RYAN PRESSLY

Houston Astros center fielder Chas McCormick and fill-in first baseman Trey Mancini both made key defensive plays in the late innings that helped preserve a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5 of the World Series.

Justin Verlander overcame an early jolt to grit out the World Series win that long eluded him, rookie Jeremy Peña hit a go-ahead home run and the Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 to head home with a 3-2 lead.

Pitchers Christian Javier, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly held the Phillies hitless for the first World Series no-hitter since 1956.

Cristian Javier and Houston’s bullpen combined on just the second no-hitter in World Series history, silencing a booming lineup and boisterous ballpark as the Astros blanked the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 Wednesday night to even the matchup at two games each.

Cristian Javier, Bryan Abreu and Rafael Montero held the Philadelphia Phillies hitless through eight innings in Game 4 of the World Series, and the Houston Astros led 5-0 after knocking out Aaron Nola in a five-run fifth.

Framber Valdez made a five-run lead stand up after Houston’s lightning first-inning burst, Alex Bregman homered and the Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 to tie the World Series at one game apiece.

Security at Minute Maid Park had other plans, wrestling the man away from Altuve before he could click off the shot with his cell phone as the ninth inning was set to begin. “He kind of hugged me and said something like: ‘OK, we better win today, because I spent all my money on the ticket,’” Altuve said. “I saw someone running and I said: ‘Astros jersey; I’m fine,’” Altuve said of the man's white Craig Biggio shirt. Altuve added that the man kept repeating that Houston needed to win Thursday. Astros manager Dusty Baker said he didn't notice the fan on the field “until the crowd started going crazy.”“I mean, what he did was wrong, but he looked harmless.

Astros star Jose Altuve was more than happy to oblige when a fan ran onto the field and asked the Houston second baseman to take a selfie with him during Game 2 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees.

Jose Altuve was more than happy to oblige when a fan ran onto the field and asked Houston’s star second baseman to take a selfie with him during Game 2 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees on Thursday night. Security at Minute Maid Park had other plans, wrestling the man away from Altuve before he could click off the shot with his cell phone as the ninth inning was set to begin. “He kind of hugged me and said something like: ‘OK, we better win today, because I spent all my money on the ticket,’” Altuve said.

Alex Bregman hit an early three-run homer, Framber Valdez pitched seven strong innings and the Houston Astros edged the New York Yankees 3-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the AL Championship Series.

Justin Verlander struck out 11 in six strong innings and Yuli Gurriel, Chas McCormick and Jeremy Peña all homered to power the Houston Astros to a 4-2 win over the New York Yankees in their AL Championship Series opener.

The Astros and Mariners played two games for the price of one in their 18-inning affair, and it was Jeremy Pena's homer that send the Astros to another ALCS.

Yordan Alvarez and his mighty bat did it yet again, launching a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning off Seattle ace Luis Castillo that lifted the Houston Astros over the Mariners 4-2 for a 2-0 lead in the AL Division Series.

Astros reliever Phil Maton says he broke his right pinkie when he punched a locker in frustration after Houston’s regular-season finale and will miss the postseason.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan was pulled in the fifth inning with neck tightness during a 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. McClanahan (12-6) was making his second start after returning from the 15-day injured list due to a left shoulder impingement. McClanahan walked Jose Altuve leading off the fifth, then threw three straight balls to Jeremy Peña. Peña hit a three-run homer, Altuve scored three runs and the Astros won for the ninth time in 10 games a day after clinching the AL West championship. Peña's 19th homer came in the third inning after Altuve's second hit, putting the Astros up 4-0.

Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan was pulled in the fifth inning with neck tightness during a 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros.

José Urquidy won his 12th game for the AL-leading Astros. The Braves went up 2-0 in the first when Dansby Swanson singled and Matt Olson hit his 26th homer, a 432-foot shot to right-center. The Astros tacked on a run in the ninth off Stephens on Gurriel’s RBI single to make it 5-2. UP NEXTRHP Jake Odorizzi (4-5, 4.15 ERA) will face RHP Roansy Contreras (3-3, 4.02) when the Braves open a three-game series at Pittsburgh. The Astros are off Monday and have yet to announce a starter Tuesday when Houston begins a three-game home series against Minnesota.

Atlanta outfielder Marcell Ozuna was booed by his home fans in his return, Kyle Tucker singled to drive in Yordan Alvarez for the go-ahead run in the eighth, José Urquidy won his 12th game, and the Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves 5-4 to avoid a three-game sweep.

