JV’s 200th win puts Astros back alone in 1st

The 200th win of Justin Verlander’s tremendous career secured a much-needed 9-4 win for the Astros over the A’s on Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum. Yuli Gurriel drilled the first of five Houston homers, after Verlander gave up solo homers to Matt Chapman and Khris Davis in the first. Davis hit a two-run homer in the third to tie the game. The Astros took the lead on an Evan Gattis homer in the fourth and went ahead in the fifth when Martin Maldonado tripled and scored. Maldonado and Alex Bregman homered in the seventh, leaving Maldonado a single shy of the cycle.