Michael Harris II hit two home runs, Bryce Elder made another quality start and the Atlanta Braves recorded a 4-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday to extend their winning streak to a season-high nine games.

Harris homered in the third and fifth innings and Marcell Ozuna added a solo shot in the fourth as the Braves built a 4-0 lead en route to their 17th win in 18 games. Atlanta is 24-3 since June 3 and owns the best record in the majors at 57-27.

Elder (7-1), one of eight Atlanta players selected for next week's All-Star Game, began his fourth straight quality start with six scoreless innings before Ahmed Rosario plated two with a single in the seventh.

The 24-year-old has pitched at least five innings in each of his 17 starts this season, with Atlanta going 13-4 in those games.

Rosario finished with two hits and Steven Kwan went 3 for 5 with a run scored for Cleveland. Gavin Williams, the Guardians' No. 1 prospect according to MLB.com, allowed all three Atlanta homers and four runs across 6 1/3 innings in his third major league start.

Astros blow eight-run lead but rally by Rangers

The Houston Astros squandered an eight-run lead, then rallied with two runs in the ninth inning for a wild 12-11 win over the Texas Rangers in the finale of a key four-game series between the American League West's top two teams. 

After the division-leading Rangers battled back to take an 11-10 lead on Corey Seager's eighth-inning sacrifice fly, Houston responded in the top of the ninth with consecutive RBI doubles by Jose Abreu and Chas McCormick off Will Smith. 

Ryan Pressly then retired the Rangers in order in the bottom of the inning to notch his 18th save and help the Astros take three of four games from their in-state rivals. Houston moved within three games of first-place Texas in the AL West.

Kyle Tucker went 4 for 4 with a double and a grand slam that staked the Astros a 10-2 lead after the top of the fourth inning.

Texas cut the lead to 10-9 by the end of the fifth, however, thanks in part to homers by Travis Jankowski and Leody Tavaras. Adolis Garcia tied the game with a seventh-inning solo shot before the Rangers briefly went in front an inning later.

Jankowski went 3 for 5 with five RBIs and Tavares had three hits and three RBIs. Abreu homered and knocked in four runs for Houston, which also got homers from McCormick and Yainer Diaz.

Bader's three-run homer lifts Yankees over Orioles

Harrison Bader capped a New York Yankees' comeback with a tie-breaking three-run homer in the eighth inning that staked the Bronx Bombers to a 6-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

The Yankees overcame an early 3-0 deficit to take the opener of this four-game series and close within three games of the upstart Orioles for the AL's top wild card spot.

Anthony Volpe and Kyle Higashioka began the rally with back-to-back solo homers in the fifth inning, and Volpe recorded the tying run in the seventh when he scored from third on a wild pitch from All-Star reliever Yennier Cano.

After singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo put two Yankees on in the eighth, Bader drilled a pitch from Danny Coulombe into the left-field seats for a 6-3 lead.

All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman went 3 for 5 with an RBI for the slumping Orioles, who have lost five of their last six games. 

Baltimore did manage three runs - two earned - off Domingo German in the Yankee starter's first outing since throwing the 24th perfect game in major league history last Wednesday at Oakland.

German allowed nine hits in his follow-up start while lasting only 4 1/3 innings. 

Ozzie Albies hit a tie-breaking two-run homer in the fifth inning to back 6 2/3 sharp innings from Spencer Strider as the Atlanta Braves earned a 6-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Sunday to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Albies' 20th homer of the season gave Atlanta a 4-2 lead that Strider made hold up as the red-hot Braves completed a three-game series sweep over their closest National League East competitors. Atlanta has now won 16 of 17 to extend its lead over the second-place Marlins to nine games.

The Braves have also won 10 in a row at home and outscored Miami 29-7 for the series.

Strider, named to his first All-Star Game on Sunday, was touched for two runs in the second inning and an unearned run in the seventh, but got enough support via homers by Albies, Travis d'Arnaud and Orlando Arcia to win a fourth consecutive start. The hard-throwing right-hander recorded nine strikeouts to push his major league-leading total to 155.

Albies was also named an NL reserve for next week's All-Star Game, one of a league-high eight selections for Atlanta.

2022 NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara struggled again for Miami, allowing four runs in five innings to raise his season earned run average to 4.93.

