The Texas Rangers made a major move in their push for the playoffs Saturday, agreeing to a trade with the New York Mets for ace Max Scherzer.

The deal is still pending Scherzer’s approval and there are still financial issues that need to be worked out for the deal to be completed.

The 39-year-old Scherzer is 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 19 starts this season for the disappointing Mets. He has 121 strikeouts in 107 2/3 innings and has allowed an NL-high 23 home runs.

The Rangers, who lead the AL West, have been hit hard by the season-ending injury to former Met Jacob deGrom, their marquee offseason addition. Scherzer would join a rotation led by All-Star Nathan Eovaldi, Andrew Heaney, Jon Gray, Martin Perez and Dane Dunning.

Scherzer said Friday that he expected to have discussions with Mets owner Steve Cohen and the team’s front office before Tuesday’s deadline.

Scherzer is a three-time Cy Young Award winner in the second year of a three-year, $130 million contract he signed with the Mets in November 2021. The contract includes an opt-out after the current season. If he declines to opt out, then he’ll be under contract for 2024 at a salary of $43.3 million.

Anthony Santander drilled a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a 1-0 win over the New York Yankees on Friday night, spoiling Aaron Judge’s return.

After Gerrit Cole and rookie Grayson Rodriguez hooked up in a classic pitcher’s duel, the scoreless game was turned over to the bullpens.

Orioles closer Felix Bautista struck out two in a perfect top of the ninth before Santander sent a 2-0 offering from Tommy Kahnle into the seats in right field with one out in the bottom half for his 18th home run.

The American League-leading Orioles avoided a third straight loss and maintained a 1 ½-game lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the East.

Judge was 0 for 1 with three walks in his first game back from a toe injury. The Yankees slugger had been sidelined since June 3.

Cole limited Baltimore to three hits over seven innings without a walk and five strikeouts.

Rodriguez was just as good, allowing three singles over 6 1/3 innings with two walks and four strikeouts in the best performance of his young career.

DJ LeMahieu had two hits for last-place New York, which lost its fifth consecutive road game.

Tauchman’s catch allows Cubs’ streak to continue

Mike Tauchman robbed pinch-hitter Alec Burleson of a potential winning home run to end the game and the Chicago Cubs topped the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 for their seventh straight win.

With a runner on third and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Burleson sent a deep drive to centre but Tauchman reached over the fence to take away a sure home run and prevent the Cardinals from winning.

Patrick Wisdom hit his team-leading 18th home run and Trey Mancini had a tiebreaking RBI single in the sixth inning for Chicago, which has its longest winning streak since also taking seven in a row last Sept. 25-Oct. 2.

Lars Nootbaar accounted for all of St. Louis’ offence with solo home runs in the first and third innings.

Casas provides spark for surging Red Sox

Triston Casas homered and had and RBI double to back Kutter Crawford as the Boston Red Sox won their fifth straight game, 3-2 over the San Francisco Giants.

Moved up to sixth in the order, Casas doubled home a run in the second inning and took Logan Webb deep in the fifth to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

Crawford allowed one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings while walking one and striking out seven.

The Red Sox improved to 15-5 in July and are a season-best nine games over .500 (56-47).

The New York Yankees activated slugger and reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge from the injured list Friday ahead of the team’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles.

Judge, who set the AL record for home runs last season, has been sidelined since tearing a ligament in his right toe on June 3 while crashing into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium.

Judge faced live pitching for the first time in his rehab on Sunday and progressed to a simulated game Wednesday before rejoining his teammates in New York.

The Yankees, who enter Friday in last place in the AL East at 54-48, went 19-23 during Judge’s stint on the IL. During that span New York scored 3.88 runs per game, ranking 27th in baseball.

The Yankees are 30-19 this season with Judge in the starting lineup and 14-1 when he hits one or more home runs.

Judge is batting .291 with a 1.078 OPS in 49 games this season with 19 home runs and 40 RBI.

