Shohei Ohtani just missed another home run, but his Los Angeles Angels teammates still provided plenty of power.
The surging Angels hit three solo homers to back a solid start from Chase Silseth en route to a 4-1 win over the major league-leading Atlanta Braves in Monday's opener of a three-game series.
Luis Rengifo homered to lead off the game, while newly acquired Randal Grichuk and Chad Wallach went deep later to help the Angels to their 10th win in 13 games. That hot stretch has moved the Angels within three games of the American League's final wild card spot.
Grichuk was obtained Sunday from the Colorado Rockies along with first baseman C.J. Cron, who had an RBI single in his first game following the trade.
Ohtani finished 2 for 3 and nearly had his 40th home run of the season in the ninth inning, when his drive to deep center field was snared by a leaping Michael Harris II to rob the 2021 AL MVP.
Silseth yielded just three hits, including a solo homer from Matt Olson, over five innings to win his second straight start. Olson's blast was his National League-leading 36th of the season and 200th of the campaign for Atlanta, which tops the majors in that category.
The Braves entered the series having scored 29 runs in a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend. Olson had two of Atlanta's four hits on the night.
Orioles hold off Blue Jays to maintain lead atop AL East
Ryan Mountcastle drove in three runs and Austin Hays made a game-saving catch in the ninth inning as the Baltimore Orioles held on for a 4-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Hays' diving grab of Whit Merrifield's line drive into the left-center field gap with two on and one out in the ninth helped the Orioles take the opener of this four-game series and maintain their 1 1/2-game lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East. The Rays recorded a 5-1 win over the New York Yankees on Monday.
Mountcastle gave Baltimore an early lead with a two-run double off Toronto starter Chris Bassitt in the first inning, then later extended the margin to 4-0 with a sacrifice fly in the third.
Kyle Gibson made the lead stand by holding the Blue Jays to one run on four hits over six innings to earn his 10th win of the season.
Gunnar Henderson had a solo homer earlier in the third to help the Orioles to their sixth win in nine games. The Orioles are now 6-1 against the Blue Jays this season and 4-0 in Toronto.
Bo Bichette, the AL's leading hitter at .321, went 2 for 2 for Toronto before exiting the game in the third inning with right knee soreness.
Bassitt had a streak of eight consecutive starts without a loss end after he was charged with four runs over six innings.
Phillies' Walker beats Marlins for MLB-best 12th win
Taijuan Walker threw 6 2/3 effective innings to become the first 12-game winner in the major leagues this season in the Philadelphia Phillies' 4-2 victory over the Miami Marlins.
Walker allowed two runs on six hits and struck out four to help the Phillies win the opener of this key four-game series between NL playoff contenders. Philadelphia moved a half-game ahead of the Marlins, Milwaukee and Arizona for the league's second of three wild-card spots.
The Phillies also closed within a half-game of San Francisco for the NL's top wild card after the Giants lost to the Diamondbacks, 4-3, in 11 innings.
Miami had taken a quick 2-0 lead on Jorge Soler's two-run homer in the bottom of the first inning, but the Phillies tied it in the fourth on Johan Rojas' two-run double before moving ahead in the seventh.
Kyle Schwarber drew a leadoff walk against reliever Tanner Scott in the seventh, took third on Alec Bohm's double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Bryson Stott.
Bohm extended the lead in the eighth with a single that plated Rojas.
Soler had two hits and Luis Arraez went 3 for 4 with a run scored for slumping Miami, which fell to 4-14 since the All-Star break. Arraez is now batting an MLB-leading .381 on the season.
Twins pound out 17 hits again, beat struggling Angels to push win streak to seven
For the second straight day, the Minnesota Twins roughed up the Los Angeles Angles.
The latest rout helped the defending AL Central champions move over .500 for the first time since the first week of the season.
The Twins again racked up 17 hits in an 11-5 victory over the Angels on Sunday to extend their winning streak to seven games.
Minnesota is now 14-13, moving back over .500 for the first time since it was 3-2 on April 3.
The Twins have notched at least 10 hits in each game of the win streak, the first time they've won at least seven consecutive games while tallying 10 or more hits in each since an eight-game run from July 14-21, 2006.
Minnesota completed the weekend sweep as Ryan Jeffers, Jose Miranda, Christian Vázquez and Willi Castro each had three hits, while Austin Martin and Alex Kiriloff drove in two runs apiece.
The Twins pounded out a season-high six doubles one day after recording four doubles as part of a 17-hit attack in a 16-5 rout.
This is the first time Minnesota has totaled 17 or more hits in consecutive games since July 2010, when it did it in three games in a row.
While the Twins are on a roll, the Angels (10-18) have lost four straight games and nine of 10.
Blue Jays end Dodgers' six-game win streak
Kevin Gausman earned his first victory of the season, throwing seven innings of one-run ball in the Toronto Blue Jays' 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Gausman, who won 12 games for the Blue Jays last year, struck out five and allowed five hits without a walk to help the Blue Jays (14-15) end a five-game losing streak.
The NL West-leading Dodgers (18-12) had won six straight games before going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position in the series finale.
Los Angeles' lone run came on a Freddie Freeman home run - just his second of the season and first since March 28.
Freeman is batting .444 with 11 RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak.
Toronto's Alejandro Kirk hit his first homer of the season and finished with three hits after entering the day mired in an 0-for-11 slump.
