J.A. Happ won his 11th consecutive decision to become the first 17-game winner in the majors, and Melvin Upton Jr. hit a three-run homer to help the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 7-4 on Wednesday.
Darwin Barney had an early two-run double, and Russell Martin added three hits, including an RBI single off CC Sabathia. The AL East-leading Blue Jays took two of three in the series, delighting a vocal contingent of Toronto fans at Yankee Stadium.
Happ (17-3) pitched into the eighth extended the longest active winning streak in the big leagues. He struck out nine, walked one and yielded solo homers to Gary Sanchez, Starlin Castro and Chase Headley.
Signed as a free agent in the offseason to a $36 million, three-year contract, Happ has won five straight starts. The 33-year-old lefty is 3-0 in four outings against the Yankees this year.
Happ was lifted after Headley's infield single with one out in the eighth. Joaquin Benoit gave up an RBI single to rookie Aaron Judge that made it 7-4, and Roberto Osuna struck out Didi Gregorius on a 97 mph fastball with two on to end the inning. Osuna got four straight outs for his 27th save.
PIRATES 6, GIANTS 5
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Andrew McCutchen hit a two-run homer, Matt Joyce had a key two-run single and Pittsburgh overcame a four-run deficit against San Francisco to complete a three-game sweep.
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The Pirates won their fourth straight game and sixth in seven. They remained a game behind St. Louis in the race for the NL wild card.
The Giants, who on Tuesday fell out of first place in the NL West for the first time in 97 days, lost their fourth straight. They dropped to 9-21, the worst record in the majors since the All-Star break. They dropped a full game behind the Dodgers, who play Philadelphia tonight.
McCutchen's homer, his 17th, capped a six-run rally in the fifth inning that chased Giants starter Matt Cain (4-8). Jeff Locke (9-7) pitched a scoreless fifth. Tony Watson survived a scoreless ninth after the Giants loaded the bases with no outs for his seventh save since taking over as the closer.
CARDINALS 8, ASTROS 2
HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Martinez took a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and Jeremy Hazelbaker and Brandon Moss homered in St. Louis' victory over Houston.
The Cardinals have won four straight and have a slim hold on the second NL wild-card spot.
Martinez (11-7) pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, allowing a run and striking out seven. He retired 15 of the first 16 batters before giving up a leadoff double to Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth.
Doug Fister (11-8) allowed four runs in four innings for the Astros. Houston has been outscored 29-11 during a four-game losing streak and surrendered eight or more runs in three straight games for the first time this season.
ROCKIES 12, NATIONALS 10
DENVER (AP) — D.J. LeMahieu kept tormenting Washington with two hits, Gerardo Parra drove in four runs and Colorado beat Stephen Strasburg.
Tony Wolters homered and had three hits, and Charlie Blackmon extended his hitting streak to 12 games.
LeMahieu singled in his first at-bat to stretch his on-base streak to 10 plate appearances, the fourth longest in club history. The streak stopped when he struck out to end the seven-run first inning.
Strasburg (15-4) had the shortest outing of the season at 1 2/3 innings. The first six batters reached against Strasburg, Colorado sent 11 to the plate in the first and eight in the second to take a 9-2 lead.
Boone Logan (2-2) struck out Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper to end the eighth before Scott Oberg allowed a solo home run to Chris Heisey before closing it out for his first save.
ROYALS 4, TIGERS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning to lift Kansas City past
Detroit for a three-game sweep.
Hosmer broke up Anibal Sanchez's no-hit bid with a double in the seventh inning after spoiling his perfect game with a walk in the fifth.
Sanchez threw seven shutout innings after allowing eight runs in four innings in his previous start. He struck out six and walked two Wednesday.
In the ninth, Shane Greene (2-3) allowed a one-out single to Lorenzo Cain before Hosmer's line drive into the right-field stands. Drew Butera added an RBI single.
Matt Strahm (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, and Kelvin Herrera worked the ninth for his sixth save.
RAYS 2, PADRES 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Chris Archer struck out nine in 7 1/3 innings, Brad Miller homered again and Tampa Bay beat San Diego to complete a three-game sweep.
Archer (7-16) allowed four hits and a walk. He's at risk of becoming the majors' first 20-game loser since Detroit's Mike Maroth (21) in 2003, but also leads the AL with 186 strikeouts.
Miller hit his 25h homer in the first inning after going deep twice in a 15-1 rout Tuesday night.
Alex Colome got the final four outs for his 28th save.
Christian Friedrich (4-9) was the loser. The Padres have lost five straight and eight of 10.
