Sunday's MLB roundup

Once they got behind closed doors in the clubhouse, the Houston Astros showered Justin Verlander with champagne.

No, it wasn't for helping them avoid a sweep at the Coliseum. But that was a nice benefit, too.

Verlander pitched just well enough to earn his 200th career victory and the Astros hit five home runs, beating the Oakland Athletics 9-4 Sunday to reclaim sole possession of the AL West lead.

"That was one of the tougher wins I had to get this season," Verlander said.

The A's had won the first two games at home to tie shaky Houston atop the division. But Yuli Gurriel hit a three-run homer in the third inning and Evan Gattis, Alex Bregman, Marwin Gonzalez and Martin Maldonado later homered for the 2017 World Series champions.

"What a great way to get Verlander his 200th," Bregman said.

The 35-year-old Verlander (12-8) entered the day with a major league-leading 1.74 ERA on the road. Matt Chapman and Khris Davis hit solo homers off Verlander in the first inning, and Davis added his 36th homer, a two-run drive, in the third that made it 4-4.

"When you reach a milestone, you look back, understand and relish what you've done," said Verlander, the 114th pitcher with at least 200 career victories. "I look around from when I started and realized it's a long journey. From age 21 to now, mentally, it's been a process."

Chicago 7, Kansas City 6: Omar Narvaez homered and drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single, and White Sox relievers tossed seven scoreless innings in helping their team rally from a six-run deficit against the visiting Royals.

Tampa Bay 2, Boston 0: Jalen Beeks pitched four strong innings vs. the team that traded him last month, Joey Wendle and C.J. Cron homered and the Rays held the host Red Sox to two singles.

New York 10, Toronto 2: J.A. Happ stayed unbeaten with the host Yankees by topping his former Blue Jays teammates, and Greg Bird hit a grand slam during a six-run first inning.

Texas 4, Los Angeles 2: Rougned Odor hit a go-ahead, three-run homer with rain falling in the seventh inning, and the Rangers beat the Angels to wrap up a soggy weekend in Arlington, Texas.

New York 8, Philadelphia 2: Amed Rosario had three hits and drove in three runs, and the Mets went from cheering on players in the Little League World Series to beating the Phillies in Williamsport, Pa. Jeff McNeil added a two-run single to back Jason Vargas as New York claimed the second Little League Classic and kept Philadelphia from moving into the NL East lead.

Pittsburgh 2, Chicago 1 (11): Adam Frazier hit a walkoff homer off Brandon Kintzler in the 11th inning, and the Pirates beat the Cubs for a split of their four-game series. NL Central-leading Chicago managed only one run in each game of the series, each run coming on a solo homer, but won the first two.

Colorado 4, Atlanta 2: DJ LeMahieu homered, German Marquez pitched seven solid innings and the Rockies closed out their first four-game sweep in Atlanta. Colorado improved to 30-16 since June 26, and each of those 46 games came against teams with winning records at the time.

Miami 12, Washington 1: Jose Urena pitched a two-hitter for his first complete game in the majors as the Marlins beat the host Nationals. Urena was pitching after appealing a six-game suspension for hitting Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. on Wednesday.

Milwaukee 2, St. Louis 1: Mike Moustakas hit a two-run double, Jhoulys Chacin beat the Cardinals for the first time in his career and the visiting Brewers ended a three-game losing streak and moved back ahead of St. Louis for the second NL wild card.

Cincinnati 11, San Francisco 4: Eugenio Suarez hit a two-run homer in a seven-run third inning for the host Reds.