After hitting an AL-record 62 home runs last season, Judge signed a nine-year, $360million contract to stay with the Yankees in the offseason.

Since his first full season in the majors in 2017, no one has hit more home runs than Judge’s 235.

New York is eight games back of the Orioles in a competitive AL East and sits 2 ½ games back of a wild card spot.

Shohei Ohtani came through with the best performance of his career on the day the Los Angeles Angels committed to not trading the two-way star in the last year of his contract.  

Ohtani threw his first career shutout in the opening game of a doubleheader Thursday, then followed by hitting two home runs in the nightcap.

Ohtani allowed one hit and struck out eight in the Angels’ 6-0 win over the Detroit Tigers, then extended his MLB lead by hitting his 37th and 38th home runs of the season as Los Angeles won the second game 11-4.

Only muscle cramps could stop Ohtani from doing further damage, and he was pulled from the night game after his second homer.

Ohtani’s latest jaw-dropping performance comes after the Angels doubled down on their attempts to keep baseball’s most exciting player long-term.

On Wednesday, the Angels traded touted prospects Ky Bush and Edgar Quero to the Chicago White Sox for pitchers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo Lopez to help make a push towards the playoffs.

Before Thursday’s doubleheader, general manager Perry Minasian said that the Angels will not deal Ohtani at the trade deadline, despite the risk of losing him for nothing this winter in free agency.

The Angels have won nine of their last 11 games as they seek their first playoff berth since 2014. Ohtani, who joined MLB and the Angels in 2018, has never played in the postseason.

Cubs beat Cardinals after dustup, extend run to 6

Justin Steele tied the major league lead with his 11th win, Cody Bellinger stayed hot with three more hits and the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3 as tempers flared between the division rivals.

The victory extended the Cubs’ winning streak to a season-high six games and got them back to .500 for the first time since May 12.

In the first inning, the Cubs’ Ian Happ hit Cardinals catcher and former teammate Willson Contreras with the follow-through of his swing. St. Louis pitcher Miles Mikolas then hit Happ with a pitch and was ejected, along with Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol.

Steele (11-3) pitched six innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out four.

Bellinger had three singles to improve his batting average in July to .425 and Yan Gomes drove in three runs.

Andrew Knizner hit two home runs for the Cardinals, who have lost four straight against the Cubs.

Josh Naylor leads Guardians past White Sox

Josh Naylor drove in three runs to back Tanner Bibee’s fifth straight win as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the reeling Chicago White Sox, 6-3.

Naylor had a two-run double and scored in a three-run third against Dylan Cease that gave Cleveland a 4-0 lead. He had a strange RBI double in the seventh when reliever Aaron Bummer deflected his soft comebacker into center field, and Andres Gimenez scored on the play.

Bibee allowed three runs and six hits over 6 2/3 innings to improve to 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in his last seven starts.

Jake Burger hit two homers, but the White Sox dropped their sixth in a row.

Shohei Ohtani will wear a Los Angeles Angels uniform through the remainder of the 2023 MLB season.

Angels general manager Perry Minasian told reporters before a doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday that Ohtani won't be traded as the team tries to make a playoff run.

"We're going to roll the dice and see what happens," Minasian said.

The Angels entered Thursday four games out of a wild-card spot after winning six of their last seven games to improve their record to 52-49.

Set to be a free agent at season's end, Ohtani has been the subject of rampant trade rumours as the Angels risk losing the two-way superstar to the open market without any compensation.

"I love Shohei Ohtani," Minasian said. "He comes in, prepares, works, goes out and performs on a nightly basis. Obviously, does both (hitting and pitching). He's a great teammate. He takes this really seriously. He eats it. He sleeps it.

"He's somebody that we would love to have going forward."

Minasian made his comments a day after the Angels acquired right-hander Lucas Giolito from the Chicago White Sox to bolster their starting rotation behind Ohtani.

Giolito was 6-6 with a 3.79 ERA and 131 strikeouts over 121 innings in 21 starts for the White Sox.

