Baseball-Highlights of Thursday's MLB games

July 24 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's Major League Baseball Games - - Yankees 4, Rangers 2 Brandon McCarthy pitched six innings and the New York Yankees held on for a 4-2 victory over the Texas Rangers. Third baseman Chase Headley had an RBI single, catcher Francisco Cervelli had a run-scoring double and left fielder Brett Gardner lifted a sacrifice fly for the Yankees (53-48). First baseman Brian McCann added an insurance run in the eighth with an RBI double. - - A's 13, Astros 1 First baseman Brandon Moss hit his third grand slam of the season while right-hander Jeff Samardzija threw eight strong innings as the Oakland A's routed the Houston Astros 13-1. Samardzija (2-1) allowed one run and five hits in eight innings, striking out six and walking none. The A's led 4-1 entering the bottom of the sixth inning when Moss made it 8-1 with the grand slam. Right fielder Josh Reddick went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI for the A's while catcher Derek Norris and shortstop Jed Lowrie both had three hits in the A's 14-hit attack. - - Phillies 2, Giants 1 Cole Hamels pitched the Philadelphia Phillies to a 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants as he struck out 10 in eight innings and gave up just one run. Philadelphia took advantage of two San Francisco blunders to score two unearned runs. - - Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 0 Marcus Stroman allowed one hit in seven innings and Juan Francisco homered and drove in four runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Boston Red Sox 8-0. Stroman (6-2) did not allow a hit until Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino led off the seventh with a soft single to center. The rookie right-hander struck out seven and allowed two walks while Francisco, the Blue Jays first baseman, hit a triple and scored a run in the second inning, hit a two-run homer in the third and had a two-run single in the fifth. - - (Compiled by Ben Everill)