Marlins All-Star Luis Arraez finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs to raise his MLB-leading batting average to .389.

Ohtani, Trout homers help Angels down Diamondbacks

American League All-Stars Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout had two of the Los Angeles Angels' three home runs in a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks that prevented a sweep of the three-game series.

Mickey Moniak's three-run blast off Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen in the second inning put Los Angeles up 4-2 and helped the Angels snap a season-high four-game losing streak. Ohtani later launched a 454-foot drive into the right field seats in the eighth for his MLB-leading 31st homer of the season and sixth in seven games.

Angels starter Reid Detmers surrendered a two-run homer to Carson Kelly in the second, but held Arizona scoreless for the remainder of his six-inning stint and finished with nine strikeouts.

Gallen, named to his first All-Star Game for the NL squad earlier in the day, recorded 12 strikeouts in seven innings but was reached for four runs to fall to 10-3 on the season.

Astros hold off Rangers to close gap in AL West

Chas McCormick snapped a tie with a three-run triple in the top of the eighth inning, and the Houston Astros held on for a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers in a matchup of the top two teams in the AL West.

McCormick's big hit off reliever Josh Sborz with the bases loaded staked Houston to a 4-1 lead, though the Rangers answered with Nathaniel Lowe's two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to pull back within one.

Jose Altuve homered in the top of the ninth to increase the lead to 5-3, however, and Ryan Pressly retired the Rangers in order in the bottom of the frame to notch his 17th save.

The win was Houston's fourth in five games and brought the reigning World Series champions within four games of first-place Texas in the division. The four-game Lone Star Series between the in-state rivals concludes Monday.

Texas lost for the sixth time in nine games and wasted a terrific start from Andrew Heaney, who struck out eight and allowed just three hits in five scoreless innings.

Jose Abreu finished 3 for 5 for the Astros, while McCormick and Altuve each collected two hits. 

The Atlanta Braves struck early again with six first-inning runs and rolled to their seventh consecutive win, 7-0 over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.

Ronald Acuna and Ozzie Albies hit back-to-back homers to ignite the six-run first and Charlie Morton struck out five in 5 2/3 innings to keep the Braves surging into July.

Atlanta (55-27) has won 23 of its last 27 games and has taken over baseball’s best record from the Tampa Bay Rays, who held the honour since opening the season 13-0.

After Acuna and Albies took rookie Eury Perez deep, Austin Riley and Matt Olson singled before Sean Murphy doubled home a run. Marcell Ozuna’s two-run double made it 5-0 and one out later another double by Orlando Arcia capped the early outburst.

The six runs gave the Braves 87 in the opening inning in their last 82 games, including 11 in the first two games of this series.

Perez entered the game with an MLB-best 21-inning scoreless streak and a 1.34 ERA but lasted just a third of an inning, allowing six runs and seven hits.

Atlanta has won eight of nine meetings this season against Miami by a combined 77-26 margin.

Bohm powers Phillies to rout

Alec Bohm hit two homers and drove in a career high-tying six runs to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 19-4 drubbing of the Washington Nationals.

Kyle Schwarber had a grand slam, and Nick Castellanos fell a triple shy of the cycle with three RBIs as part of Philadelphia’s 18-hit attack.

The 19 runs were the most scored by Philadelphia since a 20-1 win over the Miami Marlins on April 7, 2018.

Rangers’ Eovaldi shuts down Astros for 10th win

Nathan Eovaldi continued his stellar season with seven scoreless innings and the AL West-leading Texas Rangers defeated the second-place Houston Astros, 5-2.

Eovaldi struck out five and limited the Astros to two singles while working around a season-high four walks to join Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan as the only 10-game winners in the AL.

All-Stars Marcus Semien, Corey Seager and Josh Jung each drove in a run and Jonah Heim – also an All-Star – had three hits with a run scored.

Matt Olson hit two of the six home runs for the Atlanta Braves and baseball’s hottest team rolled to a 16-4 rout of the Miami Marlins on Friday.

Olson went 4 for 5 with his National League-leading 27th and 28th home runs and fell a double shy of the cycle as Atlanta won its sixth straight to finish June with a major league-best 21-4 record.