Ohtani, the 2021 AL MVP and the runner-up in MVP voting to the New York Yankees' Aaron Judge last season, is the odds-on favourite to take home the MVP Award this year.

As a hitter, he leads the majors in home runs (36) and OPS (1.066), and as a pitcher, he leads MLB in opponent batting average (.195) while his 148 strikeouts are tied with Joe Ryan of the Minnesota Twins for fourth.

With Ohtani in the fold, the addition of Giolito and the possibility of Mike Trout returning in another few weeks from a broken bone in his hand that has sidelined the 11-time All-Star since early July, Los Angeles has its sights set on reaching the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

The Angels' streak of eight consecutive seasons without a playoff berth is tied with the Tigers for the longest active stretch in MLB.

Adolis Garcia capped a seven-run fifth inning with a grand slam and the Texas Rangers scored 13 straight runs in a testy 13-5 rout of the Houston Astros on Wednesday night.

Marcus Semien went 3 for 3 with a two-run homer, Nathaniel Lowe went deep and drove in three runs and Leody Tavares added three RBIs as Texas avoided a sweep and extended its AL West lead over Houston to two games.

Following his slam, Garcia exchanged words with catcher Martin Maldonado. That led to the benches and bullpens emptying, though no punches were thrown in the scrum around home plate.

Both benches were warned in the third inning after Houston’s Framber Valdez hit Semien in the left shoulder with a pitch. Rangers’ starter Andrew Heaney hit Yordan Alvarez on the right shoulder with a pitch in the first inning.

Alex Bregman hit a three-run homer in the first inning and Yainer Diaz had a two-run shot in the ninth for the Astros, who had won three straight and six of seven to tighten the division race.

Texas scored four runs in the fourth to chase starter Framber Valdez, who allowed a season-high six runs and eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Tavares singled home two runs before Semien connected for his 15th home run.

Sam Huff led off the fifth with his first home run of the season and Robbie Grossman tripled and scored on Tavares’ single. After Semien and Ezequiel Duran singled and Lowe’s walk forced in a run, Garcia belted his grand slam to make it 13-3. 

Brewers’ Peralta overpowers Reds

Freddy Peralta tied a career high with 13 strikeouts over six innings and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 in an NL Central matchup.

Peralta scattered four hits without a walk and matched the 13 strikeouts he had in his major league debut at Colorado on May 13, 2018.

Elvis Peguero, Joel Payamps and Devin Williams each worked one inning to complete Milwaukee’s 12th shutout of the season.

Tyrone Taylor hit a two-run homer for the Brewers, who won two of three in the series and opened a 1 ½-game lead over the Reds in the Central.

Red Sox rally past Braves

Justin Turner delivered a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning and the Boston Red Sox rallied for their fourth straight win, 5-3 over the major league-leading Atlanta Braves.

Rafael Devers, Triston Casas and Adam Duvall homered to help Boston overcome a three-run deficit on Ozzie Albies’ three-run shot in the sixth inning.

Devers’ 25th home run got the Red Sox on the board in the bottom of the sixth and Casas’ shot in the seventh made it 3-2. After Conner Wong singled and Yu Chang reached on an error, Turner doubled off the Green Monster to put Boston on top.

J.P. France pitched seven strong innings, Kyle Tucker and Martin Maldonado hit solo home runs and the Houston Astros held off the Texas Rangers for a 4-3 win Tuesday, pulling to within a game of the AL West lead.

France gave up five hits and one unearned run while getting through seven innings in just 84 pitches. The 28-year-old rookie improved to 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA over his last five starts.

The Astros, who won Monday’s series opener 10-9, led 4-1 heading into the ninth inning, but closer Ryan Pressly gave up a two-run homer to Mitch Garver with two outs before recording his 24th save.

Houston has won four straight and improved to 6-3 this season against its in-state rival, and the Rangers now lead the AL West by just one game.

Texas has lost four of its last five games and – after a torrid opening to expectation-filled season – has gone 19-23 since June 7.

