Chas McCormick of the Astros is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a two-run homer in the second inning Wednesday against the Cleveland Guardians. McCormick homered again in the sixth, lifting Houston to a 3-2 win. Kevin M. Cox/Associated Press
HOUSTON — Chas McCormick hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a tiebreaking shot in the sixth to lift the Houston Astros to a 3-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday.
The victory completed a three-game sweep and came a day after Framber Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in franchise history – a 2-0 win Tuesday night.
It’s the third multi-homer game of McCormick’s career and second this season.
Oscar Gonzalez reached on an error by second baseman Mauricio Dubón to start the ninth. But Ryan Pressly struck out Bo Naylor before retiring Gabriel Arias on a fly ball and striking out Steven Kwan to end it and get his 26th save.
Houston’s Ronel Blanco, who was recalled from Triple-A Sugar Land before the game, yielded five hits and two runs with four walks in four innings. Phil Maton (3-3) was credited with the win after allowing one hit in the sixth.
BRAVES 12, ANGELS 5: Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley and Matt Olson homered for the MLB-leading Atlanta Braves, who kept up their power barrage with a rout of visiting Los Angeles.
Acuña launched a three-run shot over the center-field wall off Lucas Giolito (6-8) in the third inning, then Riley and Olson went back to back in the fourth to cap a six-run outburst that finished off the Angels’ starter.
Yonny Chirinos (5-4), making his second start for the Braves since being acquired after Tampa Bay designated him for assignment, pitched five strong innings before being lifted after the first two batters singled in the sixth.
TIGERS 6, PIRATES 3: Zack Short tied a career-high with three RBI, and Detroit earned a split of a two-game series in Pittsburgh.
Pinch-hitting for Akil Baddoo, Short capped a three-run fourth inning with a two-run single off Ryan Borucki to left that extended the Tigers’ lead to 4-1. His two-out RBI double, down the left-field line past a diving Ke’Bryan Hayes at third base, made it 5-2 in the sixth.
Eduardo Rodriguez (7-7) gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out five in six innings for Detroit, which had lost six of seven.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 3, BREWERS 2: Corey Dickerson and Ildemaro Vargas scored on third baseman Andruw Monasterio’s throwing error in the ninth inning, and Washington rallied against closer Devin Williams to beat visiting Milwaukee.
Milwaukee, which began the day a half-game behind Cincinnati in the NL Central and a game ahead of Arizona and Miami for the third and final wild-card spot, lost five of six on its road trip to Atlanta and Washington. The Brewers have not won consecutive games since July 19-20.
PADRES 11, ROCKIES 1: Gary Sánchez homered twice and drove in four runs, Juan Soto went deep for the third time in two days and San Diego won at Denver.
Ha-Seong Kim homered leading off the game and Fernando Tatís Jr. hit a towering three-run homer to help the Padres win for the fifth time in six games.
NOTES
BLUE JAYS: Toronto put AL batting leader Bo Bichette on the 10-day injured list because of patellar tendonitis in his right knee.
Bichette left Monday’s loss to Baltimore in the third inning after he jammed his knee while running the bases. The move is retroactive to Tuesday.
A two-time All-Star, Bichette has a .321 average and 144 hits. He had missed just one game this season before Monday’s injury.
YANKEES: Nestor Cortes will return to the rotation this weekend in a four-game series against the Houston Astros after missing more than two months because of a left rotator cuff strain.
Cortes was scheduled to make a third minor league rehab start Wednesday. Instead, the left-hander was told he will start against Houston either Saturday or Sunday. He will likely be limited to around 60 pitches in his first outing since May 30 in Seattle, when his shoulder started bothering him.
• Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán has voluntarily entered inpatient treatment for alcohol abuse, the team announced.
General Manager Brian Cashman said Germán will not pitch again this season.
Germán, who threw a perfect game at Oakland in late June, was placed on the restricted list two days before his 31st birthday.
Germán is 5-7 with a 4.56 ERA in 19 starts and one relief appearance this season.
PADRES: San Diego scratched Joe Musgrove from his scheduled start Wednesday because of lingering shoulder stiffness, one day after recommitting to a playoff push with several trade deadline acquisitions.
Musgrove (10-3, 3.05 ERA) was an All-Star in 2022 and has been nearly as good this year despite discomfort in his right shoulder. Nick Martinez started in his place Wednesday.
WHITE SOX: Liam Hendriks, who made a comeback this season from cancer, had surgery Wednesday to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
The typical recovery time is 12-14 months, which means the right-hander could miss all of next season. The White Sox said before their game against Texas that the procedure was performed by Rangers team physician Dr. Keith Meister.
Hendriks, 34, began the season on the injured list to continue his treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He publicly revealed his cancer diagnosis on January 8, completed treatment on April 3, and announced he was cancer free on April 20, then made his season debut just more than a month after that.
Hendriks last pitched June 9, two days before he was placed on the 15-day injured list because of right elbow inflammation. He went 2-0 with one save and a 5.40 ERA in five appearances.
RANGERS: All-Star shortstop Corey Seager was activated from the injured list after he missed nine games because of a sprained right thumb.
CUBS: Chicago placed All-Star right-hander Marcus Stroman on the 15-day injured list because of inflammation in his right hip, but Manager David Ross says he’s expected to miss only one start.
REDS: Cincinnati placed right-hander Ben Lively on the 15-day injured list because of a right pectoral strain and recalled right-hander Daniel Duarte from Triple-A Louisville.
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