The 21 victories tied the Atlanta record for most wins in a calendar month, a mark that was set in May 1998 and matched in August 1999, in June 2002 and in June 2022.

Ronald Acuna Jr., Austin Riley, Sean Murphy and Eddie Rosario also went deep to help Atlanta raise its home run total to 153, by far the most in the majors.

Mike Soroka won in his first home start since Aug. 3, 2020, when he tore his Achilles tendon for the first of two times. He allowed three runs and five hits in six innings without a walk and seven strikeouts.

Atlanta scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back. Riley doubled home Acuna and Olson followed with a 434-foot, opposite-field blast to centre. After Murphy struck out and Marcell Ozuna walked, Rosario belted his 14th home to make it 5-0.

Olson’s second homer of the game – another two-run shot – in the fifth inning extended the lead to 10-3 and Rosario’s groundout made it 11-3.

The Marlins ended a five-game winning streak and a seven-game run on the road.

Steer’s walk-off homer in 11th gives Reds wild win

Spencer Steer delivered a walk-off home run in the 11th inning after Matt McLain had a game-tying two-run homer in the 10th to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a wild 7-5 win over the reeling San Diego Padres.

After Elly De La Cruz doubled home the tying run in the 11th, he tried to score from third on Nick Senzel’s grounder but was called out because he didn’t touch the plate before Gary Sanchez’s tag.

Steer made that irrelevant shortly after when he belted a 2-2 pitch from Drew Carlton over the left-field wall for his 13th home run.

Cincinnati won its third straight despite Alexis Diaz’s save streak being stopped at 23 in a row. San Diego has lost a season-high six in row.  

Ohtani hits 30th home run in Angels’ loss

Shohei Ohtani's hit the longest home run of his career for his major league-leading 30th of the season but the Los Angeles Angels lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 6-2.

The Japanese sensation took Tommy Henry 493 feet out to right field in the sixth inning for the longest homer in the majors this year. He became the first player since 2013 to hit 30 homers by the end of June.

He also extended his own team record for home runs in a month with 15 and tied the AL mark for June homers.

Spencer Strider struck out 10 in seven innings and Marcell Ozuna hit a go-ahead home run in the seventh for the red-hot Atlanta Braves, who recorded their 11th win in 12 games with a 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday.

Ozuna snapped a 1-1 tie with his third homer in five games, while Ronald Acuna Jr. added a two-run shot later in the seventh to help Atlanta take the opener of this three-game series between division leaders. 

The Braves are now 18-3 since June 3 and own the National League's best record at 51-27.

Strider improved to 9-2 by holding the AL Central-leading Twins to one run and three hits while extending his MLB-leading strikeout total to 146. The right-hander's only blemish came when he allowed a solo homer to Joey Gallo in the second inning.

Minnesota starter Sonny Gray matched Strider for six innings before surrendering Ozuna's blast and a two-out single by Michael Harris that chased him from the game. He was charged with three runs and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings. 

Ohtani's 26th home run helps Angels edge White Sox

Shohei Ohtani retook sole possession of the major league home run lead and Mike Trout scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Los Angeles Angels a 2-1 win over the Chicago White Sox.

Trout led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk against Reynaldo Lopez and Ohtani greeted reliever Aaron Bummer with a walk before the two stars executed a double steal to put two on with none out. After Bummer struck out Brandon Drury, the left-hander uncorked an errant pitch that allowed Trout to slide into home plate with the deciding run.

Ohtani tied the contest at 1-1 with his 26th homer of the season, a 446-foot blast into the right field seats off Dylan Cease in the fourth inning that snapped a tie with Atlanta's Matt Olson for the most in the majors.

Both Cease and the Angels' Reid Detmers engaged in a stellar pitching duel from that point on. Detmers yielded a run on just two hits and two walks while striking out 10 in seven innings. Cease also fanned 10 while allowing one run on five hits in six innings.

Luis Robert homered for the fourth time in three games in the first inning to account for Chicago's lone run. 

Orioles withstand long delay to rout Reds

A rain delay of nearly two hours wasn't enough time to slow down the Baltimore Orioles' bats in a 10-3 win over the suddenly struggling Cincinnati Reds.