Mariners Astros Baseball Seattle Mariners' Abraham Toro (13) watches his two-run single during the ninth inning of the team's baseball game against the Houston Astros, Saturday, July 30, 2022, in Houston. He struck out, but played in the field in the bottom half of the inning before being lifted in the ninth. The Mariners beat Houston for the first time since June 8, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Astros. Ryan Pressly (3-3) entered the ninth inning having converted 21 of his 24 save opportunities this season. Astros: Jake Odorizzi (4-3, 4.25 ERA) is slated to start Sunday, looking to get back on the winning side.

Abraham Toro pinch-hit for injured All-Star Julio Rodriguez and delivered a two-run single with two outs in the ninth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied past the AL-West leading Houston Astros 5-4.

Justin Verlander became the major leagues’ first 13-game winner, striking out nine and topping 99 mph in his final inning to lead the Houston Astros over the Seattle Mariners 3-1.

Justin Verlander got his MLB-leading 11th win, Yordan Alvarez hit his 26th homer and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 to take the series 3-1.

Angels star Mike Trout finished 0 for 11 with nine strikeouts in a three-game series and Los Angeles hitters fanned 20 times overall in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros.

Astros Mets Baseball Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander delivers against the New York Mets during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, June 29, 2022, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) (Mary Altaffer)NEW YORK — (AP) — Justin Verlander pitched two-hit ball for eight innings, light-hitting backup catcher Jason Castro lined a two-run homer in the ninth and the Houston Astros beat the Mets 2-0 Wednesday to send New York to its first three-game losing streak this season. Astros left fielder Yordan Álvarez and shortstop Jeremy Peña were hurt when they collided in the eighth while running down Dominic Smith’s popup. UP NEXTAstros: RHP Luis Garcia (5-5) starts Thursday’s one-game series at home against the New York Yankees and RHP Luis Severino (4-2), a makeup of a game postponed by the lockout. Mets: RHP Chris Bassitt (6-5) starts a home series against Texas on Friday night.

Justin Verlander pitched two-hit ball for eight innings, light-hitting backup catcher Jason Castro lined a two-run homer in the ninth and the Houston Astros beat the Mets 2-0 to send New York to its first three-game losing streak this season.

Aaron Judge drove a three-run homer in the 10th inning for his second walk-off hit against Houston in four days, and the New York Yankees recovered after nearly being no-hit for the second consecutive game, beating Houston 6-3 to split a four-game series between the AL’s best teams.

Astros Yankees Baseball Houston Astros pitcher Cristian Javier (53) throws against the New York Yankees during the first inning of a baseball game Saturday, June 25, 2022, in New York. Javier set career highs for strikeouts (13) and pitches (115), and he matched his longest start with seven innings. Javier began 12 of his first 18 batters with a strike but began his last five with a ball. “I feel really happy, really proud right now for this moment that God has given me,” Javier said via interpreter. ... RHP Jonathan Loaisiga, sidelined since May 22 by right shoulder inflammation, threw his first bullpen since getting hurt.

Cristian Javier, Héctor Neris and Ryan Pressly combined on the first no-hitter against the New York Yankees in 19 years, shutting down the best team in baseball and pitching the Houston Astros to a 3-0 victory.

Astros Yankees Baseball New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton, left, celebrates with Aaron Judge after Stanton hit a three-run home run against the Houston Astros during the first inning of a baseball game Thursday, June 23, 2022, in New York. Batting with two on against Ryne Stanek, Judge smoked a 3-0 splitter into the left-field corner to score Jose Trevino from second base. Stanek walked DJ LeMahieu, then fell behind Judge 3-0 as fans serenaded the slugger with “MVP!” chants. Judge is asking for a $21 million salary, while New York has offered $17 million in his final season before reaching free agency. After Judge reached on third baseman Bregman's error, Rizzo smoked what he thought was a two-run homer to right.

Aaron Judge lined a game-winning single on the eve of his salary arbitration showdown, capping a four-run ninth inning that included Aaron Hicks’ tying three-run homer off closer Ryan Pressly in the New York Yankees’ 7-6 victory over the Houston Astros.

Justin Verlander struck out a season-high 12 in seven sparkling innings, Yordan Alvarez hit a two-run homer and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1.

Kyle Tucker hit a tiebreaking pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning and the Houston Astros beat the Texas Rangers 3-2.

Braves Padres Baseball San Diego Padres' Jurickson Profar flips his bat after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in San Diego, Saturday, April 16, 2022. He'll face right-hander Bryce Elder (1-0, 4.76), making his second big league start. Turner, who led the majors in batting average (.328) and hits (195) last year, has hit safely in all eight games in 2022. Turner had three hits Saturday night, including a two-run homer that snapped a scoreless tie in the sixth inning of a 5-2 victory. BRASH STARTMariners rookie right-hander Matt Brash faces Houston for his second start after an impressive debut against the White Sox.

