Devon Travis throws over Alex Bregman to complete a double play in the sixth inning at Minute Maid Park on August 4, 2016 in Houston, Texas.Bob Levey/Getty Images
J.A. Happ won his ninth consecutive decision, Edwin Encarnacion reached 30 home runs for the fifth straight season and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros 4-1 on Thursday night for their eighth victory in 11 games.
Happ (15-3), who already has set his career high for wins, retired 12 of his first 13 batters and allowed one run and four hits in six innings. He is 9-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 10 starts since losing at Detroit on June 6.
Happ struck out six and walked none, and Joaquin Benoit, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna completed the five-hitter. After walking rookie Alex Bregman leading off the ninth, Osuna struck out Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis for his 24th save in 26 chances.
After being given a day off Wednesday, Bregman was 1 for 4 with a sixth-inning single. The second overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft, is hitting .056 (2 for 36) since he was brought up July 25.
Houston pitchers struck out a major league-record 61 in the four-game series, three more than the previous mark set by Cincinnati pitchers against San Diego in 2008. Astros pitchers set a record with 52 strikeouts in a three-game series against Baltimore from May 24-26.
Mike Fiers (7-5) gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings, walking none and tying his second high with seven strikeouts.
Devon Travis doubled lead off the first inning for the first of his three hits and scored on Josh Donaldson's groundout — the first run in the series that did not score on a solo home run. On the previous pitch, Smoak took an 0-2 curveball on the low, outside corner and stepped toward the dugout thinking it was strike three, only to have plate umpire Todd Tichenor call the pitch a ball.
Toronto doubled the lead in the fifth when Justin Smoak swung over a curveball in the dirt for strike three and the ball hit off Gattis and bounced away for a wild pitch that allowed Russell Martin to score from third.
Tyler White hit a run-scoring double in the bottom half for his first RBI since June 10.
Travis singled in a run against Will Harris in the eighth, and Encarnacion connected against James Hoyt in the ninth for his 298th home run.