Five Baltimore players each collected two hits as the Orioles overcame a 1-hour, 44-minute stoppage in the second inning to earn their third consecutive win. Austin Hays gave Baltimore a 2-1 lead with a two-run single before the delay and finished with three RBIs, while Adley Rutschman drove in two runs in the rout.

Jordan Westburg, ranked the Orioles' No. 3 prospect by MLB.com, made his big league debut and recorded his first hit with a fifth-inning single. The second baseman also drove in a run on a fielder's choice.

The Reds were dealt a third straight loss following a 12-game winning streak that was the club's longest since 1957. Cincinnati dropped a half-game behind Milwaukee for first place in the NL Central after the Brewers defeated the New York Mets, 2-1, on Monday. 

Spencer Steer homered and knocked in all three Cincinnati runs while finishing 3 for 3.

Rookie sensation Elly De La Cruz became the first Reds player to hit for a cycle in 34 years and Cincinnati outslugged the Atlanta Braves 11-10 for their 12th straight victory.

De La Cruz led off the second inning with a double, hit a two-run homer in the third, had a run-scoring single in the fifth and completed the cycle with a triple in the sixth for his fourth RBI of the game.

The cycle is the seventh overall in Reds’ history and the first since Eric Davis on June 2, 1989. The 21-year-old De La Cruz achieved the feat in just his 15th game – the third fewest since 1900.

Cincinnati matched the 1939 and 1957 teams for the franchise’s longest single season winning streak since 1900.

Atlanta, which had an eight-game winning streak stopped, scored five runs in the first off Luke Weaver, with Travis d’Arnaud’s three-run homer the big blow.

Cincinnati got two runs back in the second inning on Jake Fraley’s home run and pulled within 5-4 an inning later on De La Cruz’s two-run blast.

Joey Votto’s first home run of the game in the fourth inning tied it, but the Braves went back on top in the fifth as Matt Olson’s homer scored Austin Riley.

The Reds went ahead for good with four runs in their half of the fifth. De La Cruz singled in a run and Votto delivered a three-run homer.

Atlanta got solo home runs from Ronald Acuna, Jr., Riley and Olson again in the eighth but was unable to push across the tying run in just its third loss in 18 games.

Ohtani hits MLB-best 25th home run in Angels’ loss

Shohei Ohtani extended his major league lead with his 25th home run and fell a triple shy of the cycle in the Los Angles Angels’ 7-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Ohtani homered off starter Kyle Freeland in the fifth inning and Mike Trout followed with his 16th home run to give the Angels a 4-2 lead.

Ohtani has at least one extra-base hit in 10 straight road games, a franchise record and the longest such streak in the majors since 2009.

Colorado, which had lost eight in a row, went ahead in the eighth on Elias Diaz’s grand slam.

Conforto leads Giants past Diamondbacks in NL West matchup

Michael Conforto had three hits and four RBIs to lead the San Francisco Giants to an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in a battle between the top teams in the NL West.

Conforto had a two-run double in San Francisco’s three-run third inning and came through with another two-run double as part of a four-run fifth. Patrick Bailey capped the uprising with a two-run homer.

The Giants have won 11 of 12 to get within 2 ½ games of NL West-leading Arizona.

Marcell Ozuna's two-run homer capped a five-run 10th inning as the surging Atlanta Braves extended their winning streak to eight games with a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.

Austin Riley also drove in two runs in the 10th with a line drive that Phillies left fielder Kyle Schwarber misplayed and was ruled a double, helping the Braves sweep the rain-shortened two-game series and match their longest winning streak of the season.

Atlanta, which is now 15-2 since June 3, also won eight in a row from April 10-18.

After neither team scored through regulation, Michael Harris put Atlanta on the board with a one-out single that scored automatic runner Sam Hilliard before stealing second and taking third on Ronald Acuna Jr.'s single.

Philadelphia's Junior Marte then struck out Ozzie Albies and appeared to get out of the inning allowing only one run, but Schwarber botched Riley's liner to left as both runners scored for a 3-0 lead. Ozuna followed with his 14th homer of the season to extend the margin.

Braves starter Bryce Elder held the Phillies to three hits and two walks over seven scoreless innings, while Philadelphia's Aaron Nola yielded just two hits and two walks in six shutout innings.

