-3.
Strasburg gave up three home runs in his first 21 pitches after allowing just two homers in his previous eight starts combined.
Yoshihisa Hirano (3-3) allowed two hits while striking out two in 1 2/3 innings.
Nick Ahmed had an RBI double in the third that pushed the lead to 5-3. Ahmed also tripled in the second and singled in the eighth and the ninth, finishing with four hits.
Kevin Cron hit a pinch-hit homer in the eighth for Arizona.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: 3B Jake Lamb (strained left quad) homered on Friday for Triple-A Reno and is batting .250 with six RBIs in five rehab games. “All things considered, we’re really excited about how he’s feeling,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. … 2B Wilmer Flores (right foot contusion) will wait another week before beginning baseball activities after his most recent CT scan didn’t show enough healing.
Nationals: Adams (back spasms) was back in the lineup for the first time since Monday. Adams had missed Washington’s previous three games.
UP NEXT
Diamondbacks: Arizona has yet to name a starter to take the spot of injured pitcher Luke Weaver in the finale of the series.
Nationals: RHP Anibal Sanchez (2-6, 3.92 ERA) will take the mound Sunday looking for his 100th career win. Since coming off the injured list on May 29, Sanchez is 2-0 with a 1.04 ERA in three starts.
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