HOUSTON — Justin Verlander pitched a two-hitter and lost, allowing homers to John Hicks and Ronny Rodriguez as the Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Hicks led off the ninth with a tiebreaking blast to left-center field off Verlander (15-5), who leads the majors in strikeouts with 239 but ranks second in homers allowed with 33.

The veteran right-hander retired the first 14 batters, with six strikeouts, before Rodriguez homered to the seats in right with two outs in the fifth. Verlander sat down another 10 straight before Hicks connected.

Houston had just four hits before Robinson Chirinos belted his 14th homer to left-center on Tyler Alexander’s first pitch of the seventh to tie it at 1.

RAYS 7, MARINERS

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Kevin Kiermaier drove in four runs, including a solo homer during a two-run ninth inning, and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided a three-game sweep by beating the Seattle Mariners 7-6 on Wednesday.

Kiermaier tied it at 6-6 on a leadoff homer against Matt Magill (3-1). The Rays then loaded the bases on Willy Adames’ single, a double by Mike Brosseau and an intentional walk to pinch-hitter Ji-Man Choi with no outs before Magill’s wild pitch with Tommy Pham batting allowed Adames to score the winning run.

Daniel Vogelbach had a solo homer and Mallex Smith added a two-run triple off Emilio Pagan (3-2) as the Mariners went up 6-5 in the top of the ninth.

Tampa Bay ace Charlie Morton was bidding for his 14th win but struggled in a five-inning, 99-pitch start, giving up three runs, four hits, two walks and striking out three.

WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 0

MINNEAPOLIS — Lucas Giolito pitched a three-hit shutout of the second-highest scoring team in the major leagues, racking up 12 strikeouts as Chicago took the series from AL Central-leading Minnesota.

Giolito (14-6) allowed only runner past first base, a double by Jonathan Schoop in the eighth. The 25-year-old fanned Jake Cave to finish that inning and reach double-digit strikeouts for the third straight time, the first White Sox starter to do so since Chris Sale did so in eight consecutive turns in 2015.

Giolito matched Cleveland’s Shane Bieber for the major league lead with his third complete game of the season. The White Sox and Indians have a baseball-best five apiece. Giolito got his with 115 pitches, without a walk.

JosÈ Abreu went 3 for 5 with two RBIs for the White Sox, with Leury Garcia and Tim Anderson each producing two hits. The trio scored all four runs against Twins starter Jake Odorizzi (13-6).

BRAVES 5, MARLINS 0

ATLANTA — Adeiny Hechavarrea and Ronald Acuea Jr. each hit a two-run homer, Julio Teheran struck out a season-high nine and Atlanta beat Miami.

The Braves are 14-4 against Miami this year after winning the 2018 season series between the NL East rivals 14-5.

Teheran (8-8) combined with Sean Newcomb and Josh Tomlin for a seven-hitter. The right-hander allowed five hits in seven innings.

AcuÃ’a’s shot off Caleb Smith (8-7) in the fifth cleared the center field wall. His team-leading 36th homer came one night after he was hit by Elieser Hernandez’s first pitch, leading to the ejection of Braves manager Brian Snitker.

NATIONALS 11, PIRATES 1

PITTSBURGH — Patrick Corbin pitched eight scoreless innings to remain unbeaten in more than two months, and Asdrebal Cabrera’s three-run home run capped a six-run third as Washington rolled past Pittsburgh.

Corbin (10-5) struck out four and walked two while throwing 93 pitches to help the Nationals maintain their lead atop the NL wild-card standings.

Joe Musgrove (8-12) gave up six runs and seven hits in five innings as Pittsburgh lost for the 29th time in 37 games since the All-Star break.

ORIOLES 8, ROYALS 1

BALTIMORE — Baltimore tied a major league record by allowing its 258th home run this season but hit four of its own to beat Kansas City.

Anthony Santander and Renato Nunez hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning for the Orioles, who won their first series since July 25-27 at the Los Angeles Angels. Jonathan Villar and Hanser Alberto also went deep.

Whit Merrifield’s homer was the record-tying blast against Baltimore. The Orioles have 35 games to surpass the 2016 Cincinnati Reds for the most homers allowed in a season.

Aaron Brooks (3-7) picked up his first win in eight starts with the Orioles since being claimed on waivers from Oakland on July 6.

Villar put the Orioles ahead with a two-run shot off Mike Montgomery (3-6).

REDS 4, PADRES 2

CINCINNATI– Luis Castillo shook off his worst career start to pitch six solid innings and Jose Iglesias hit a solo home run to pace the Reds.

Castillo (12-5), who allowed nine hits and eight runs on Friday against St. Louis, bounced back to limit San Diego to five hits and one run with four strikeouts.

The Reds sent nine batters to the plate while scoring three runs in a third inning, started by Eric Yardley (0-1), who got the loss in his major league debut.

Nick Senzel led off with a line drive that left fielder Josh Naylor misplayed for a two-base error and scored one out later on Eugenio Su·rez’s single.

Iglesias lofted his ninth homer of the season into the seats down the left-field line with one out in the fourth inning for a 4-1 lead.

Cincinnati’s Michael Lorenzen had two strikeouts in a perfect eighth. Raisel Iglesias had two strikeouts in the ninth on the way to his 26th save.

ROCKIES 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2

PHOENIX — Tim Melville pitched seven innings of two-hit ball in his first major league appearance in almost two years, and Colorado cruised past Arizona.

Melville (1-0), a 29-year-old right-hander with just six previous big-league appearances who started this season in independent ball, limited Arizona to a first-inning double and a sixth-inning home run to go with four strikeouts and two walks.

He also picked up his first major-league hit — a two-out, fourth-inning single — and his first two career RBIs.

Ketel Marte and Alex Avila homered for the Diamondbacks, who had their four-game win streak snapped.

The Rockies jumped on struggling Arizona starter Mike Leake (9-10) early with two runs on three straight singles and a fielder’s choice in the top of the first.