Abbott sharp as Reds hold off Brewers

Rookie Andrew Abbott scattered seven hits over six scoreless innings and the Cincinnati Reds withstood a frantic ninth-inning comeback attempt to edge the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3.

Abbott struck out nine and walked one to outduel Corbin Burnes and avenge a pair of losses earlier this month to the Brewers.

Ian Gibault and Lucas Sims each worked one scoreless inning before Daniel Duarte surrendered a walk, a single and Christian Yelich’s opposite-field three-run homer in the ninth to get Milwaukee within 4-3.

Alexis Diaz gave up an infield single to William Contreras and hit Willy Adames in the helmet with a pitch before retiring Andruw Monasterio on a flyout for his 30th save. 

Jonathan India and Joey Votto had RBI singles in the fourth inning and Will Benson provided some needed insurance in the ninth with a two-run homer.

The win moved the Reds within one-half game of the NL Central-leading Brewers.

Mariners score 7 runs late to rally past Twins

Julio Rodriguez’s second home run of the game came in a four-run eighth and helped the Seattle Mariners rally for a 9-7 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Seattle trailed 4-0 after the first inning and 6-2 entering eighth before score four in the eighth and two more in the ninth.

Cal Raleigh doubled home a run and Teoscar Hernandez had a run-scoring groundout before Rodriguez’s two-run shot – his 16th of the season - made it 6-6.

Rookie Cade Marlowe, who hit his first major league homer in the fifth, opened the ninth with a walk, stole second, moved to third on an infield single and scored with Kolten Wong on Eugenio Suarez’s double.

Minnesota began the day with an MLB-best nine wins since the All-Star break but had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Chas McCormick had a career-high six RBIs and Yainer Diaz singled in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Houston Astros cut into the Texas Rangers' American League West lead with a 10-9 victory on Monday.

McCormick's three-run homer off Aroldis Chapman in the seventh inning tied the game at 9-9 and set up Diaz's later heroics as the Astros took the opener of this key three-game series. Houston's fifth win in six games also moved the reigning World Series champions within two games of the Rangers in the division standings.

Texas reliever Alex Speas walked Kyle Tucker and McCormick in the ninth before Diaz lined a one-out single to right field to send the Rangers to their third loss in four games following a 6-0 start after the All-Star break.

Alex Bregman had three hits and scored twice for Houston, while closer Ryan Pressly threw a scoreless top of the ninth to record the win.

Josh Jung had a two-run homer and Josh Smith added a solo shot for Texas. Rangers starter Jon Gray struck out six in five innings, but walked three and allowed a season high-tying six runs. 

Brewers score in ninth to win opener of key series with Reds

Christian Yelich singled in the deciding run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Milwaukee Brewers came through with a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of an important three-game series between the National League Central's top two teams.

Yelich's hit off All-Star closer Alexis Diaz halted Cincinnati's five-game winning streak and extended Milwaukee's lead over the second-place Reds in the division to 1 1/2 games.

It also continued the Brewers' dominance of Cincinnati this season. Milwaukee has now won nine of 11 meetings between the NL Central rivals and is 6-1 against the Reds in July.

Diaz failed to record an out after entering with the game tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, as he walked Blake Perkins on four pitches and surrendered a single to pinch-hitter Jesse Winker before Yelich sent a ground ball through the right side of the infield to score Perkins from second.

The Brewers trailed 2-1 before Sal Frelick took Reds starter Graham Ashcraft's pitch over the right-field wall in the sixth inning for his first major league home run.

Elly De La Cruz accounted for all the Reds' scoring with a two-run homer in the third.

Aschcraft struck out eight while allowing two runs in 5 1/3 innings, while Brewers starter Colin Rea yielded two runs over six innings. 

Orioles edge Phillies to stay hot

Colton Cowser delivered late at the plate and in the field as the Baltimore Orioles edged the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 Monday to earn their 13th win in 16 games.

Cowser, who entered the game in the third inning to replace the injured Aaron Hicks, put the Orioles up in the ninth inning with an RBI double off Philadelphia closer Craig Kimbrel, driving in Gunnar Henderson.

