Shohei Ohtani became Major League Baseball's career home leader among Japanese-born players with a two-run shot that highlighted the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-0 rout of the New York Mets on Sunday.
Ohtani's third-inning blast off Adrian Houser helped support a stellar start from Tyler Glasnow as two of the Dodgers' marquee offseason additions took center stage.
Glasnow scattered seven hits while striking out 10 over eight innings to improve to 4-1 since being acquired by Los Angeles from the Tampa Bay Rays in December.
Ohtani's home run was his 176th in the major leagues, breaking a tie the reigning American League MVP shared with former New York Yankees star Hideki Matsui for the most by a Japanese native.
Andy Pages contributed his first major league homer, a three-run shot during a fifth inning in which the Dodgers scored eight times en route to ending a three-game losing streak and preventing the Mets from sweeping the three-game series.
After Ohtani's historic home run broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, Los Angeles put the contest out of reach against Houser and reliever Grant Hartwig in the fifth.
Pages started the outburst with a lead-off double and later scored on Mookie Betts' single, and an infield hit by Ohtani loaded the bases before Freddie Freeman drove in two more runs with a double for a 5-0 lead.
Will Smith followed with a two-run double of his own to extend the margin. Four batters later, Pages took Hartwig's pitch over the center field wall to cap the big inning and give Los Angeles a 10-0 advantage.
Houser was charged with eight runs allowed after being lifted with none out in the fifth.
Rangers halt Braves' win streak behind three homers
Andrew Knizner hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth inning and the Texas Rangers went deep two more times to stop the Atlanta Braves' six-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory.
Adolis Garcia added a two-run homer and Evan Carter had a solo shot as the defending World Champion Rangers overcame an early 3-0 deficit and avoided being swept in the three-game weekend series.
Atlanta had gone ahead quickly on Marcell Ozuna's MLB-leading ninth home run of the season, a three-run blast off Texas starter Michael Lorenzen in the first inning.
Lorenzen (2-0) kept the Braves off the scoreboard for the remainder of his six-inning stint, however, to help the Rangers rally in the fourth.
Carter started the comeback with a lead-off homer off Darius Vines, who later surrendered singles to Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Smith before Knizner launched the first pitch he saw into the left field seats to give Texas a 4-3 lead.
Garcia followed Carter's infield single in the eighth with a two-run shot off Tyler Matzek to extend the margin to 6-3.
The Braves got a run back in their half of the eighth when Ronald Acuna Jr. singled and later came home on Austin Riley's base hit with none out. Relievers David Robertson and Tyler Yates retired the next three hitters, however, to end the threat with two runners on base.
Yates then worked a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.
Acuna finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored, while Vines was handed the loss after permitting four runs in five innings.
Phillies finish sweep of White Sox to extend win streak to six games
Aaron Nola struck out seven over eight strong innings to help the Philadelphia Phillies extend their winning streak to six games with an 8-2 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.
Nola yielded just two runs on four hits to improve to 3-1 on the season, and the right-hander received plenty of offensive support as Philadelphia finished off a sweep of the three-game series.
Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in two runs, Bryce Harper also knocked in two runs and Alec Bohm went 3 for 5 with an RBI double as the Phillies completed a successful 10-game home-stand in which they won eight times.
Chicago, meanwhile, continued its worst start in franchise history as it dropped to 3-18, the lowest winning percentage in the majors this season.
The White Sox did take a 2-0 lead, however, when Eloy Jimenez followed Robbie Grossman's one-out single in the top of the first inning with his first home run of 2024.
Philadelphia quickly answered, as Chicago starter Nick Nastrini walked Schwarber and Trea Turner to start the bottom of the first before Harper delivered a single that scored Schwarber and sent Trea Turner to third.
The Phillies then attempted a double steal in which Turner stole home and Harper advanced to second on a throwing error, and Harper later came home on Brandon Marsh's single for a 3-2 advantage.
Nola surrendered just two more hits the rest of the way, and the Phillies increased their lead with three runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Turner, Harper's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double from Bohm.
Schwarber's lead-off homer in the sixth extended the margin to 7-2, and the slugger had a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring home Philadelphia's final run.
Nastrini was tagged for six runs - five earned - and walked five in just three-plus innings in his second major league start.
Mariners reportedly acquire Arozarena from Rays
Randy Arozarena is on the move,
The Seattle Mariners are reportedly acquiring Arozarena in a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.
As part of the trade, which was reported late Thursday by multiple sources, the Mariners are sending the Rays outfielder Aidan Smith, right-hander Brody Hopkins and a player to be named later.
Arozarena was named to his first All-Star team last year, but is struggling a bit this season.
He is batting a career-low .213, but does have 15 home runs, 19 doubles and 16 stolen bases in 99 games.
His .717 OPS, however, is higher than any of Seattle's everyday players.
The Mariners are in need of a jolt with their offence suddenly struggling.
After leading the AL West by 10 games on June 18, Seattle has lost 20 of 29 and now trails the Houston Astros by one game for the division lead.
The offence has been the biggest culprit for the recent slide, as the Mariners have plated exactly one run in each of their last three games and have scored two or fewer in seven of their last eight.
Seattle is also in need of another outfielder with star centre fielder Julio Rodríguez sidelined until August with a high-ankle sprain sustained Sunday.
