(MENAFN- Arab News) ST. LOUIS: Chris Sale matched a Major League Baseball record by striking out at least 10 batters in eight straight starts as his Chicago White Sox outlasted the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in 11 innings on Tuesday.
The defeat saw the Cardinals' big lead in the National League trimmed to eight games ahead of Pittsburgh which won an even longer game 14 innings at Detroit.
Houston beat Kansas City in a meeting of the American League's two top teams with Dallas Keuchel in command on the mound while Texas' Mitch Moreland hit two homers for the second straight night as the Rangers downed Baltimore.
Sale struck out 12 in eight innings and his eighth straight game of double-figure strikeouts tied the mark set by Pedro Martinez in 1999 with Boston.
The White Sox ace fanned every hitter in the St. Louis lineup by the end of the sixth. Despite his outstanding form he has a 0-2 personal record with two no-decisions during the last four games of his streak getting a meager four runs of support.
Sale helped himself in his 100th career start singling for his first hit and scoring the first run for the White Sox.
Chicago went ahead with two outs in the top of the 11th through a Tyler Flowers homer.
Pittsburgh's Neil Walker hit a double to drive in the winning run in the 14th inning lifting the Pirates to a 5-4 win at Detroit.
The Pirates took the lead in that inning despite a massive base-running mistake. With one out and a runner on first Josh Harrison doubled but Gorkys Hernandez retreated toward first thinking Rajai Davis made a diving catch.
After being urged on by Harrison Hernandez then broke for third but didn't retouch second and was ruled out on a Tigers appeal. Walker followed with an RBI double off Tom Gorzelanny (1-2) to make it 5-4 but the Hernandez mistake cost the Pirates a run.
Houston's Dallas Keuchel pitched eight scoreless innings to lead the Astros past Kansas City 4-0.
Keuchel (10-3) threw a shutout against the New York Yankees in his previous start. This time he struck out seven while lowering his season ERA to 2.03.
George Springer had a two-run homer in the third inning for the Astros.
Texas' Mitch Moreland hit another two homers to lift the Rangers over Baltimore 8-6.
Moreland homered with a man on in the second and eighth innings. He leads Texas this season with 14 homers and ranks second with 43 RBIs. The Rangers have hit eight homers over the first two games of the series.
Los Angeles' Yasmani Grandal homered early and hit a two-run double in the 10th inning to finish with four RBIs and help the Dodgers beat Arizona 6-4. The Dodgers have won eight of their past nine against Arizona.
Chicago's Kyle Hendricks outpitched New York's Jonathon Niese as the Cubs edged the Mets 1-0 in a match of feeble offenses ending a five-game losing skid.
Hendricks (3-4) struck out six in six scoreless innings while Niese (3-8) was an undeserving loser having given up one run Matt Szczur's double in the sixth over seven innings.
The Mets had won four in a row.
Washington's Jordan Zimmermann held Atlanta scoreless into the eighth inning as the Nationals beat the Braves 6-1 to continue their dominance of their divisional rival. The NL East-leading Nationals have won nine straight games against the Braves including a three-game sweep at Washington last week.
Boston's David Ortiz and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit solo home runs as the Red Sox edged Toronto 4-3 to notch a third straight win.
Cleveland's Danny Salazar conceded only two hits in 7 2/3 innings and the Indians backed him with three home runs to defeat Tampa Bay 6-2.
Miami's Dee Gordon hit the first inside-the-park homer in the four-year history of Marlins Park and the three-run shot helped the hosts defeat San Francisco 5-3.
Seattle rookie Mike Montgomery did not allow a runner on base until the seventh inning and steered the Mariners past San Diego 5-0.
Los Angeles's Andrew Heaney gave up two hits in seven innings to lead the Angels to a 2-1 victory against the New York Yankees Colorado defeated Oakland 2-1 for its first interleague win of the season Milwaukee won at Philadelphia 4-3 and Minnesota beat Cincinnati 8-5.