Cowser’s clutch hit came after he collected an outfield assist in the eighth inning with a cutoff throw to shortstop Jorge Mateo, who threw out Bryce Harper at home to keep the game tied 2-2.

Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg hit solo home runs for the Orioles (62-38), who extended their AL East lead over the idle Tampa Bay Rays to 2 1/2 games.

Dean Kremer allowed one run and three hits in seven innings’ work to outduel Philadelphia starter Cristopher Sanchez, who allowed two runs while also pitching seven innings.

The Phillies (53-47) have lost five of six but remain just a half-game back of an NL wild card spot. 

The Baltimore Orioles extended their lead to two games over the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East with a 5-3 victory in Sunday's finale of an important four-game series between the division rivals.

Ryan O'Hearn snapped a 3-3 tie with a solo homer in the sixth inning to back another strong performance by the Baltimore bullpen as the Orioles took three of four from the still-sputtering Rays.

Tampa Bay entered July with a 6 1/2-game lead atop the division but has gone 4-14 thus far for the month. The Orioles, on the other hand, have won 12 of 15 since July 5.

Baltimore sealed its latest win with a combined 4 2/3 scoreless innings from three relievers. Mike Baumann (7-0) did not allow a hit in 2 2/3 innings and All-Star Felix Bautista struck out three in the ninth to record his 28th save. 

Gunnar Henderson had a two-run homer in the second inning for the Orioles and finished 2 for 4 along with O'Hearn.

Yandy Diaz went 2 for 5 for Tampa Bay and tied the contest in the fifth inning with a two-run homer off Orioles starter Tyler Wells.

Rangers overcome early deficit to avoid sweep by Dodgers

The Texas Rangers rallied from an early four-run deficit to hand the Los Angeles Dodgers an 8-4 loss in the finale of a three-game interleague series between division leaders.

After Max Muncy's first-inning grand slam put Texas in a 4-0 hole, the Rangers blasted rookie Emmett Sheahan for eight runs over 3 2/3 innings to bounce back from two lopsided losses at the hands of the National League West leaders.

Jonah Heim cut the deficit in half with a two-run double in the bottom of the first before Marcus Semien, Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Jung each delivered RBI singles off Sheahan in the second to put Texas up 5-4.

Leody Tavares added a two-run double in the third to stretch the lead, while Martin Perez overcame a shaky start to last six innings and improve to 8-3 on the season.

The Dodgers scored 27 runs in winning the series' first two games and kept the offence going when Muncy blasted his 24th homer of the season to stake Los Angeles to a quick 4-0 lead.

Perez settled down thereafter and held the Dodgers to just three hits and a walk over the next five innings. 

The win put the AL West-leading Rangers at 59-41, tying the franchise's best record after 100 games in a season set three times previously, most recently in 2012. 

Albies' late home run lifts Braves over Brewers

In another clash of division leaders, Ozzie Albies' clutch three-run homer in the eighth inning staked the Atlanta Braves to a 4-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Down 2-1 entering the eighth, the Braves put two on against a usually dominant Milwaukee bullpen before Albies homered on the first pitch he saw from Elvis Peguero. The All-Star second baseman's 23rd homer of the season snapped a streak of 28 2/3 scoreless innings by Brewers relievers.

After Ben Heller worked a scoreless bottom of the eighth, Raisel Iglesias struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth as the NL East-leading Braves took two of three games from the NL Central-best Brewers.

Travis d'Arnaud added a solo homer and finished 2 for 4 for Atlanta, though star third baseman Austin Riley went 0 for 4 and had a streak of five consecutive games with a home run end.

Brice Turang had a solo home run for Milwaukee, which had its lead in the NL Central cut to a half-game over second-place Cincinnati after the Reds defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-3, on Sunday. The Brewers will host a three-game series against Cincinnati starting Monday.

Former Brave Julio Teheran allowed one run and just three hits over six innings for Milwaukee, while Atlanta starter Bryce Elder yielded two runs on four hits over six innings. 

