Astros, Braves, Nationals And Yankees Win

(AP) – The New York Yankees did a bit of everything in taking the opener of their AL Division Series against the Twins on Friday. Torres delivered a tiebreaking, two-run double in the fifth inning before DJ LeMahieu collected four RBIs as the Yankees routed Minnesota, 10-4 in the Bronx. The game was tied 3-3 until Torres hit a sharp grounder that glanced off third baseman Miguel Sano, allowing Aaron Judge and Brett Gardner to score. Torres also had one of the Yankees’ three stolen bases. Cameron Maybin swiped a pair of bags for New York. LeMahieu and Gardner belted solo homers in the sixth before LeMahieu lined a three-run double in the seventh to put the game out of reach. The Yanks finished with six extra-base hits, including a pair of doubles from cleanup hitter Edwin Encarnacion. Judge made two diving catches in right field as the AL East champions handed Minnesota its major league-record 14th consecutive playoff defeat – 11 of them to the Yankees since 2004. The Yankees also received excellent relief pitching after James Paxton was reached for three runs while striking out eight over 4 2/3 innings. Six relievers combined to hold the Twins to two hits, including Sano’s solo homer off winning pitcher Tommy Kahnle. Jorge Polanco and Nelson Cruz also went deep for the Twins, who will try to even the series Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to pitch for New York against Randy Dobnak. In Houston, Justin Verlander and Jose Altuve have sparked the Astros to victory in the opener of their American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Verlander struck out eight while holding the Rays to one hit over seven innings of the Astros’ 6-2 victory. The 21-game winner during the regular season didn’t allow a hit until Brandon Lowe singled leading off the fifth. Altuve opened the scoring with a two-run blast in the fifth. The second baseman has homered in Game 1 of the ALDS for three straight years and had nine home runs in 33 career postseason games Houston doubled its lead later in the fifth when Lowe (low) misplayed a popup for an error. Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel followed with RBI doubles in the seventh to make it 6-0. The Rays will face another 20-game winner on Saturday as Gerrit Cole is slated to take the mound against Blake Snell. Cole won his last 16 decisions this season and led the majors in strikeouts. The Nationals have wrested home-field advantage from the NL’s top seed. The Nats bounced back from Thursday’s 6-0 loss in Los Angeles by downing the Dodgers, 4-2. Stephen Strasburg was sharp over six innings as he limited Los Angeles to a run and three hits while striking out 10. He outdueled Clayton Kershaw, who was reached for three runs and six hits over six frames. Nationals ace Max Scherzer struck out the side in the eighth, three days after he was relieved by Strasburg in Washington’s 4-3 wild-card win over the Brewers. Daniel Hudson turned it into a nail-bitter by loading the bases in the ninth on a Justin Turner double and a couple walks. But the Washington closer preserved the win by fanning Corey Seager. Anthony Rendon provided an RBI double off Kershaw to put the Nationals ahead, 3-0 in the second inning. The Dodgers eventually got within 3-2 on Max Muncy’s solo homer in the seventh, but Asdrubal Cabrera lined an RBI single in the eighth to put the Nats ahead by a pair. The series resumes on Sunday. In Atlanta, Mike Foltynewicz has helped the Braves even their NL Division Series at a game apiece. Foltynewicz was sharp in the Braves’ 3-0 shutout of the Cardinals, limiting St. Louis to three hits while striking out seven over seven innings. He continued his string of strong performances after going 6-1 with a 2.65 ERA over his last 10 regular-season starts. The Braves struck early as Josh Donaldson provided an RBI single in the bottom of the first. But the score remained 1-0 until pinch-hitter Adam Duvall launched a two-run homer in the seventh. Mark Melancon picked up the save, one day after surrendering four runs in Atlanta’s 7-6 loss to the Cards. Melancon gave up consecutive one-out singles to Paul Goldschmidt and Marcell Ozuna before getting Yadier Molina and Kolten Wong to strike out. The runs came off Jack Flaherty, who fanned eight and allowed eight hits over seven frames. The series resumes Sunday in St. Louis, where Adam Wainwright will start for the Cardinals against Mike Soroka.