Padres roll to end Giants’ streak

Manny Machado and Gary Sanchez belted three-run homers and the San Diego Padres cruised to a 10-0 victory to end the San Francisco Giants’ 10-game winning streak.

Those home runs were more than enough offense for red-hot Blake Snell, who allowed three singles in six innings and struck out 11 to stretch his scoreless streak to 18 innings. He is 3-0 with a 0.29 ERA with 50 strikeouts in his last five starts.

Ha-Seong King also went deep, and the Padres were 5 for 10 with runners in scoring position after they went 4 for 29 in the first three games of the series.

Alex Wood was tagged for six runs and four hits with four walks in 3 1/3 innings.

Rays ace McClanahan injured in loss

Tampa Bay Rays ace Shane McClanahan was bidding to become the majors’ first 12-game winner before exiting early with mid-back tightness in a 6-5 loss to the lowly Kansas City Royals.

McClanahan allowed two runs and four hits before he was forced to leave with two outs in the fourth inning after throwing 66 pitches with the game tied at 2.

Maikel Garcia walked to open the ninth inning, stole second and third – giving Kansas City seven steals in the game – and scored on MJ Melendez’s infield single to put the last-place Royals ahead 6-5.

Tampa Bay has lost four of five but is still a major league-best 52-26.

The Tampa Bay Rays have officially made the best home start to a season in over 140 years after defeating the Houston Astros 8-3 on Monday.

With the win, the Rays extended their unbeaten home record to 14-0, breaking their tie with the 2009 Los Angeles Angels for the best start in modern history, while they are seven wins away from tying the 21-0 mark set by the 1880 Chicago White Stockings.

While one modern day record was born, another ended, as it was the first game this season that the Rays have not hit a home run. They had broken the record with a home run in each of their first 22 fixtures to start the campaign.

With no long-ball to lean on, the Rays piled up 14 hits, including a four-for-five day at the plate from 22-year-old franchise player Wander Franco.

Franco collected two singles and two doubles, and he also stole the show in the field, coming down with a remarkable over-the-shoulder, bare-handed catch in foul territory.

Rays left-fielder Randy Arozarena currently owns the sixth-best batting average in the majors (.353), and he improved on that figure by going two-for-three with a sacrifice-fly and a hit-by-pitch. 

He was one of five Rays with multiple hits, joining Franco, Yandy Diaz, Isaac Paredes and Cristian Bethancourt.

At 20-3, Tampa Bay are four games clear in the race for the best record in the majors.

Strider flirts with perfection

Atlanta Braves young ace Spencer Strider took a perfect game into the eighth inning of his side's 11-0 shutout against the visiting Miami Marlins.

Strider, 24, retired the first 22 batters he faced, before Jean Segura finally broke up the perfect game bid in the eighth frame. He ended up finishing eight innings in 101 pitches, striking out 13 batters while only allowing two hits and no walks.

Strider's 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings as a rookie would have led the majors had he pitched enough innings to qualify, and he does lead the MLB this year with a figure of 14.7.

Gray pitches a gem for the Twins

Veteran starting pitcher Sonny Gray was at his best as his Minnesota Twins defeated the visiting New York Yankees 6-1.

Gray, 33, came into the contest having not allowed more than one earned run in any of his four previous starts this season, and he pitched another seven scoreless frames, allowing three hits and two walks with eight strikeouts.

The performance lowered his ERA to a league-leading 0.62 – joining Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani (0.64) and Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (0.79) as the only players allowing fewer than one run per nine innings.

Aaron Judge robbed Shohei Ohtani of a homer before delivering a blast of his own as the New York Yankees downed the Los Angeles Angels 3-2 on Wednesday.

Gleyber Torres hit a walk-off sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, after the Angels had squared the game up following Judge's first-inning two-run shot.

Judge was at the heart of everything early, robbing Ohtani of a first-inning homer with a leaping ricochet catch on the wall at center field after the ball hit the heel of his glove and bobbled into his throwing hand.

The reigning AL MVP then launched a two-run blast into the left-center bullpen at the bottom of the first to open up a 2-0 lead. It was Judge's sixth homer of the 2023 season.

Judge produced another moment of magic in the field in the eighth inning with a diving one-handed grab at right-center field to save a go-ahead run from Brandon Drury.