The Padres’ hopes of shaking off a disappointing 2021 aren’t off to a great start — San Diego has lost four of five heading into its series finale against the World Series champion Braves.

Justin Verlander pitched three-hit ball over eight innings for his first win since July 2020 and the Houston Astros beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0.

Braves Padres Baseball San Diego Padres' Jurickson Profar flips his bat after hitting a solo home run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in San Diego, Saturday, April 16, 2022. He'll face right-hander Bryce Elder (1-0, 4.76), making his second big league start. Buxton left in the first inning of Minnesota’s series-opening 8-4 win over Boston on Friday night after sliding roughly into second base. BRASH STARTMariners rookie right-hander Matt Brash faces Houston for his second start after an impressive debut against the White Sox. He struck out six over 5 1/3 innings, limiting the defending AL Central champs to two runs on four hits.

The Padres’ hopes of shaking off a disappointing 2021 aren’t off to a great start — San Diego has lost four of five heading into a series finale against the World Series champion Braves.

Framber Valdez outpitched Shohei Ohtani with 6 2/3 dominant innings of two-hit ball, and the Houston Astros tied the longest opening day winning streak in major league history with a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

APTOPIX ALCS Red Sox Astros Baseball Houston Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly celebrates their win against the Boston Red Sox in Game 6 of baseball's American League Championship Series Friday, Oct. 22, 2021, in Houston. The Astros advanced to the World Series for the third time in five seasons. Manager Dusty Baker's team will open the World Series on Tuesday night, either at Dodger Stadium or home against Atlanta. “Hey, I'm going back to the World Series!” Baker told a cheering crowd at Minute Maid Park. The wild-card Red Sox had runners at first and third with one out in after a single by Alex Verdugo.

Rookie Luis García showed the poise of an October ace, MVP Yordan Alvarez stayed hot at the plate and the Houston Astros earned yet another trip to the World Series, beating the Boston Red Sox 5-0 in Game 6 of the AL Championship Series.

Carlos Correa hit a tiebreaking home run in the seventh inning that helped the Houston Astros beat the Boston Red Sox 5-4 in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.

Carlos Correa hit his career-high 25th homer with a three-run shot and the Houston Astros clinched the AL West with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

Oakland Athletics shortstop Elvis Andrus has been put on the 10-day injured list, a day after breaking his left leg while scoring the winning run against the Houston Astros.

Ty France tied the game with a solo home run in the ninth inning and put the Seattle Mariners on top with an RBI single in the 11th before Kyle Seager belted a three-run homer in a 6-3 win over the Houston Astros on Sunday.

Kris Bryant homered in his Giants debut, a two-out solo shot in the third inning, and San Francisco beat the Houston Astros 5-3 on Sunday.

The Houston Astros have landed one of the top relievers in baseball, acquiring right-hander Kendall Graveman from the Seattle Mariners in an odd intra-division trade while the teams were preparing to play each other.

Framber Valdez and the Houston bullpen took a no-hit try into the eighth inning and Astros beat Texas 4-1, sending the Rangers to their season-worst 11th straight loss.

Philadelphia’s J.

Jose Altuve belted a grand slam in the 10th inning and the Houston Astros, saved by Carlos Correa’s tying homer in the ninth, beat the Texas Rangers 6-3 to give manager Dusty Baker quite an exciting birthday gift.

Fernando Tatis Jr. launched a monstrous, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning to tie it, Wil Myers hit a three-run drive in the 12th and the San Diego Padres beat the Houston Astros 11-8.

The Astros defeated the New York Yankees 7-4. “Incredibly heads-up play by Gleyber,” New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Thursday's 7-4 loss to Houston. Torres saw the Astros shifted to the right side for Hicks, a switch-hitter batting left-handed. Third baseman Alex Bregman had put his foot on second base, waiting to receive a throw from Correa for a possible forceout. “I saw Bregman on the base, so I saw I got an opportunity to move to third,” Torres said.

Gleyber Torres kept going and going and going.

José Altuve responded to jeering fans by marking his 31st birthday with a go-ahead, three-run homer off Chad Green in the eighth inning, and the Houston Astros beat the New York Yankees 7-4 to avoid a three-game sweep.