Cease tosses second no-hitter in Padres franchise history with gem against Nationals
Two years ago, Dylan Cease came within one out of throwing a no-hitter.
Against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, he finished the job, recording all 27 outs without allowing a hit.
Cease threw the second no-hitter in San Diego Padres franchise history, baffling the Nationals during a 3-0 win.
Cease improved to 10-8 and struck out nine in his nine sterling innings of work to win his third straight start.
Despite walking three batters, Cease faced only one over the minimum, with the Nationals caught stealing in the first inning and grounding into a double play in the fourth.
He threw 71 of his 114 pitches for strikes en route to joining Joe Musgrove as the only San Diego pitchers to throw a no-hitter. Musgrove's came against the Texas Rangers on April 9, 2021.
Baseball's latest no-no is the second of the season after the Houston Astros' Ronel Blanco threw one against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 1.
Cease's achievement also helps take away some of the sting from his near no-hitter from two years ago.
While pitching for the Chicago White Sox on September 3, 2022, he was one out away from no-hitting the Minnesota Twins, when current teammate Luis Arraez broke it up with a single to right-centre.
In this one, he got CJ Abrams to hit a flyout to right field for the final out.
Cease is in his first year with the Padres after beginning his career with the White Sox, and after a rocky June, has been pitching brilliantly lately.
In his last three outings, he has not allowed a run, while surrendering just two hits and seven walks over 22 innings while piling up 30 strikeouts.
His latest gem helped San Diego to its fifth consecutive win.
The Padres (55-50) didn’t need much offence against the Nationals (47-56) to back Cease, with Ha-Seong Kim plating all three runs on a first-inning single off Patrick Corbin.
Kershaw makes season debut in Dodgers' win over Giants
Clayton Kershaw permitted two runs over four innings in his first start of the season and the Los Angeles Dodgers went on to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-4.
The game was tied 4-4 until Nick Ahmed and Shohei Ohtani homered on consecutive pitches in the eighth inning to lead the NL West-leading Dodgers (62-42) to their sixth win in seven games since the All-Star break.
Ohtani's homer was his 31st of the season and his second in the last five games. He also doubled to give him four doubles since the All-Star break.
Kershaw allowed six hits and two walks with six strikeouts, while throwing 47 of his 72 pitches for strikes in his first start since Game 1 of last October's NL Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner had shoulder surgery four weeks later.
Ohtani signed with the Dodgers a month later and this was the first game the Japanese superstar and Kershaw played together.
Heliot Ramos led the Giants (49-55) with three hits and drove in a run while Jorge Soler singled twice.
Logan Webb yielded four runs and nine hits, and now has surrendered 15 runs and 25 hits with eight walks over 16 innings in his last three starts.
Mets beat Braves in 10 innings to stay hot
Jeff McNeil drove in the winning run with a 10th-inning hit on a ball Ramón Laureano misplayed in the New York Mets' 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
McNeil's hit was just the third of the game for the Mets, and possibly could've been caught had Laureano not overrun it. The ball was hit hard down into the right-field corner and Laureano raced to track it down but ran too far and couldn't catch it as he reached his glove back across his body.
Jose Iglesias scored from second base, giving New York (54-48) its fourth straight win, and 10th victory in 13 games.
The Braves (54-47), meanwhile, lost their fifth straight game, as the Mets moved within one-half game of them for the NL's top wild-card spot.
McNeil and Francisco Lindor have been leading the charge for New York.
McNeil has driven in six runs in the last four games, and is hitting .417 with four home runs and nine RBIs in seven games since the All-Star break.
Lindor homered for the fifth time in four games, and is batting .359 with 14 RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak.
Atlanta squandered another stellar outing from Chris Sale.
The eight-time All-Star yielded two runs, two hits and a walk while striking out nine over 7 1/3 innings. It marked the eighth straight start in which he allowed two runs or fewer.
Padres’ Dylan Cease throws no-hitter against Nationals
San Diego Padres starter Dylan Cease threw MLB’s second complete-game no-hitter of the season, baffling the Washington Nationals during a 3-0 win on Thursday.
Cease improved to 10-8 and struck out nine in his nine sterling innings of work as the Padres won their fifth consecutive game.
The Houston Astros’ Ronel Blanco had the season’s first no-hitter on April 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Despite walking three batters, Cease faced only one over the minimum, with the Nationals caught stealing in the first inning and grounding into a double play in the fourth.
Cease threw 71 of his 114 pitches for strikes as he won his third straight start.
Cease has not allowed a run in his last three outings, surrendering just two hits and seven walks over 22 innings while piling up 30 strikeouts.
Cease is in his first year with San Diego after beginning his career with the Chicago White Sox. After a rough June, Cease’s ERA sat at 4.24 on July 2, but his recent hot streak – punctuated by Thursday’s no-hitter – brought that number down to 3.50.
In 2022, while with the White Sox, Cease had a no-hitter broken up with two outs in the ninth by current teammate Luis Arraez, who was then with the Minnesota Twins.
The Padres didn’t need much offence Thursday to back Cease, with Ha-Seong Kim plating all three runs on a first-inning single off Patrick Corbin.
San Diego (55-50) are seven games back of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West but are in the thick of a crowded NL wild-card race.
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