Ohtani had a frustrating game, going none-for-four and stranding three runners with inning-ending strikeouts in the fifth and seventh innings.

The Angels reeled in the Yankees' early lead with Taylor Ward's fifth-inning RBI, before Gio Urshela's two-out RBI single in the eighth.

In the 10th, Urshela lined out to right with Mike Trout stranded on third with two-out, before Torres' walk-off sac fly to center-right field with bases loaded, driving in Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Soto shines as Braves' run ended

Juan Soto continued to emerge from his early-season slump with a 431-foot blast to right-center field in the San Diego Padres' 1-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.

The result snapped the Braves' eight-game winning streak, with the Padres improving to a 9-11 record with Fernando Tatis Jr set to return from a long-term suspension on Thursday. Joe Musgrove's return from injury is close too.

Soto, who was hitting .175 with three home runs from 19 games coming in, delivered the decisive blast the fourth inning while Nick Martinez threw six strikeouts across seven scoreless innings, allowing three hits.

More milestones for free-wheeling Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays' outstanding early season form continued with an 8-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds setting more records, having started the year with a 13-game winning streak.

The Rays blasted six first-inning runs with Yandy Diaz setting the tone with a lead-off homer, setting a modern era record for differential after 19 games (+83), having scored 133 runs and allowed 50, beating the previous mark held by the 1905 New York Giants (+79).

Tampa Bay also became the first team n the modern era to have four shutouts of eight-plus runs in their first 19 games of the season, as Drew Rasmussen had seven K's across five scoreless innings. It was the team's sixth shutout in 19 games.

The Atlanta Braves won a 5-4 extra-innings thriller against the Cincinnati Reds on Monday thanks to a walk-off home run from catcher Sean Murphy.

Despite the teams eventually combining for nine runs, the contest was scoreless through five innings.

The tie was eventually broken in the sixth as Murphy connected on an RBI double to put the Braves up 1-0, and Orlando Arcia made it 2-0 in the seventh frame when he came home on a wild pitch.

Jake Fraley brought the Reds back into it with an RBI single to cut the lead to one run in the eighth inning, but Arcia's RBI single later in the frame put Atlanta up 3-1 and meant Cincinnati would need to produce something special in the last.

After Wil Myers started the top of the ninth with a lead-off single, pinch-hitter Stuart Fairchild flipped the game on its head with an RBI triple, leaving the tying run on third base with no outs.

When Spencer Steer followed that at-bat with an RBI single, the Reds would have felt they were in position to run over the top and steal the win, but Braves closer A.J. Minter was able to get a crucial double-play to send things to extra innings despite registering his first blown save of the season.

A Jonathan India RBI single in the top of the 10th meant the Braves would have to come from behind to get the victory, but home fans would not have to wait long, as Murphy connected with the walk-off home run on relief pitcher Derek Law's very first pitch.

The win snaps the Braves' (7-4) three-game losing streak at the hands of the San Diego Padres, while the Reds will be content with their 4-5 start.

Rays become first team since 1987 to start 10-0

The Tampa Bay Rays are the first team since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers to start a season with 10 consecutive wins after a hard-fought 1-0 home triumph against the Boston Red Sox.

In a game with only two total extra-base hits, the Rays finally made the breakthrough in the eighth inning as Brandon Lowe sent a Chris Martin fastball 404 feet over the left-field wall.

It was the third game in a row that Lowe has hit a home run, and with it he kept the Rays' chances alive of tying or beating the all-time best start of 13-0, held by the 1987 Brewers and the 1982 Braves.

Tampa Bay fell one game short of becoming the first team since the 1939 New York Yankees to win 10 games in a row by at least four runs each.

Phillies beat up Alcantara

Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara had a miserable day on the mound as his Miami Marlins were hammered 15-3 by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Alcantara, who gave up just 58 earned runs in 32 starts in 2022, allowed the Phillies to rack up 10 hits and a walk, resulting in nine earned runs through four innings.

Alec Bohm led the way for Philadelphia with six RBIs as he went three-for-five with a home run, while Brandon Marsh and Jake Cave also went deep.

The Boston Red Sox came from behind on the back of power hitting from Adam Duvall and Rafael Devers to defeat the Detroit Tigers 6-3 away from home on Thursday.