Sal Frelick had a very memorable debut in the major leagues.

The Brewers rookie had three hits, the game-winning sacrifice fly and made two spectacular catches to lift Milwaukee to a 4-3 win over the major league-leading Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Selected with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 amateur draft, Frelick was called up from Triple-A Nashville before the game and started in right field batting sixth.

He had an infield single in the second inning for his first major league hit in his first career plate appearance, singled and scored in the fifth and singled home a run an inning later to tie the game. His hard liner to right in the eighth scored Willy Adames and snapped a 3-3 tie.

Devin Williams loaded the bases in the ninth but struck out Ozzie Albies to end it.

Frelick showed off his defence in the sixth inning to keep the Brewers down 3-2.

He made a leaping catch of Marcell Ozuna’s shot near the top of the right-field wall and one out later raced into the right-center field gap, jumped and banged against the wall to snare a drive from Orlando Arcia.

Austin Riley’s three-run homer in the third inning opened the scoring and gave him home runs in five straight games. He is 10 for 21 with six home runs and 16 RBIs during that span.

Orioles recover to beat Rays

Ryan O’Hearn came through with a pinch-hit RBI single in the ninth inning and the Baltimore Orioles recovered after blowing a five-run lead to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-5 in matchup of the American League’s top teams.

Baltimore has won two of the first three games in the four-game set to move one game ahead of Tampa Bay in the AL East.

Rays ace Shane McLanahan was bidding to become the majors’ first 12-game winner but was reached for a season-high five runs in four innings.

The Rays dropped to an AL-worst 4-13 in July.

Freeman hits two home runs as Rangers win easy

Freddie Freeman hit two of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ five homers and the NL West leaders rolled to a 16-3 rout of the Texas Rangers.

Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez also went deep as the Dodgers matched season highs with five homers and 18 hits in their 10th win in 12 games.

Freeman became the first Dodgers player with 20 home runs and 35 doubles before August. He is 12 for 21 with three home runs, three doubles and seven RBIs in his past five games.

Rangers slugger Adolis Garcia was hit on the right hand by a pitch in the fourth inning. He initially stayed in the game but was lifted for a pinch-runner and inning later.

The Texas Rangers will be without Corey Seager through at least the end of the month after placing the All-Star shortstop on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a sprained right thumb.

The team hopes it won't be a lengthy stint on the IL after an MRI revealed no structural damage.

“They said probably a week or so with just inflammation in general,” Seager said. “And then kind of pain tolerance from there. So I’m not overly worried about it.”

Seager sustained the injury in Friday's 11-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers when he jammed his hand in an awkward head-first slide to beat out a double in the eighth inning. X-rays after the game were negative.

Friday's loss snapped a six-game winning streak for the Rangers, who own a three-game lead over the second-place Houston Astros atop the AL West.

This is Seager's second trip to the IL this season after missing 31 games from mid-April to mid-May with a left hamstring strain.

Seager is hitting .350, which would be good enough to lead the American League in batting, but he doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify because of his earlier trip to the IL.

Prior to exiting Friday's game, Seager hit his 15th homer of the season and team-leading 29th double - tied for third most in the majors.

Seager, who was selected to his fourth All-Star game earlier this year, is in the second season of a $325million, 10-year deal with the Rangers.

Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs and J.D. Martinez added three RBIs to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 11-5 win, ending the Texas Rangers’ six-game winning streak in a matchup of division leaders on Friday night.

Freeman, Will Smith and Martinez each had two hits and the NL West-leading Dodgers won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Los Angeles erased a 5-4 deficit by scoring seven runs over the final three innings, using three walks – one intentional to Freeman - a single and a wild pitch to push across two in the seventh.

Smith delivered a two-run double and Martinez singled home another run in the eighth, and Mookie Betts doubled home a pair in the ninth.

Rangers All-Star shortstop Corey Seager hit his 15th home run in the sixth inning against his former team to give Texas a 5-4 lead but left in the eighth after spraining his right thumb on a headfirst slide on a double.

