MINNEAPOLIS — Jake Odorizzi pitched seven solid innings to outduel Justin Verlander, Ehire Adrianza homered off Houston’s ace and the Minnesota Twins beat the Astros 1-0 on Monday night.
Odorizzi (3-2) gave up four hits while beating Houston for the second time in two starts. He walked one and struck out seven, and Minnesota won for the eighth time in 10 games. Blake Parker recorded his sixth save.
Adrianza’s first homer of the season led off the third. He hit a towering, deep shot to the plaza in right field on a full count against Verlander (4-1), who allowed two hits, walked two and struck out seven over six innings.
Coming off a dominant sweep of Baltimore, the Twins faced Houston for the second time in a week. They also saw Verlander in the previous series, when he gave up one run and needed just 98 pitches to get through eight innings.
This time around, the Twins made Verlander work, and he was out after 100 pitches.
The Astros were more aggressive against Odorizzi, who had 52 pitches through five innings. Josh Reddick led off the second with a single before Odorizzi set down 13 straight.
Odorizzi had shown flashes of dominance this season but had ultimately run into trouble. He struck out 11 and gave up one run in six innings in his season debut. He followed with a short outing at Philadelphia in which he couldn’t get out of the first inning.
In his next start, Odorizzi had a no-hitter into the fifth inning before losing his control, walking three batters to end his night in an eventual loss.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
BRAVES 3, PADRES 1: Ozzie Albies homered and drove in two runs, Mike Soroka gave up one run in six innings and Atlanta beat visiting San Diego.
Soroka (2-1) allowed four hits, struck out a career-high eight and walked one. The 21-year-old right-hander lowered his ERA to 1.62.
Soroka threw only 81 pitches before he was lifted for pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson with the bases loaded in the sixth. Culberson lined out to left.
CARDINALS 6, NATIONALS 3: Harrison Bader homered to spark a six-run fifth inning as visiting St. Louis Cardinals rallied past Patrick Corbin and Washington.
Marcell Ozuna put the Cardinals ahead 4-3 with a two-run single. Jose Martinez had an RBI double and Yadier Molina added a run-scoring single off Corbin, who took a 3-0 lead into the fifth.
Michael Wacha (2-0) went five innings after being activated from the 10-day injured list earlier in the day. The right-hander allowed three runs and four hits , striking out five.
Jordan Hicks pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his ninth save.
BREWERS 5, ROCKIES 1: Struggling slugger Jesus Aguilar hit his first two homers of the season and Milwaukee beat visiting Colorado with NL MVP Christian Yelich sidelined by lower back soreness.
REDS 5, METS 4: Jesse Winker homered off All-Star closer Edwin Diaz with two outs in the ninth inning, and Cincinnati won at New York after wasting a four-run lead.
Left-handed batters had been 0 for 15 this year against Diaz (0-1) before Winker drove a fastball over the right-center field fence for his career-high eighth home run, the most by a Reds player this season. Winker was hitting cleanup for the first time this year.
Diaz was pitching for the third straight day for the first time this season.
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