It was the Tigers taking the early lead through a big two-run homer from Jake Rogers in the second inning, and after Enrique Hernandez pulled one run back for the Sox in the third frame with a fielder's choice groundout, legendary Detroit designated hitter Miguel Cabrera came through with an RBI single later in the third to restore a 3-1 advantage.

But the Boston bullpen would shut things down the rest of the way, holding Detroit scoreless for the final six innings.

Red Sox franchise centrepiece Rafael Devers trimmed the margin to one run when he blasted a solo home run in the fourth inning, and he delivered again in the sixth inning with an RBI double to tie the contest at 3-3.

While Devers is the future of the team, there is no Red Sox player hotter than Adam Duvall to start this season.

Through his first five games, the 34-year-old Duvall combined for 10 hits, including three doubles, two home runs and a triple.

He added another home run on Thursday – a three-run bomb later in the sixth inning – to give the Red Sox a winning break, and with it he climbed up to second on the early OPS leaderboard with an on-base plus slugging figure of 1.577. For reference, that is nearly double the best season-long OPS of his career, which was .882 through 41 games in 2019.

It was also the third multi-hit game of the season for 29-year-old AL Rookie of the Year hopeful Masataka Yoshida, with an infield single and a double for the man who signed a five-year, $90million free agent deal out of the Japanese league in the offseason.

Arcia walks it off for Atlanta

Atlanta Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia came up big with a walk-off base hit to defeat the San Diego Padres 7-6 at home.

Arcia, batting last in the Braves' line-up, made some noise early when he got hold of a 400-foot solo home run in the third inning, and he ignited his side's comeback with a double in the eighth inning, later coming around to score as Atlanta turned a 6-4 deficit into a 6-6 tie heading into the last.

The contest looked destined for extra innings until Amed Rosario's two-out double in the bottom of the ninth, with Arcia stepping up next for the game-winning base hit.

It was a great showing for last season's NL Rookie of the Year runner-up Spencer Strider, who followed his nine-strikeout opening performance with another nine strikeouts against the Padres in five innings. 

His 18 strikeouts through two starts is tied for the second-most, trailing only New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (19).

Giants pile on 16 runs in Chicago

The San Francisco Giants put up the equal-biggest score of the season so far in a 16-6 drubbing of the Chicago White Sox away from home.

Blake Sabol, Wilmer Flores, Michael Conforto, J.D. Davis and Mike Yastrzemski all hit home runs for the Giants, and while Davis and Conforto both finished with three hits each, Davis led the way with a game-high five RBIs.

All nine Giants starters ended up with at least one hit as they racked up 20 knocks as a team, and the victory clinched their high-scoring three-game series against the White Sox after also taking the opener 12-3.

The Tampa Bay Rays are the only unbeaten team remaining after improving their record to 5-0 with a come-from-behind 10-6 road victory over the Washington Nationals on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay began their season with a three-game series sweep at home against the Detroit Tigers, and they have now won all five of their games by at least four runs.

But it was far from smooth sailing against the Nationals, despite the Rays jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

Alex Call brought home two runners for Washington in the bottom of the first with a single, and after Jose Siri put Tampa ahead 4-2 with his solo home run in the second frame, the Nationals began to take over.

Lane Thomas tied the game up in the second with a two-RBI double, and Thomas then gave the Nats their first lead with his next at-bat in the fourth inning with an RBI single in an impressive three-hit, three-RBI showing from the right-fielder.

The Rays did not score from the third inning through the seventh, but Randy Arozarena injected some life back into the visitors with his second RBI double of the contest to cut the Nationals' lead to 6-5 going into the last.

Tampa Bay first baseman Luke Raley tied the contest with a solo home run from the very first pitch of the ninth inning, and just three pitches later the Rays had the lead after Josh Lowe followed suit with his own solo homer.

A single from Taylor Walls and a double from Siri put two more runners on base, setting up Yandy Diaz for the 414-foot, three-run bomb to seal the comeback win.

Alcantara shuts out the Twins

The Minnesota Twins came into Tuesday's action unbeaten, before running into a spectacular showing from reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara in a 1-0 Miami Marlins triumph.

