After Sean Murphy tied the game with a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, the Atlanta Braves scored once in the 11th to rally for a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday in a clash of 2023 National League play-off teams.

Marcell Ozuna drove in the eventual winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 11th that plated designated runner Austin Riley, who had advanced from second to third on an infield single by Matt Olson.

Riley homered earlier in the game and Murphy went 2 for 4 as the Braves took the opener of this four-game series and won their third consecutive contest.

Atlanta's bats were largely quiet for much of the night thanks to an impressive MLB debut by Arizona starter Yilber Diaz, but came alive against struggling closer Paul Sewald with the Braves trailing 3-1 in the ninth.

Sewald retired the first two hitters in the inning before Eddie Rosario extended Atlanta's chances with a single. Murphy then drove a 1-1 pitch over the wall in right center field to hand Sewald a third blown save in his last three appearances.

Diaz was in line for the victory after allowing just one run on four hits through six innings.

Both teams scored once in the 10th, with the Braves getting a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies and the Diamondbacks the same from Luis Perdomo.

Ozuna's fly ball in the 11th put Atlanta back ahead, and Joe Jimenez stranded the tying run in the bottom of the inning to record his second save of the season. 

Atlanta closer Raisel Iglesias earned the win after working two innings and permitting one unearned run.

Riley's 12th homer of the season gave the Braves an early edge in the first inning, and the Diamondbacks were held scoreless by Bryce Elder through the first five innings before breaking through in the sixth.

Perdomo led off the bottom of the sixth with a bloop single and took second when Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia mishandled the ball on the play, then scored on Corbin Carroll's single to tie the game at 1-1.

Elder then walked the next two batters to load the bases before being relieved by Grant Holmes, who walked Christian Walker on four pitches to give Arizona the lead. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. followed with a sacrifice fly to provide the Diamondbacks a two-run cushion.

Elder was charged with three runs allowed on four hits over five-plus innings.

Late error allows Tigers to edge Guardians

Jake Rogers scored the game's lone run on a Cleveland error in the eighth inning as the suddenly surging Detroit Tigers came through with a 1-0 victory over the American League Central-leading Guardians to open a four-game series.

Rogers greeted reliever Scott Barlow with a double to open the eighth and took third on Wenceel Perez's second hit of the night. Two batter later, Mark Canha hit a grounder that eluded the glove of Guardians' shortstop Brayan Roccio to allow the Detroit catcher to cross the plate and break the scoreless tie.

The Guardians couldn't mount a baserunner after the seventh inning, as Tyler Holton retired all five batters he faced to record the win and Shelby Miller threw a perfect ninth to close out the Tigers' fourth consecutive victory.

Detroit went 8-18 from June 5-July 4 before sweeping a three-game series on the road from the Cincinnati Reds this past weekend.

The game featured a strong duel between starting pitchers that didn't factor in the decision. Detroit's Keider Montero allowed just three hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings in his third career major league start, while Cleveland's Gavin Williams struck out five over 5 1/3 scoreless innings in his second start back from an elbow injury that had sidelined him since spring training.

Cardinals stay hot with shutout of Nationals

Alec Burleson homered and drove in three runs to back a sharp start from Miles Mikolas as the St. Louis Cardinals recorded a series-clinching 6-0 win over the Washington Nationals.

Paul Goldschmidt added a solo homer among his two hits to help the Cardinals take three of four meetings of the wraparound series. St. Louis improved to 33-18 since May 12, the best record in the National League over that stretch.

MIkolas (7-7) scattered six hits without a walk over 6 1/3 innings before relievers Andrew Kittredge and JoJo Romero finished the shutout by working 1 1/3 innings each.

Washington starter Mitchell Parker (5-5) was hung with the loss despite yielding two runs - one earned - and striking out six over seven innings.

The Cardinals' first run off Parker came courtesy of an error by Washington shortstop CJ Abrams, who threw wildly to first base on a double-play attempt to allow Nolan Gorman to score from second in the third inning. Gorman and Michael Siani had opened the frame with back-to-back infield singles.

Goldschmidt's homer off Parker in the fourth extended the lead to 2-0, and Burleson increased it further with a solo shot off Jacob Barnes in the eighth. Goldschmidt reached on an error later in the inning and came home on Brendan Donovan's two-out double for a 4-0 St. Louis advantage.

Donovan finished 2 for 4 and extended his streak of reaching base safely to 21 straight games.

The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the ninth when Gorman and Siani each singled before both later scored on Burleson's base hit.

Jose Ramirez hit a three-run homer and Gabriel Arias had three hits and three RBIs as the Cleveland Guardians won their seventh straight, 10-8 over the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday night.

Bo Naylor fell a home run shy of the cycle and scored three runs as Cleveland collected 14 hits and went 7 for 11 with runners in scoring position.

