Martin Maldonado finished a single shy of hitting for the cycle, and the Houston Astros slugged five home runs to salvage the finale of their showdown series with the Oakland Athletics with a 9-4 victory on Sunday in Oakland, Calif.
The Astros moved back ahead of Oakland by one game in the American League West after the Athletics pulled even by claiming the opening two games of the three-game weekend set.
Houston rallied from an early two-run deficit with a four-run third inning. After Oakland pulled even in the bottom of the third, the Astros flipped the power switch again in the top of the fourth inning. Right-hander Justin Verlander (12-8) was the beneficiary of the power surge, recording his 200th career victory in the process. Verlander allowed three home runs, two to Athletics designated hitter Khris Davis, and didn’t survive the sixth inning, but the run support he received was ample.
Davis provided the Athletics a 2-0 lead in the first with his 35th home run following a solo shot to dead centre field from third baseman Matt Chapman, his 17th. Davis added his 36th home run in the fourth, a two-run shot that plated Nick Martini and erased the Astros’ 4-2 lead.
Houston, however, did not relent and chased Oakland starter Sean Manaea (11-9) when the first three batters reached to open the fifth. Maldonado tripled and scored when George Springer roped a single that deflected off Chapman and into shallow left field for a 6-4 lead.
Maldonado, Alex Bregman and Marwin Gonzalez hit homers off Oakland right-hander Emilio Pagan in the seventh. Bregman matched Evan Gattis, who homered in the fourth off Manaea, for the team lead with his 24th dinger. Maldonado clubbed his seventh homer to complement his third career triple, and Gonzalez went deep for the 11th time.
Maldonado sparked the four-run rally in the third with a two-out double, and he scored when Bregman followed a single by Springer with a run-scoring single. Yuli Gurriel then added a 404-foot, three-run homer to left field that set the tone for the Astros’ success against Manaea. It was Gurriel’s eighth homer.
Manaea allowed six runs on nine hits with five strikeouts over four innings. Verlander surrendered four runs on seven hits and one walk with six strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings.

Rosario paces Mets past Phillies, 8-2
Amed Rosario had three RBIs on Sunday night, including a two-run single that capped a four-run second inning and catapulted the New York Mets to an 8-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the Little League Classic at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pa. Winning the annual game at the site of the Little League World Series gave the Mets a series win in an unusual five-game set between the teams, who played the first four games at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park. New York set a flurry of franchise records in winning the first game of a doubleheader, 24-4, on Thursday before ace Jacob deGrom threw the team’s first complete game of the season in a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
The Mets have won eight of 12. The Phillies, who have lost six of 10, missed a chance to move ahead of the Atlanta Braves into first place in the National League East.
   The Mets opened the second inning with four consecutive singles against Nick Pivetta (7-10).
Todd Frazier, who won the Little League World Series as a member of the Toms River, N.J., team 20 years ago, led off with a hit, went to third on Austin Jackson’s single and scored on Jose Bautista’s single. Jackson raced home on Kevin Plawecki’s hit.
After pitcher Jason Vargas bunted, Rosario laced his two-run single. Jeff McNeil hit a two-run single in the fourth before Rosario added another RBI single in the sixth. Dominic Smith, serving as the Mets’ 26th man, had New York’s lone extra-base hit, a pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth.