Editor’s note: Friday night’s Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati game ended after deadline due to a weather delay.
HOUSTON — Charlie Morton pitched seven solid innings, Tony Kemp had a tiebreaking RBI double in the seventh and the Houston Astros beat the Cleveland Indians 4-1 Friday night for their third straight win.
Morton (6-0) allowed one run and four hits with eight strikeouts in extending his career-high winning streak to nine straight dating back to last September. Morton retired 19 of the first 21 batters.
After Cleveland starter Mike Clevinger (3-1) walked Marwin Gonzalez and Derek Fisher to lead off the seventh, Brian McCann popped out before Kemp hit his RBI ground-rule double down the right-field line to give Houston a 2-1 lead. George Springer followed with a grounder to Kipnis, but Fisher beat the throw home.
Evan Gattis added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.
Springer gave the Astros a 1-0 lead with a solo home run to left in the third.
Edwin Encarnacion tied it 1-1 in the seventh with a solo home run to right. The Indians have lost three of their last four.
Chris Devenski pitched the eighth, inducing a popup by Yonder Alonso to strand the bases loaded. Ken Giles pitched the ninth for his seventh save.
Clevinger allowed three runs, eight hits and four walks with six strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Clevinger has allowed fewer than three runs in each of his last four starts.
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