Tulowitzki’s 2 HRs flush Rangers

DENVER (AP) ― Troy Tulowitzki homered twice, Jordan Lyles pitched eight strong innings and the Colorado Rockies beat the Texas Rangers 8-2 on Monday night.

Nolan Arenado also homered to extend his hitting streak to 25 games. It is the longest in the majors this season.

Tulowitzki, who was named the NL Player of the Month for April before the game, had his first multi-homer game of the season and the ninth of his career. He hit a two-run shot off Texas starter Martin Perez in the fifth and hit another two-run homer off reliever Shawn Tolleson to give Colorado a 7-1 lead in the seventh.

It was more than enough for Lyles (4-0), who came within three outs of the second complete game of his career.

He had struggled in six previous starts against Texas but held the Rangers in check a night after they had 14 hits and nine walks in a 14-3 win over the Angels. He worked out of trouble in the third and the Rangers’ only run came on a ground out to shortstop in the sixth.

Texas had runners on first and second in the eighth but Lyles got Josh Wilson to ground into the third double play of the night to end the inning.

Lyles left to a standing ovation after giving up a leadoff single to Adrian Beltre in the ninth.

He allowed two runs on seven hits and struck out five in his longest outing since throwing a complete game against Milwaukee on Sept. 30, 2012.

Perez (4-2) struggled for the second consecutive start after hurling 26 straight scoreless innings. He allowed five runs on seven hits over five innings. In his past two games he has been touched for 13 runs in 9 2/3 innings.

Perez had not surrendered a home run for 46 innings dating back to last season when Arenado went deep on him in the second.

Scherzer, Tigers win 6th in row

DETROIT (AP) ― Max Scherzer is pitching so well, he’s tough to beat.

The Detroit Tigers are pretty good, too, at the plate and in the field.

Scherzer pitched three-hit ball and struck out nine over eight innings, leading Detroit past the Houston Astros 2-0 Monday night for its season-high sixth straight victory.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner will get credit for the win, but acknowledged he had plenty of help.

Alex Avila threw out three runners. Austin Jackson sprinted toward the center field wall to catch a deep drive. Andrew Romine perfectly placed a bunt down the third base line to put Nick Castellanos in scoring position for Rajai Davis. Davis broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh inning.

“Those are the little things that go on,” Scherzer said. “That’s why as a team, we’re successful.” 

Nationals top Dodgers after delay

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer in the first inning Monday night, and ― thanks to an odd-moving storm that produced an interminable rain delay ― the Washington Nationals didn’t finish off the Los Angeles Dodgers until some six hours later on Tuesday morning, holding on for a 4-0 victory and gaining sole possession of first place in the NL East.

Jordan Zimmerman pitched four shutout innings before the game was halted, and five relievers threw an inning apiece after play resumed.

In between, there was a delay of 3 hours, 17 minutes while a narrow, cigar-shaped storm took its time soaking D.C. and not much else.

As it was, Aaron Barrett (2-0) got the win, Zack Greinke (5-1) got a hard-luck first loss of the season and Danny Espinosa added a two-run homer in the eighth.

Minnesota 1, Cleveland 0

St. Louis 4, Atlanta 3

Toronto 3, Philadelphia 0

San Francisco 11, Pittsburgh 10

Miami 4, NY Mets 3

Chicago White Sox 3, Chicago Cubs 1

Milwaukee 8, Arizona 3

Seattle 4, Oakland 2

LA Angels 4, NY Yankees 1

San Diego 6, Kansas City 5