Trout homers for 7th straight; Guardians beat Angels 5-4

CLEVELAND (AP) – Angels star Mike Trout homered in his seventh consecutive game, one shy of the major league record, but the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians beat Los Angeles 5-4 on Monday night. Amed Rosario doubled off Aaron Loup (0-5) scored Steven Kwan with the go-ahead run in the seventh for Cleveland, which increased its advantage to three games over the Chicago White Sox and five games over third-place Minnesota. The game featured a strange sequence in the seventh when Cleveland manager Terry Francona and Angels interim manager Phil Nevin were both ejected without a pitch being thrown in-between the tossings. Trout’s 35th homer of the season came in the fifth. The three-time AL MVP connected off Konnor Pilkington for a 422-foot drive to dead center at Progressive Field. Pittsburgh’s Dale Long established the MLB record of eight straight games with a home run in 1956. Don Mattingly of the Yankees matched it in 1987, as did Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993. Trout is the first AL player with a seven-game home run streak since Kendrys Morales of Toronto in 2018. Cincinnati’s Joey Votto homered in seven straight last season from July 24-30. Enyel De Los Santos (4-0) worked a scoreless seventh for the win and Emmanuel Clase pitched a perfect ninth for his MLB-best 34th save. BLUE JAYS 3, RAYS 2 TORONTO (AP) – Bo Bichette launched a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth inning after being hit by a high fastball in his previous at-bat, leading Toronto past Tampa Bay. Toronto tied idle Seattle atop the standings for the three wild-card spots. Tampa Bay is a half-game behind. Bichette connected off Jason Adam (2-3) for his 24th homer. Bichette went 2 for 3 and drove in all three Toronto runs. In the sixth, Bichette slammed his bat in anger after being hit near his right wrist by a 97 mph fastball from Rays reliever Javy Guerra. After Bichette was hit, Toronto’s José Berrios hit Francisco Mejia with his second pitch of the seventh. While the umpires huddled before issuing warnings, interim Blue Jays manager John Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker were seen yelling back and forth with Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder. Tim Mayza (7-0) got one out for the win and Jordan Romano closed it out in the ninth for his 33rd save in 37 chances. RANGERS 3, MARLINS 2, 1ST GAME; MARLINS 10, RANGERS 6, 2ND GAME MIAMI (AP) – Rookie Charles Leblanc hit a pair of RBI doubles during an eight-run burst in the fifth inning and Miami earned a split of a day-night doubleheader. Texas won the opener as Mark Mathias drew a bases-loaded walk to snap an eighth-inning tie. The Marlins trailed 3-1 in the nightcap before breaking loose. Leblanc’s double against reliever A.J. Alexy (1-1) got Miami within one before Jon Berti hit a go-ahead, two-run single. Brian Anderson followed with an RBI single and Garrett Cooper hit a two-run double. Nick Fortes added an RBI single and Leblanc capped the outburst with his second double. Marcus Semien homered, tripled and singled and Corey Seager hit his 30th homer for the Rangers. The Rangers cut a 10-3 deficit on Semien’s two-out RBI triple and Seager’s two-run drive off Bryan Hoening (1-1) in the seventh. In the first game, Miami reliever Steven Okert (5-3) walked Corey Seager and Adolis García around Nathaniel Lowe’s two-out infield single before Mathias reached. Jonathan Hernández (2-2) pitched 1 2/3 innings to pick up the win. José Leclerc closed with a perfect ninth for his fifth save. That defeat assured the Marlins (27-41) of a losing season at home, a day after clinching their 23rd sub-.500 record in the club’s 30-year history. CUBS 5, METS 2