Michael Brantley delivered a game-tying RBI triple in the eighth inning as the Houston Astros pushed their winning streak to six with a 3-2 win over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Brantley followed a one-out single from Jose Altuve with his extra-base hit into the right field corner, scoring Altuve and knotting the game at 2-2. Altuve and Brantley struck against Tigers reliever Michael Fulmer (1-1), who later issued a bases-loaded walk to Kyle Tucker.

Astros closer Ryan Pressly, who coughed up a two-run lead in the series opener on Thursday, notched his fourth save with a perfect eight-pitch ninth. Bryan Abreu (1-0) earned the victory.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez produced his best start with Detroit, recording a season-high eight strikeouts. He surrendered just one hit, a two-out solo home run to Altuve in the third inning, and retired nine consecutive batters before issuing a two-out walk to Tucker in the seventh.

Relying mostly on his four-seam fastball, Rodriguez issued three walks — two to Tucker — in addition to the Altuve homer. He threw 99 pitches, 58 for strikes, and showed marked improvement over his previous three starts during which he allowed 12 runs (10 earned) on 16 hits over 17 2/3 innings.

After mustering only a pair of hits in their one-run loss on Friday, the Tigers created ample traffic against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez.

Detroit generated a pair of baserunners in the first and second, and had runners on the corners when Miguel Cabrera came to the plate in the third. Cabrera followed with a double down the left field line that drove home Javier Baez and Robbie Grossman, the 600th double of his career.

Cabrera joined Hank Aaron and Albert Pujols as the only players in major league history with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 homers, and he passed Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for 19th on the career RBIs list with his 1,813th.

Valdez, despite allowing nine hits and one walk, limited the damage to the Cabrera double. He struck out seven and departed trailing 2-1, pitching well enough to set the table for the late-inning rally.

–Field Level Media

The Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles game scheduled for Saturday in Baltimore was rained out.

The Orioles announced the game would be rescheduled for Monday, May 9.

It was the second straight game rained out for the teams, as Friday’s Game 1 opener was rescheduled as well. The teams are now scheduled to play a double-header Sunday with the final game to occur Monday.

–Field Level Media

Sonny Gray struck out seven in four scoreless innings in his return from the injured list Saturday afternoon, as four Minnesota pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout and the Twins held on for a 1-0 victory over the visiting Oakland Athletics.

Jorge Polanco hit a solo homer in the sixth inning for the game’s lone run. Polanco had three hits, finishing a triple shy of the cycle for the AL Central-leading Twins, who have won back-to-back games.

Oakland continued its tailspin with its eighth loss in a row. The Athletics have scored one run overall in their past three games, and the game marked the 10th time this season that they have been held to fewer than two runs.

Gray allowed two hits and walked two in his first appearance since April 16. The veteran hurler missed the past three weeks because of a right hamstring strain.

Twins left-hander Danny Coulombe followed with 1 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out one.

Right-hander Griffin Jax (2-0) was next in line out of the Twins’ bullpen. He tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two to pick up the win.

Twins right-hander Jhoan Duran collected his second save by striking out five in a scoreless eighth and ninth, walking one.

Athletics right-hander James Kaprielian (0-2) took the hard-luck loss after allowing one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out seven.

Polanco provided the Twins with the run they needed with two outs in the sixth when he belted a towering home run to center field. On the eighth pitch of his at-bat, he belted a Kaprielian curveball an estimated 451 feet.

It was Polanco’s third home run of the season and his first long ball since April 18 against the Boston Red Sox, snapping a 16-game drought.

Twins rookie shortstop Royce Lewis started his second game in a row in place of Carlos Correa, who is considered day-to-day because of a bruised right middle finger. Lewis went 1-for-3 with a strikeout and is hitting .286 (2-for-7) since his promotion to the big leagues.

–Field Level Media

Raimel Tapia and George Springer each had three RBIs Saturday afternoon as the visiting Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Cleveland Guardians 8-3 in the opening game of a doubleheader.

Kevin Gausman (3-1) earned his third successive win while allowing one run, six hits and one walk and striking out five in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Gausman walked Franmil Reyes with two out in the fourth inning — the first walk he has allowed this season, ending a streak of 136 batters without issuing a free pass.

Cleveland starter Shane Bieber (1-2) was knocked around for seven runs on eight hits and three walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Toronto scored four runs in the second inning. With two out, Matt Chapman doubled and Bieber walked Santiago Espinal and Alejandro Kirk, loading the bases. Tapia followed with a two-run single and Springer smacked a two-run double.

Cleveland scored once in the third when Myles Straw singled with two out, stole second and scored on Steven Kwan’s single.

Toronto added three runs in the fourth to knock Bieber out of the game. Espinal opened the inning with a single to shortstop, Kirk singled to send Espinal to third and Tapia hit an RBI single to right that popped out of Kwan’s glove in windy conditions. Springer followed with an RBI single and another run scored on Bo Bichette’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Anthony Castro came in for the Guardians and struck out four in 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Enyel De Los Santos, who allowed a seventh-inning a run on three walks and Kirk’s fielder’s choice ground out.

That made it 8-1 Blue Jays, and in the bottom of the seventh, Trent Thornton replaced Gausman with one out and a runner at first base.

Anthony Gose, a former Blue Jays outfielder and now a pitcher, came in for the eighth, and pitched around a walk with two strikeouts.

When Thornton walked the first three Cleveland batters of the bottom of the eighth, Julian Merryweather came on and the Guardians scratched out two runs on Owen Miller’s RBI fielder’s choice grounder to second and Josh Naylor’s sacrifice fly.

The doubleheader made up for the weather postponement of the game Friday. Cleveland won the opener of the four-game series on Thursday.

