HOUSTON (AP) — Justin Verlander continued his strong start to the season with arguably his best start of the year.Verlander pitched one-hit ball for seven dominant innings
Cheap MLB Jerseys , right fielder Josh Reddick made another leaping catch and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 on Friday night.The only hit off Verlander (6-1) was a single by Asdrubal Cabrera to lead off the fifth.“In a tight ballgame like that, you’re kind of on edge the whole time,” Verlander said. “One mistake could obviously lose you the ballgame. From the first inning through the seventh, it was a grind. The boys behind me did a great job.”Jake Marisnick homered in the third, and Yuli Gurriel and Robinson Chirinos hit back-to-back solo home runs with two outs in the seventh.Astros star second baseman Jose Altuve exited in the first inning with left hamstring discomfort after beating out an infield single. He was listed as day to day.Houston manager AJ Hinch said Altuve looked uncomfortable at first, and he was working to stretch his hamstring.“He just said that he felt something in his left hamstring,” Hinch said. “He’s been evaluated. It doesn’t seem serious. We don’t know the extent of the injury until we get to tomorrow. He was frustrated, but he made the right decision to alert us of some soreness.”Verlander struck out eight, walked two and hit a batter.“Big night for him,” Hinch said. “He had command of his pitches. He had some stuff left in the tank, too. I think he could have gone out there for the eighth, so really encouraged that he was so in control yet so dominant.”Texas manager Chris Woodward said Verlander did a good job of mixing up his pitches.“So many weapons,” Woodward said. “He has command of all his pitches, he throws his slider off his fastball and can throw his curve at any time. He doesn’t give you much to hit.”Ryan Pressly threw a perfect eighth. Roberto Osuna pitched around a single in the ninth for his 10th save, helped by Reddick.A day after reaching over the wall to take away a go-ahead, three-run homer from Texas’ Hunter Pence, Reddick leaped for a catch against the wall to rob Elvis Andrus of extra bases.Carlos Correa helped Verlander in the third, making a diving snag of Ronald Guzman’s hard grounder deep in the hole at short, popping up and getting the out at first.“You don’t know how that changes the game
nba jerseys cheap ,” Verlander said. “You don’t know what happens after that. I know it’s a big momentum shifter. A guy makes a play like that, and for me, against the other team, it’s kind of deflating. It’s just a huge momentum boost.”Lance Lynn (4-3) allowed three runs in seven innings, striking out eight. The three home runs Lynn gave up were as many as he had allowed in his previous seven starts combined this season.“Everything but three pitches, and all three of those left the ballpark,” Lynn said. “I gave up too many runs. You have to match Verlander, especially you saw early he was going good, so you knew you had to make pitches and try to keep them off the board.”MOVING UPVerlander passed Frank Tanana for 22nd on the all-time strikeouts list by fanning Rougned Odor in the seventh. He now has 2,774 strikeouts in his career.HE SAID IT“You look at tonight and you get beat by a Cy Young Award winner. That’s part of the game, especially when he’s one.” — Lynn on the loss to Verlander.ASTROS POWERHouston has hit 22 home runs in the last eight games. The Astros got home runs in the same game from the No. 7, 8 and 9 hitters in their lineup for the second time in franchise history. The other time was June 12, 2015, against the Mariners when Luis Valbuena, Chris Carter and Jason Castro connected.UP NEXTAstros RHP Gerrit Cole (3-4, 4.17 ERA) will make his ninth start of the season, seeking his third straight win after allowing four runs in 6 1/3 innings in his last outing Monday against the Royals. The Rangers will start RHP Jesse Chavez (0-1, 7.27) on Saturday as an opener. ATLANTA (AP) — When Austin Riley connected with the pitch, his father was watching from the concourse at SunTrust Park.Mike Riley knew it was good contact
Cheap MLB Baseball Jerseys , but he couldn’t tell how far the ball went.Then he looked toward the outfield.“As soon as I saw the outfielders not move,” the elder Riley said, “I knew it was gone.”Austin Riley homered in his big league debut Wednesday night, leading Atlanta to a 4-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals and signaling the arrival of another top prospect for the Baby Braves.“He’s got lights-out power,” said Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, who played his entire career with the Braves and was at the game. “I think he’s a 40-homer guy before it’s all said and done in the big leagues.”Mike Soroka turned in another strong start with three-hit ball over seven scoreless innings, but this night belonged to the 22-year-old Riley. He was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game after Ender Inciarte went on the injured list with a sore back.Riley, who started in left field and batted sixth, struck out swinging against Michael Wacha in the first at-bat of what the Braves hope will be a long major league career.Then, leading off the fourth, Riley showed why he was leading the International League with 15 homers and 39 RBIs.Riley launched a high fastball deep into the left-field seats, a 438-foot drive that gave the Braves a 2-0 lead and sent his parents and a group of about 40 family and friends — many of whom hastily made the drive from his native Mississippi — into a delirious celebration.“I’m speechless,” Riley said, struggling to find the words. “That second at-bat, I figured he was going to challenge me a little bit. I was able to put a good swing on it.”Riley hit another drive to the edge of the warning track his next time up, and handled a couple of chances without any problem in left. Normally a third baseman, he figures to mostly play left field at least during his initial stint in the big leagues. Josh Donaldson is locked in at third base for 2019 with a one-year, $23 million deal.After taking over as a defensive replacement for Riley, Charlie Culberson sealed the victory with a two-run homer in the eighth.It was quite a showing for Atlanta’s kids.Even younger than Riley
cheapmlbjerseyshop.com , the 21-year-old Soroka (4-1) lowered his ERA to 0.98 in six starts. The right-hander has yet to allow more than one earned run in any of his appearances, and this was his best one yet.Soroka escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third, getting Paul Goldschmidt to ground into an inning-ending double play. He stared down another trouble spot in the sixth when the Cardinals put runners at second and third, fanning Jose Martinez to snuff out the threat.“What I like about this kid is he doesn’t panic. He just goes pitch to pitch,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That’s a great trait for a young pitcher to have.”In the eighth, Dan Winkler walked the first two St. Louis hitters on eight pitches, but Luke Jackson worked out of the jam — this time, it was Paul DeJong hitting into a double play — and finished up for his fifth save in six chances.Wacha (3-1) surrendered only four hits and one earned run over five innings.“Anytime you’ve got somebody new coming in there, you don’t really have too much video on that guy,” Wacha said. “Obviously, I didn’t want to make that pitch where he ended up hitting the homer, but he didn’t miss a mistake.”Atlanta also scored when the Cardinals pitcher threw one away at third base after appearing to pick off Ronald Acuna Jr., who was able to trot home when the ball skidded under the glove of Matt Carpenter.LUKE, YOU ARE OUR CLOSERJackson has been a godsend for Atlanta’s shaky bullpen.After giving up four runs in his first appearance of the season, he has surrendered just one over his past 19 innings and appears to be the closest thing the Braves have to a closer.TRAINER’S ROOMCardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (shoulder) threw two innings for Double-A Springfield in an 8-2 loss to Arkansas on Wednesday. He allowed one run on four hits and could rejoin St. Louis for a weekend series in Texas.Braves: Inciarte went on the 10-day injured list with a lumbar strain. He left Tuesday night’s game after experiencing tightness in his lower back.UP NEXTIn the rubber game of the series, RHP Adam Wainwright (3-3, 4.15) goes for the Cardinals against Atlanta RHP Julio Teheran (2-4, 4.26).
2019-06-14, 02:57 Cheap MLB Jerseys 