New York starter Jordan Montgomery gave up two hits in three scoreless innings. Brubaker allowed two hits over two scoreless innings and Chase De Jong followed with two shutout innings. MARLINS 4, METS 4Miami starter Pablo Lopez gave up a hit and a walk over three scoreless innings. German Marquez scattered three hits and a walk over three scoreless innings for Colorado. Kansas City starter Jakob Junis pitched three innings and gave up one hit, a leadoff homer to Trent Grisham.

George Springer and José Altuve delivered big hits, Framber Valdéz pitched six brilliant innings and the Astros beat the Tampa Bay Rays for the third straight time, 7-4 Friday to force a deciding Game 7 of the AL Championship Series. Despite blowing a 3-0 series lead, they remain one win from the second World Series in franchise history — and one loss from joining the 2004 Yankees in ignominy. Game 7 on Saturday night will feature the pitchers who started and finished Houston’s Game 7 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2017 World Series. He has yet to win a World Series as a manager. As a player, he helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win four straight World Series games in 1981 after falling behind the New York Yankees 0-2.

The Astros defeated the Rays 4-3 and the Rays lead the series 3-2 games. The Astros forced Game 6 on Friday, a rematch of the first game started by left-handers Blake Snell of Tampa Bay and Valdéz. Otherwise, big league clubs leading 3-0 in a best-of-seven postseason series are 37-1. Correa also hit a walkoff homer in Game 2 of the 2017 ALCS off Aroldis Chapman of the New York Yankees. Houston became the first team with a leadoff and walk-off home run in a postseason game.

With Altuve atoning for his poor defense this series, the Astros finally got their offense going after being pushed to the brink of a sweep. Altuve hit a solo homer in the first and an RBI double in the third for a 2-0 lead. He and Springer are tied for the most homers in Astros postseason history, 18. It was the third of the postseason for Springer, the MVP of the 2017 World Series. THE CUBAN ROCKETArozarena’s 19 hits are the fourth-most by a rookie in a single postseason and his nine extra-base hits are the most in Rays postseason history.

Houston Astros' Carlos Correa, left, and George Springer celebrate after the Astros defeated the Oakland Athletics in Game 2 of a baseball American League Division Series in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. The Houston Astros can't miss these days. “With every victory, the energy and the confidence grows,” first-year Houston manager Dusty Baker said. Five of Springer’s postseason homers have come at Dodger Stadium, where the Astros beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. The scandal led to season-long suspensions of Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow and manager AJ Hinch, who both were fired.

"But what are they going to say now?”Nine months after Houston's rules-breaking, sign-stealing system was revealed, the Astros advanced to the Division Series in Los Angeles. The Twins are 0-18 in the playoffs since winning Game 1 of their Division Series at the New York Yankees on Oct. 5, 2004, a total of seven rounds lost. Since that date, the Astros are 43-35 in postseason play, winning 10 of 15 rounds with three trips to the World Series. In a three-game division series sweep by the Yankees last year, the Twins totaled seven runs and 22 hits. Baldelli declined to confirm whether Buxton was experiencing a recurrence of concussion symptoms that kept him out of the last two regular season games.

The Astros (29-29) just had to wait a couple of extra hours to wrap up second place in the AL West, which became official with the Angels' 9-5 loss. Now Houston can start planning for a wild-card matchup that could be against Oakland, which ended a three-year run atop the AL West for the defending AL champion. Nick Solak matched Bregman’s sacrifice fly to get the last-place Rangers even in the bottom of the 10th. STANDOUT TEXAS ROOKIERookie catcher Sam Huff homered twice, his second and third, for the first two Rangers runs. UP NEXTThe Astros were waiting for the LA outcome to decide who would start the third game in the four-game series to finish the regular season.

Houston Astros shortstop Carlos Correa (1) and center fielder George Springer (4) celebrate the team's 7-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020, in Los Angeles. But there were multiple reminders that Dodger fans haven’t forgotten the Astros’ cheating scandal from their 2017 championship. Kelly's curled lip has been immortalized in a spray-painted wall mural by an artist in Los Angeles. Taylor blasted a two-run shot into the right-field pavilion with two outs in the second, giving Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Dodgers: RHP Dustin May, who took a line drive off his left foot in Arizona, had a CT scan that revealed a contusion but no fracture.

Jose Altuve hit a game-ending walk-off home run off Aroldis Chapman with two outs in the ninth inning and the Houston Astros outlasted the New York Yankees 6-4 on Saturday night. The Astros will now play in their second World Series in three years. "Beautiful game," Altuve said. Alex Bregman gave the Astros an insurance run with an RBI on a forceout in the sixth inning. The Yankees will go without a World Series appearance in a calendar decade for the first time since the 1910s.