Toronto activated Teoscar Hernandez (left oblique strain) from the injured list on Saturday and made him the 27th player for the doubleheader. He did not play in Game 1.

–Field Level Media

The New York Mets added infield depth to the organization, claiming infielder Gosuke Katoh off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays and assigning him to Triple-A Syracuse.

After eight minor league seasons, Katoh finally made his major league debut for the Blue Jays on April 9 and collected his first big league hit April 27, a double against the Boston Red Sox. He had one hit in seven at-bats.

Katoh, 27, was designated for assignment by the Blue Jays on Wednesday. Toronto signed him to a minor league deal before the start of the season.

A California native who went to high school in San Diego, Katoh was the second-round draft pick of the New York Yankees in 2013.

–Field Level Media

The best news for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees on Sunday is a forecast of clouds with minimal rain.

That’s when, after a pair of rainouts, the Rangers and Yankees finally will begin their three-game series with a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.

Both teams will be playing their first game since Wednesday, and most players probably never made it to Yankee Stadium due to the heavy rains that have pounded the New York area the past two days, resulting in two early postponements.

Friday’s game was postponed about eight hours before first pitch and Saturday’s game was postponed about four hours before first pitch, extending the series into a makeup game on Monday afternoon after two Sunday.

Both teams come into the doubleheader playing well of late.

Texas started with nine losses in 11 games but is on a four-game winning streak after completing a two-game sweep in Philadelphia when Brad Miller hit a two-run single in the 10th inning on Wednesday for a 2-1 Texas win.

“It’s not ideal,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward told reporters Friday about the break. “Three days off in a row is just kind of tough. But we just have to deal with it. (The Yankees) have to deal with it.”

New York is 11-1 in its past 12 contests. The Yankees saw their winning streak snapped with a 2-1 loss in Toronto when it left the bases loaded in the ninth inning on Wednesday.

“Winning 11 in a row, that’s no small task,” Yankees third baseman Josh Donaldson said. “It doesn’t matter who you’re playing.”

The rain is projected to be gone by the time the doubleheader starts but in its place are clouds and wind with a temperature around 50 degrees.

Whatever the conditions, Gerrit Cole (2-0, 3.00 ERA) will pitch in the opener of the doubleheader and bids for a third straight scoreless start. He enters with a 12 2/3 inning scoreless streak after getting wins over the Cleveland Guardians on April 24 and Kansas City Royals on April 30.

Against Cleveland, he allowed four hits and fanned nine in 6 2/3 innings of a 10-2 win. In Kansas City, he allowed five hits and struck out six in six innings of a 3-0 win.

“He was able to make some pitches,” New York catcher Jose Trevino said after the game in Kansas City. “That’s what he does. He’s an ace for a reason. He comes out and makes pitches when he needs to and he did that tonight.”

Before the two outings, Cole lasted a career-low 1 2/3 innings April 19 in Detroit and saw his ERA rise to 6.35 before it plummeted during the winning streak.

Cole is 5-3 with a 4.14 ERA in 11 career starts against the Rangers.

Jordan Montgomery (0-1, 2.88), who allowed two runs in five innings and took a no-decision in Monday’s 3-2 win at Toronto, is expected to start Game 2.

Texas pitchers own a 2.42 ERA in the past 12 games and Dane Dunning (1-1, 3.81) is expected to start Game 1. Dunning has yet to allow more than three runs in a game this season and picked up his first win April 30 when he allowed one run on four hits in 7 2/3 innings in a 3-1 win over Atlanta.

Glenn Otto (1-0, 2.89 ERA) will start the second game after he was projected to start Friday and again on Saturday before those games were postponed.

The Rangers acquired Otto in the deal for Joey Gallo in July and the right-hander is 1-3 with a 7.44 ERA since joining the Rangers. His most recent outing came against the Houston Astros on April 27, when he allowed two runs on four hits in 4 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

Clayton Kershaw threw seven scoreless innings, and Austin Barnes had a home run with three RBIs, as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to four games with a 7-0 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in the opener of a doubleheader.

Freddie Freeman matched a career high with three doubles for the Dodgers, while Trea and Justin Turner combined to deliver three hits with three RBIs for the National League West leaders.

Barnes snapped a four-game hitless stretch while hitting a home run for the third time in eight games this season to tie for the homer lead among NL catchers.

Kershaw (4-0) yielded all five Chicago hits and walked one with two strikeouts to match the longest outing of his season. The left-hander lowered his ERA to 1.80 and has allowed one or no runs in four of his five 2022 starts.

Two of the Cubs’ hits came via Nico Hoerner as the Chicago’s run of 70 consecutive games without being shut out ended. The Cubs have lost three consecutive games and 12 of 15 since starting 6-4. They have scored just nine runs in their last seven games.

After returning from the bereavement list, the Cubs’ Drew Smyly (1-3) gave up three runs (two earned) with six hits and two walks while striking out two over 4 1/3 innings. Chicago has dropped four straight and eight of nine at home.

Two batters into the game, the Dodgers led 1-0. Mookie Betts drew a leadoff walk and Freeman followed with a double to right-center field, ending up on third base following Michael Hermosillo’s throwing error that allowed Betts to score.

Los Angeles made it 2-0 in the fourth with Barnes’ two-out homer into the left-field bleachers. The Dodgers extended the advantage in the fifth with Justin Turner’s two-run double off Robert Gsellman, who was making his Chicago debut.

Following Freeman’s final double in the seventh, Trea Turner delivered an RBI single to give Los Angeles a 5-0 lead. An inning later, Barnes’ two-run double added to the Los Angeles advantage.

Los Angeles’ Tyler Anderson was set to square off with Chicago spot-starter Daniel Norris in the second game Saturday night.

–Field Level Media