Nathaniel Lowe also went deep for West-leading Texas, which had been the only team without a loss since the All-Star break.

Ohtani allows four home runs in win

Shohei Ohtani allowed four home runs for the first time in his career, but the Los Angeles Angels hit four homers of their own in their fourth straight win, 8-5 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pirates rookie Henry Davis became the first player to take Ohtani deep twice and Jack Suwinski and Ji Man Choi also homered, but the Japanese superstar struck out nine and pitched into the seventh inning to rebound from losses in consecutive starts.

The Angles scored five times in the fourth and tacked on two more in the fifth.   

After Ohtani led off the fourth with a walk, Mikey Moniak doubled and Taylor Ward walked in front of Mike Moustakas’ three-run homer. Two outs later, rookie Trey Cabbage connected for his first career home run.

Zach Neto and Ward homered in the fifth to extend the Angels’ lead to 8-4.

Tucker hits three home runs in Astros’ win

Kyle Tucker hit three home runs for the first time in his career and Alex Bregman also went deep to lead the Houston Astros to a 6-4 win over the Oakland Athletics.

Tucker homered off starter JP Sears in the first inning, hit a two-run shot off Sears in the fifth and had a solo blast off Tayler Scott in the seventh for his 17th of the season.

Framber Valdez allowed four runs and six hits over five innings to beat lowly Oakland for the third time this season.

The Astros have won nine straight meetings with the A’s.

The Baltimore Orioles edged the slumping Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in 10 innings on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series between the American League’s top teams.

Rookie Colton Cowser delivered a sacrifice fly in the 10th and Felix Bautista pitched two hitless innings with three strikeouts, getting a game-ending double play as Baltimore won for the 10th time in 12 games.

Baltimore, which started July 6 ½ games back in the AL East, now has a one-game lead.

Orioles second baseman Ramon Urias kept the game tied at 3 in the eighth when he made a diving stop on pinch-hitter Harold Ramirez’s sharp grounder with two on and two outs.

Adley Rutschman singled home a run and later scored on Ryan O’Hearn’s sacrifice fly during a three-run fourth against Tyler Glasnow, who struck out nine in seven innings.

The Rays dropped to 3-12 in July, tied with the Pittsburgh Pirates for the majors’ worst record.

Kyle Gibson allowed three runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts over six-plus innings.

Braves rally past Diamondbacks to end four-game skid 

Austin Riley delivered a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Atlanta Braves halted a four-game losing streak by rallying for a 7-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

Matt Olson added two home runs to add to his National League-leading total and also had three RBIs to help Atlanta prevent the Diamondbacks from sweeping the three-game series. 

With the Braves down 5-3 in the eighth, Michael Harris doubled off reliever Miguel Castro and Ozzie Albies drew a two-out walk to set up Riley’s blast – his third straight game with a home run. 

Olson followed with his 32nd homer of the season to extend the lead to 7-5, and Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth to record his 17th save. 

Dominic Canzone’s first major league homer – a three-run blast off Braves All-Star Spencer Strider in the seventh – erased a 1-0 Arizona deficit, and Emmanuel Rivera followed with a solo shot that put the Diamondbacks up 4-1 until Olson’s two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.  

Strider recorded 13 strikeouts while allowing four runs in six-plus innings, while All-Star counterpart Zac Gallen yielded three runs on five hits over seven innings.  

Cardinals beat Cubs for 6th straight win

Jordan Walker and Paul DeJong each hit a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Chicago Cubs 7-2 for their sixth consecutive win.

Tyler O’Neill opened the fourth inning with a double against Marcus Stroman and Walker followed with his ninth home run to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead. After Lars Nootbaar and Paul Goldschmidt singled, Nolan Arenado doubled both home one out later.

Steven Matz limited Chicago to one run and three hits over five innings while striking out six.

Yan Gomes had two triples and a single for three of the Cubs’ six hits.

