MLB roundup: Royals hit 2 slams, crush Astros

Ryan O'Hearn and Whit Merrifield belted their first career grand slams Tuesday, and the Kansas City Royals bashed their way to a 12-2 win over the host Houston Astros. The Royals squared the three-game set with Houston by recording eight extra-base hits, six against Astros right-hander Collin McHugh (3-4) in three-plus innings.

O'Hearn capped a five-run third inning with his blast, lining a first-pitch cutter from McHugh 373 feet and into the seats in right field. Merrifield smacked his grand slam off Astros left-hander Framber Valdez with two outs in the seventh and finished 4-for-5 with three runs and five RBIs.

Cubs 5, Marlins 2 Kris Bryant blasted a three-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning to lead Chicago past visiting Miami.

Bryant homered in a third consecutive game for the first time in his career. He has six homers this season. The blast to left-center came on a 98 mph fastball from Adam Conley (1-4). Former Marlins reliever Steve Cishek (1-1) earned the win, pitching one scoreless inning.

Yankees 5, Mariners 4 Gio Urshela hit the game-tying, two-run homer with one out in the ninth, and DJ LeMahieu hit a walk-off single later in the inning as the New York Yankees withstood a lengthy rain delay and rallied for a 5-4 victory over the visiting Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night.

The Yankees won for the 15th time in 20 games since April 16 and pulled off the comeback following a 72-minute rain delay in the top of the seventh. New York tied the game when Urshela lifted an 0-2 fastball from Anthony Swarzak (2-2) over the center field fence. Cameron Maybin followed with a single, stole second and scored when LeMahieu slapped a single to right against Roenis Elias.

Phillies 11, Cardinals 1 Bryce Harper hit a grand slam in a six-run second inning as Philadelphia cruised to a win at St. Louis.

Struggling through a 6-for-48 slump, Harper slugged his seventh home run and first grand slam with the Phillies off Dakota Hudson (2-3) in the big inning, which featured six unearned runs, two throwing errors, two walks and a passed ball by the Cardinals. Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola (3-0) tossed six innings of one-run ball and made his third straight strong start by giving up just three hits and fanning seven.

Rays 6, Diamondbacks 3 Brandon Lowe hit a first-pitch home run and drove in two runs, and Tampa Bay rode a three-run seventh inning to victory over Arizona in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Arizona's Taylor Clarke (0-1), a 25-year-old rookie making his second appearance and first start, pitched six strong innings after Lowe drove his first pitch of the game -- a 92-mph fastball down the middle -- over the center field fence. Lowe went 2-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Brewers 6, Nationals 0 Lorenzo Cain hit a three-run double off Stephen Strasburg in the seventh inning to snap a scoreless tie, and host Milwaukee beat struggling Washington.

The Brewers, who scored all six of their runs in the seventh, have won nine of their last 12 games, while the Nationals have dropped 13 of 18. It was the first career hit for Cain against Strasburg in nine at-bats. Milwaukee pitcher Freddy Peralta (2-1), who came on in the third, threw five scoreless innings while allowing three hits and two walks with five strikeouts. Strasburg (3-2) was tagged for four runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings with 11 strikeouts and two walks.

Red Sox 8, Orioles 5 Mitch Moreland hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fifth inning to lead visiting Boston past Baltimore.

The home run, Moreland's 10th of the season, handed the Red Sox a lead they never relinquished. The Red Sox ended up with homers from Moreland, Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez, while Moreland and Martinez drove in three runs apiece. Martinez hit the 200th home run of his career. Marcus Walden improved to 5-0 in 13 relief appearances as he got the win thanks to giving up one run in three innings. Matt Barnes came on in the eighth and got the final four outs for his third save.

Angels 5, Tigers 2 Rookie Griffin Canning tossed 5 1/3 solid innings to earn his first major league win as Los Angeles won at Detroit to snap a two-game losing streak. The Tigers have alternated losses with wins in each of the past seven games.

Canning (1-0) surrendered two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out seven in his second career start. Luke Bard retired all five batters he faced before Ty Buttrey tossed a perfect eighth. Hansel Robles earned his third save with a one-hit ninth. Reigning American League Rookie of the Year Shohei Ohtani batted third for the Angels and went 0-for-4 with an RBI groundout in his season debut. Ohtani, who split his time between the mound and the field last season but underwent Tommy John surgery Oct. 1, will be limited to designated hitter duties for the rest of 2019.

Pirates 5, Rangers 4 Gregory Polanco hit a two-run homer and Melky Cabrera added a pinch-hit two-run double as Pittsburgh took a three-run lead then held on to beat visiting Texas.

Starling Marte was 2-for-3 with an RBI single for the Pirates, who swept a two-game series at Texas last week and have won three straight and five of six overall. Hunter Pence went 3-for-3 and drove in all four Texas runs with a two-run homer and a two-run double. The Rangers have lost four of six.

White Sox 2, Indians 0 Lucas Giolito scattered three hits over a season-high 7 1/3 innings, and Yoan Moncada continued to torment Cleveland as visiting Chicago posted a victory.

Moncada had an RBI single in the third inning to give him six hits -- including two homers -- to go along with eight RBIs and five runs in four games against the Indians this season. James McCann added an RBI single in the sixth inning to cap his two-hit performance for the White Sox, who have won seven of their past 11 games. Francisco Lindor recorded three singles and Jason Kipnis had a pair of doubles, but the rest of the Indians' lineup went 0-for-22 with nine strikeouts. Cleveland has been outscored 21-1 during a three-game losing skid.

Twins 3, Blue Jays 0 Jose Berrios allowed four hits while pitching seven shutout innings to win his fifth consecutive start, and Mitch Garver had three hits -- including a two-run homer -- to lead visiting Minnesota over Toronto.

Berrios (6-1) pitched around leadoff singles in the third, fourth and sixth innings and didn't allow a batter to reach second base until Billy McKinney's two-out ground-rule double in the seventh. Berrios, who didn't walk a batter and struck out five, then got Brandon Drury to ground out to end the threat. Taylor Rogers overcame two singles in the ninth to pick up his fourth save.

Giants 14, Rockies 4 Mac Williamson homered and drove in four runs in his 2019 debut, and San Francisco routed Colorado in Denver.

Williamson, who hit three home runs Monday night for Triple-A Sacramento, was called up Tuesday and paid immediate dividends when his three-run homer off Antonio Senzatela broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth. Evan Longoria and Kevin Pillar also homered for San Francisco, Joe Panik had three hits, and Brandon Belt had two doubles. Charlie Blackmon and Chris Iannetta went deep for Colorado, which got three hits from Raimel Tapia.

--Field Level Media