Diamondbacks: Pavin Smith homered in first three at-bats for his first multi-home run game and drove in a career-high eight runs, helping the Diamondbacks rout the Astros 12-6 on Sunday night in Houston to end a three-game losing streak. Smith became the second Diamondback with a three-homer game this season, with Eugenio Suárez doing it against the Nationals on July 30. J.D. Martinez set the Diamondbacks record with four home runs against the Dodgers on Sept. 4, 2017. “It was a great day for Pavin,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “Pavin can hit. We always feel comfortable with his at-bats, his ability to come in the lineup after not playing for a couple of days and be able to barrel up the baseball.” Smith fell an RBI shy of the Diamondbacks record set by Erubiel Durazo in 2002. Chris Iannetta also had eight RBIs for the Diamondbacks in a 2017 game. Smith’s previous high was six. The Diamondbacks — who scored at least 10 runs for a majors-best 18th time — pulled within a half-game of the Padres for the National League’s first wild card and increased their lead over Mets and Braves to 1 1/2 games. The Mets and Braves both were set to play Monday night in games that ended too late for this edition. The Astros lead the Mariners by 4 1/2 games in the AL West. Smith’s first home run of the night followed back-to-back singles to start the second inning and struck the foul pole in right. Arizona had increased the lead to 4-0 when Smith came up with the bases loaded in the third and sent a 2-2 fastball from three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander (3-6) into the Crawford Boxes for the third career grand slam. “Just one of those nights where you’re in a zone,” Smith said. “Obviously, Justin’s a great pitcher. I faced him before, and he’s got great stuff, so once I was able to put a good swing the first at-bat it gave me confidence the rest of the game.” With Verlander out of the game, Smith answered Alex Bregman’s fourth- inning, two-run home run by starting the fifth with his seventh homer of the season, a solo shot off Kaleb Ort that left the bat at 112.1 mph. Smith struck out and walked in his final two plate appearances.

Yankees: DJ LeMahieu was placed on the 10-day IL because of a lingering hip issue, and manager Aaron Boone said the struggling infielder may not return this season. In a corresponding move, the Yankees recalled top prosect Jasson Domínguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The 21-year-old had just nine MLB games under his belt entering Monday.

Mets: Ed Kranepool, the longest-tenured player in Mets history and a member of the Miracle Mets when they won the 1969 World Series, died Sunday after experiencing cardiac arrest in Florida. He was 79. A native of New York, the 1B/OF spent 18 seasons with the Mets, hitting .261 over 1,853 regular-season games. He was an All-Star in 1965. Kranepool was inducted into the team’s hall of fame in 1990.