Jarred Kelenic lost his cool and took out his frustration on a cooler.

And now it’s going to cost him.

The Seattle Mariners placed Kelenic on the injured list Thursday with a fractured left foot – an injury he sustained after kicking a water cooler following a ninth-inning strikeout the night before.

Mariners manager Scott Servais didn’t have a timetable for how long the centre fielder will be sidelined, but it’s possible he could be shelved for several weeks for a Mariners team that entered play Thursday 5 1/2 games out of the AL's second wild-card spot.

The team doesn’t believe he’ll need surgery.

An apologetic Kelenic arrived at the ballpark Thursday in a walking boot and was remorseful for his outburst.

“I let the emotions get the best of me there. I just feel terrible, especially for the guys,” Kelenic said through tears. “I just let the emotions get the best of me and I just let them down and take full responsibility for it. It’s on me. It just can’t happen.”

Kelenic was injured Wednesday in the Mariners’ 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins. With nobody out and two runners on and his team trailing by three in the ninth, Kelenic struck out on a nine-pitch at-bat against closer Jhoan Duran.

Upon returning to the dugout, an upset Kelenic took out his frustration by kicking a cooler.

An X-ray revealed the fracture.

Selected sixth overall in the 2018 MLB Draft, Kelenic is in his third season in the majors – all with the Mariners – and batting .252 with 11 homers, a team-leading 24 doubles and 45 RBIs in 90 games.

He got off to a fast start to the season, hitting seven home runs in his first 21 games, but has been stuck on 11 homers since June 9.

In the 31 games since his last home run, he’s batting just .216 with 41 strikeouts.

Jonah Heim and Leody Tavares hit home runs as the Texas Rangers extended their winning streak to six games with Wednesday’s 5-1 victory over the slumping Tampa Bay Rays.

The American League West-leading Rangers completed a sweep of the three-game series and remained unbeaten since the All-Star break, while the reeling Rays dropped percentage points behind the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East lead with their fourth consecutive loss.

Tampa Bay entered July with the majors’ best record at 57-28 but has gone 3-11 for the month.

Tavares opened the scoring with a solo homer off Zach Littell in the third inning and added an RBI single in the seventh to stretch Texas’ lead to 2-0. Heim put the game out of reach an inning later with a three-run blast for his 14th homer of the season.

Rangers starter Jon Gray threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings before exiting with a bruised left shin, caused by a comebacker off the bat of All-Star Yandy Diaz. Brock Burke relieved Gray and tossed two shutout innings to receive the win.

Jose Siri finished 2 for 4 for Tampa Bay and accounted for the Rays’ lone run with a solo homer in the ninth.

Orioles avoid sweep from Dodgers, take AL East lead

The Baltimore Orioles inched ahead of the Rays in the AL East race ahead of Thursday’s visit to Tampa Bay by coming through with an 8-5 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers that prevented the National League West leaders from sweeping the three-game series.

Ramon Urias drove in three runs on a pair of doubles and Gunnar Henderson had a solo homer while scoring three times as Baltimore roughed up Dodgers starter Julio Urias and bounced back from a 10-3 loss on Tuesday.

Urias was tagged for a season-high eight runs on eight hits in five innings.

The Orioles also got two hits and an RBI from both Aaron Hicks and Jordan Westburg to gain some momentum entering a pivotal four-game series with the Rays that pits the teams with the AL’s two best records.

Max Muncy had a two-run homer for Los Angeles, his 22nd of the season, while Josh Outman added a solo shot in just the Dodgers’ second loss in 10 games.

Reds snap skid, cool Giants

Will Benson’s three-run homer propelled the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-2 win and ended the San Francisco Giants’ seven-game winning streak.

Graham Ashcraft pitched six-plus innings and Ian Gibault and Lucas Sims each worked one inning before Alexis Diaz struck out two in the ninth for his 27th save in 28 chances.

The Reds halted a season high-tying six-game skid despite being held to four hits.

Blake Sabol homered for the Giants, who dropped into a second-place tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.