Alcantara, who had a shaky start in his season opener against the New York Mets, looked right back to his best against the Twins. He pitched the complete nine innings for only three hits and one walk, while striking out five in his 100 pitches.

The only run of the contest came from a solo home run in the second inning from Miami right-fielder Avisail Garcia, snapping a three-game Marlins losing streak.

Another Riley rocket lifts the Braves

Atlanta Braves slugger Austin Riley hit his second home run in as many days to help lift his side to a 4-1 road win against the St Louis Cardinals.

Despite the loss, all 10 Cardinals players to take an at-bat finished with exactly one hit each, but they could not match the power of the Braves.

Following his monstrous 473-foot blast in the opening inning of Monday's game, Riley again went deep in the first inning, this time taking Steven Matz 410 feet over the left-field wall. Orlando Arcia followed Riley's two-run shot with his own solo home run in the second inning.

In his very first start in the majors, 24-year-old Braves rookie Dylan Dodd collected the win as he made it through five innings while giving up six hits and no walks for one run, striking out three in his 73 pitches.

Atlanta Braves general manager Brian Snitker has signed a three-year contract extension through the 2025 season with the 2021 World Series champions.

Snitker, who has been in the role since 2016, has guided the Braves to five consecutive National League (NL) East titles, highlighted by their 2021 World Series.

The 67-year-old Braves boss led the side to a 101-61 regular-season record in 2022, before bowing out to the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series.

Snitker has a 542-451 managerial record, but is the first manager in franchise history to lead the Braves to five post seasons in his first six seasons. He won the 2018 NL Manager of the Year.

Dansby Swanson has detailed his decision to join the Chicago Cubs, explaining the sentimental reasons behind the move.

The shortstop left his hometown team, the Atlanta Braves, to pen a seven-year, $177million contract that stands as the second-richest deal in franchise history.

That ended a six-year stint with Atlanta and Swanson revealed a sentimental motive to making the move to Chicago. Indeed, he used to watch the Cubs' games with his grandfather, who died a week ago.

"Every time I walked in, he would have the Cubs game on," he said in his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

"He just loved baseball so much. Being a Cub means more to me than people will realise. It's no secret I left my hometown team to be here."

Swanson did concede that his first choice was to remain with the Braves, though it was a feeling he believes was not reciprocated.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't hope that I would be back home," he admitted. "Atlanta is where I always envisioned myself, especially after I got traded. I'm a homebody, my family is there.

"There are deep roots there, but at the end of the day, I reached out [to the Braves] plenty in the offseason, and got the pretty clear sense that they were going to move on.

"We were on our honeymoon, and we felt this is where we were supposed to be regardless."

Swanson married professional soccer player Mallory Pugh, who plays for Chicago Red Stars, just a day before the death of his grandfather, and thinks the cards fell exactly how they should have.

"I walked down to the field today and looked at my wife and said: this is where we're supposed to be," he added.

The Chicago Cubs took the last star shortstop off the free-agent market on Saturday, agreeing to a 7-year, $177 million contract with Dansby Swanson, sources told ESPN.

The deal, which is pending a physical, includes a full no-trade clause, according to two people familiar with the negotiations.

Swanson was selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft, but he was traded to Atlanta in a multiplayer deal that December.

He spent each of his seven MLB seasons with the Braves, helping them to a World Series championship in 2021 after batting .248 with 27 home runs and 88 RBIs.

He followed that by hitting .277 last season with 25 homers and a career-best 96 RBIs in 162 games. Swanson made the NL All-Star team for the first time and won his first Gold Glove.

The Cubs became the latest team to snag a high-priced shortstop following the San Francisco Giants (Carlos Correa, $350 million), Philadelphia Phillies (Trea Turner, $300 million) and San Diego Padres (Xander Bogaerts, $280 million).

With Swanson added, the Cubs likely will move Nico Hoerner from shortstop to second base.

Chicago finished third in the NL Central last season but did go 40-31 in its final 71 games. Besides Swanson, the Cubs signed 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger to a one-year contract and added right-hander Jameson Taillon on a four-year, $68 million deal.

Swanson is a career .255 hitter with 102 homers and 411 RBIs in 827 career games.

He got married last weekend to Mallory Pugh, who plays for the Chicago Red Stars, the women’s professional soccer team.