ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) The Rangers moved within a half-game of AL West leading Houston when Prince Fielder hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the eighth inning to lead Texas to a 5-3 win over the Astros on Monday in the opener of a pivotal four-game series.
Mitch Moreland hit his team-leading 20th home run for Texas, which has won four straight against the Astros and leads the season series 9-4.
Fielder’s homer came on 3-2 pitch from Will Harris (5-4). He had two hits and scored three times.
Keone Kela (7-5) got the win, retiring one of two batters, and Shawn Tolleson earned his 32nd save in 34 attempts.
The Mets won their eighth straight game after David Wright hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning and Yoenis Cespedes homered again as New York edged the Miami Marlins 4-3.
With two outs and runners on first and second, David Wright hit a fastball from reliever Kyle Barraclough (2-1) to the deepest part of the park, well over the head of scrambling center fielder Christian Yelich, for a ground-rule double – scoring pinch-runner Eric Young Jr. and giving the Mets a 4-3 lead.
Travis d’Arnaud also homered for New York. Cespedes connected for the ninth time in 13 games.
Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez hit a tying, two-out RBI double in the ninth and Slade Heathcott followed with a three-run homer as the New York Yankees downed the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1.
The victory moved the Yankees within three-games of AL East-leading Toronto.
Erasmo Ramirez held the Yankees hitless until Carlos Beltran led off the eighth with a hot shot that took a short-hop off first baseman Richie Shaffer and went into right field.
Tampa Bay stopped a 21-inning scoring drought and took a 1-0 lead on Logan Forsythe’s eighth-inning RBI double.
In Cleveland, Carlos Carrasco overcame a home run on his first pitch of the game to throw six strong innings, and Lonnie Chisenhall drove in three runs as the Indians beat the Kansas City Royals 8-3.
Carrasco (13-10) let Alex Gordon hit his first pitch deep into the seats in right field, but that was the only run he allowed. The right-hander, who struck out nine, was making his second start since coming off the disabled list with a sore right shoulder.
The Los Angeles Dodgers downed the Colorado Rockies 4-1 after Clayton Kershaw won his ninth straight decision, Justin Turner hit a tiebreaking double and rookie Scott Schebler homered, while Wil Myers hit a leadoff homer and had four RBIs the San Diego Padres trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-3.
In other games, Melky Cabrera drove in Geovany Soto with two outs in the 14th inning to give the Chicago White Sox an 8-7 win over the Oakland Athletics, the Baltimore Orioles blanked the Boston Red Sox 2-0 and the Minnesota Twins defeated downed the Detroit Tigers 7-1.
The Jayson Werth hit two homers and drove in five runs as the Washington Nationals edged the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 over 11 innings, the Seattle Mariners thrashed the Los Angeles 10-1 and the San Francisco Giants were 5-3 winners over the Cincinnati Reds.
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