Yankees break out bats in rout of Brewers
Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe all homered in the New York Yankees' 15-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Rizzo went 4 for 4 and his homer was the 300th of his career, while Judge had three hits and three RBIs.
The AL East-leading Yankees (19-10) tallied 18 hits one day after registering 19 hits in a 15-3 win over the NL Central-leading Brewers (17-10).
This is the first time New York has scored 15 runs in consecutive games since July 21 and 22, 2007.
The game was tied at 4 before New York scored seven runs in the sixth inning. All the runs came with two outs and came after a controversial play at second base.
With no outs and Judge on first base, Alex Verdugo hit a ball to second baseman Brice Turang, who fielded it and threw to shortstop Willy Adames at second base to force out Judge.
Adames then threw to first to try to turn the double play, but his throw bounced off Judge's hand as the slugger raised his left arm while sliding into second base.
The Brewers argued that Judge should have been called out for interference but the umpires allowed Verdugo to remain safe at first.
After the game, umpire crew chief Andy Fletcher admitted the runner should've been ruled out for interference.
MLB: Ohtani has career-high 3 doubles in Dodgers' 20-hit attack
Shohei Ohtani had a career-high three doubles and the Los Angeles Dodgers collected 20 hits in an 11-2 rout of the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.
Ohtani went 3 for 6 with RBI doubles in the eighth and ninth innings. He leads the majors in batting average (.371), slugging (.695), OPS (1.128), extra-base hits (21) and doubles (14).
Mookie Betts and Will Smith each had four hits and rookie Andy Pages homered as the Dodgers won their third straight following a three-game skid.
Landon Knack earned his first win in his second career start, allowing two runs and three hits in six innings. He retired his last 13 batters and struck out five.
Nick Senzel homered for the Nationals, who didn’t have a baserunner after the second inning.
Trout hits MLB-leading 10th home run in loss
Mike Trout became the first player in the majors to reach 10 home runs this season, but Gunnar Henderson had three hits and three RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles held off the Los Angeles Angels, 6-5.
Trout got the Angels on the board with a solo shot off starter Dean Kremer in the sixth inning. This is the third time in the past seven seasons that Trout has been the first in MLB to reach double digits in homers.
Los Angeles rallied back from a 6-0 deficit and had the tying run on first in the ninth, but Jo Adell was caught stealing to end the game.
Henderson homered for the second straight game and added a two-run single in Baltimore’s four-run sixth. He is 9 for 20 in the past five games and 18 for 40 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 10 games, helping the Orioles win eight.
Kremer struck out 10 over 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs and three hits for his first win of the season.
Surging Braves win in 10 innings
Michael Harris II doubled home Ronald Acuna Jr. in the 10th inning and the red-hot Atlanta Braves topped the Miami Marlins, 4-3, after blowing a two-run lead in the ninth.
The Marlins scored twice in the ninth off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias to tie it but failed to score in the top of the 10th.
Harris led off the bottom half with a single to center to score the winning run and send Atlanta to its ninth win in 10 games.
Harris went 3 for 5 and Marcell Ozuna had three hits and two RBIs, giving him an MLB-best 29.
The Marlins were swept for the third time this season and dropped to an NL-worst 6-20.
MLB: Guardians win fifth straight, improve majors' best record to 17-6
Tyler Freeman and Bryan Rocchio delivered RBIs in the seventh inning and Jose Ramirez homered to lift the Cleveland Guardians to their fifth straight victory, 4-1 over the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday.
The Guardians improved the majors’ best record to 17-6, matching their best start through 23 games. Cleveland also was 17-6 in 1999 and 1966.
Ben Lively allowed one run and five hits over 6 1/3 innings in his Progressive Field debut. He walked one and struck out seven.
Scott Barlow and Hunter Gaddis got the next five outs before Emmanuel Clase struck out the side in the ninth for his seventh save.
Tanner Houck, who threw a three-hit shutout against Cleveland last week, held the Guardians scoreless through six innings before Freeman singled home Will Brennan and Rocchio’s sacrifice fly in the seventh put Cleveland ahead.
Rob Refsnyder had three hits as Boston had a three-game winning streak snapped.
Fried dominates Marlins
Max Fried pitched a three-hitter for Atlanta’s first complete game since 2022 and Adam Duvall belted a two-run homer as the surging Braves blanked the Miami Marlins for the second straight night, 5-0.
Fried didn’t walk anyone and struck out six, needing just 92 pitches to become the first Braves pitcher to complete nine innings since Bryce Elder in an 8-0 win over Washington on Sept. 26, 2022.
Fried notched his fourth career shutout and fifth career complete game as Atlanta won its eighth in nine games.
The Marlins have gone 20 innings without scoring a run and dropped to 6-19.
Duvall’s second home run of the season capped a three-run sixth and extended the lead to 5-0.
Cubs keep Astros reeling
Mike Tauchman hit his first two home runs of the season and the Chicago Cubs scored five first-inning runs in a 7-2 win over the Houston Astros, who dropped 10 games under .500 for the first time since 2016.
Cody Bellinger had a two-run blast in the first inning off J.P. France and Tauchman capped the fast start with a three-run shot. He added a solo home run in the eighth.
Houston has lost three straight and six of seven and, at 7-17, is 10 games under .500 for the first time since an 18-28 start in 2016.
Jordan Wicks limited the Astros to two runs and five hits over a season-best six innings with no walks and four strikeouts.
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