Ramirez’s drive to center capped a five-run fourth that extended Cleveland’s lead to 8-4. With 237 homers, he’s now in sole possession of third place on the franchise’s career list.

The major league-leading Guardians used five relievers after Logan Allen was tagged for six runs and nine hits over three-plus innings.

Emmanuel Clase pitched the ninth for his AL-best 25th save.

Jordan Westburg went 4 for 4 and Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, James McCann and Anthony Santander homered for the Orioles, who lost their season-high fifth straight.

Santander’s home run was his 12th this month, tying the club record for June shared by Boog Powell (1964), Rafael Palmeiro (1998), Albert Belle (2000) and Chris Davis (2013).

Surging Mets rough up Cole

Mark Vientos homered twice off Gerrit Cole and the New York Mets took the New York Yankees’ ace deep four times before holding on for a 9-7 victory in the first Subway Series matchup of the season.

Reed Garrett gave up Aaron Judge’s grand slam – his major league-leading 29th home run – in the eighth inning but worked a perfect ninth to preserve the Mets’ 10th win in 12 games.

Vientos led off the second with his first home run of the night and Harrison Bader connected against his former teammate one out later.

Vientos opened the fourth with another longball to extend the Mets’ lead to 4-0 and Brandon Nimmo’s two-run shot off Cole in the inning made it 6-0.

Cole allowed six runs on seven hits in four innings with four walks and no strikeouts in his second start of the season.

He surrendered a career-high five home runs at Minnesota on June 9, 2022.

Juan Soto also went deep for the Yankees, who have lost seven of nine but maintain a two-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East.

Padres’ Profar hits grand slam after benches empty

Jurickson Profar broke open the game with a grand slam after he was the focal point of a benches-clearing dustup and Manny Machado had a two-run homer as the San Diego Padres defeated the Washington Nationals 9-6.

With one out in the first inning, Washington catcher Keibert Ruiz jawed at Profar and put a hand on his shoulder just before his at-bat. Machado, who was on deck, then put a hand on Ruiz’s shoulder as he got in between them, and players and coaches from both teams swarmed onto the field.

Plate umpire Brian Walsh warned both teams, and Nationals pitcher MacKenzie Gore hit Profar with a pitch but wasn’t ejected.

Machado followed by taking Gore deep for a 2-0 lead.

Profar’s fourth career grand slam and second this season came in the sixth off Derek Law and extended the lead to 9-4.

The Nationals apparently felt Profar trolled them after hitting a walk-off, two-run single in the 10th inning in Monday’s 7-6 win.

DJ Herz was masterful in his third career start, striking out 13 and allowing one hit over six stellar innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 4-0 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.

Herz, a 23-year-old left-hander who made his major league debut on June 4, struck out eight of the first 10 batters and his total was the second-highest by a rookie for the Nationals since the team moved to Washington for 2005, surpassed only by Stephen Strasburg’s 14 in his debut on June 8, 2010.

Herz did not make it out of the fifth inning in his first two starts but didn’t allow a runner in this one until Jake Burger’s leadoff single in the fifth. He struck out the side in the third and sixth innings and was lifted after throwing 84 pitches.

He joins Strasburg as the only pitchers in major league history to strike out at least 13 without a walk in one of their first three career outings.

Herz also is just the third pitcher since 1988 to fan at least 13 on fewer than 85 pitches. The others are Clayton Kerhsaw (2022) and Greg Maddux (2000).

Dylan Floro, Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan finished the four-hitter to seal Washington’s seventh win in eight games.

The Marlins lost their fourth straight and dropped to 2-10 in June.

Yamamoto leaves early in Dodgers’ loss

Seth Lugo became the second 10-game winner in the majors and MJ Melendez hit a grand slam after Yoshinobu Yamamoto exited early in the Kansas City Royals’ 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yamamoto left after two innings due to triceps tendinitis following two scoreless innings. This is Yamamoto’s first year in the majors after he signed a record $325 million, 12-year contract in December.

He had thrown over 100 pitches in four consecutive starts entering Saturday and his scheduled start on Thursday against Texas was pushed back for extra rest.

Lugo limited the Dodgers to two runs and six hits in six innings to join Philadelphia’s Ranger Suarez as the only 10-game winners in the majors.

The Royals got all the offence they needed in the sixth to erase a 2-1 deficit. Vinnie Pasquantino, Nelson Velazquez and Freddy Fermin all drew one-out walks off Blake Treinen, who struck out pinch-hitter Adam Frazier before Melendez connected on the 12th pitch of his at-bat for his first career grand slam.

Santander powers Orioles past Phillies

Anthony Santander hit a pair of home runs and drove in four to back Grayson Rodriguez’s strong start as the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-2 in a matchup of two of baseball’s top teams.

Santander hit a tying solo homer in the fourth inning and his two-run blast in the eighth extended the lead to 5-2. He also added a sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

Santander leads the majors with eight home runs in June.

Rodriguez allowed two runs on seven hits over seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts to win his third straight start.

Edmundo Sosa hit a solo homer for the NL-best Phillies, who have lost three of four.

Aaron Judge completed a torrid month with his major league-leading 19th and 20th home runs and Marcus Stroman pitched into the eighth inning as the New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 on Friday night.

Judge singled in the first inning, then erased New York’s 1-0 deficit with a three-run homer in the third off starter Jordan Hicks and led off the sixth with a solo shot to make it 4-1.

Judge, who grew up about 100 miles away in Linden, California, was heavily recruited by the Giants in free agency in December 2022, but decided to remain with the Yankees and signed a nine-year, $360 million contract.

He finished May with a .371 average, 14 home runs, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs in 28 games. Judge’s 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937, and this is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.

The Yankees have won 14 of 18 and are just the fourth team ever to reach 40 wins before June 1.

Stroman allowed two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings. New York tied a franchise record set in 1981 with its 18th straight start with a pitcher going at least five innings and allowing three runs or fewer.

Yelich’s big night powers Brewers

Christian Yelich had five of the Brewers’ 23 hits and drove in five runs in Milwaukee’s 12-5 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Yelich, who had a career-high six hits on Aug. 29, 2018, had a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run double in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth. He had a career-high six hits at Cincinnati on Aug. 29, 2018.

Brice Turang, William Contreras and Sal Frelick each had three hits for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won four of five.

Paul DeJong homered for the White Sox, who lost their ninth straight to fall to a major league-worst 15-43.

Bibee sharp in Guardians’ win

Tanner Bibee took a shutout into the seventh and Davis Fry hit a three-run homer as the Cleveland Guardians won their eighth straight at home, 7-1 over the Washington Nationals.

Bibee gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He has a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts.

Cleveland broke open the game with a four-run seventh. Josh Naylor knocked in a run with a force out grounder and Fry followed with his eighth home run, a blast to left-center field off Robert Garcia.

Fry is batting .455 (15 for 33) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in his last 11 games.

Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan had three hits, two runs and a walk in his return after being activated from the injured list before the game. He raised his batting average to .365 in 33 games.

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.

Travis d’Arnaud hit a grand slam for his third home run of the game and drove in six runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to their fifth straight win, 8-3 over the Texas Rangers on Friday.

D’Arnaud, who entered with no homers this season, hit solo shots off Andrew Heaney in the second and fifth innings before connecting for his slam off reliever Jacob Latz in the sixth to put the Braves ahead 7-3.

It was his third career grand slam and second three-homer game.

D’Arnaud grounded out in the eighth with a chance for his fourth home run.

Marcell Ozuna had a run-scoring single in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 17 games, the longest active run in the majors.

Chris Sale allowed three runs on five hits over seven innings with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Astros’ Verlander wins season debut

Justin Verlander pitched six strong innings to win his season debut and the Houston Astros stole five bases in a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals.

The 41-year-old Verlander, who began the season on the injured list due to right shoulder inflammation, struck out four and walked none, throwing 50 of 78 pitches for strikes in his 258th win.

He retired the side in order four times and improved to 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five regular-season starts against the Nationals.

Jeremy Pena and Mauricio Dubon had three hits apiece for the Astros and Kyle Tucker doubled, singled, walked twice and stole two bases as the Astros snapped a three-game skid.

Phillies’ Turnbull flirts with history

Spencer Turnbull took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Alec Bohm belted a pair of three-run homers to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-0 win over the lowly Chicago White Sox.

Turnbull kept the White Sox hitless until Gavin Sheets singled with one out in the seventh. He struck out six and walked two, pitching seven innings for the first time since his no-hitter for Detroit against Seattle on May 18, 2021.

Matt Strahm and Orion Kerkering each pitched an inning to finish up a two-hitter and the Phillies’ fourth straight win.

Bohm matched a career high with six RBIs and had his fourth career two-homer game.

The White Sox fell to a major league-worst 3-16.

The New York Yankees received eight stellar innings from Nestor Cortes and three-run homers from Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe to continue their hot start with Monday's 7-0 win over the floundering Miami Marlins.

Cortes retired 24 of the 26 batters he faced, yielding just a pair of singles, to record his first victory since May 30 and help New York match the best 11-game start to a season in franchise history at 9-2. The left-hander struck out six while throwing 70 of 102 pitches for strikes.

The Yankees have opened a season 9-2 seven times previously, most recently in 2020.

Volpe and Soto's homers both came in the fourth inning off Jesus Luzardo, with Soto's blast his first at Yankee Stadium since New York acquired the star outfielder from the San Diego Padres in the offseason.

Soto finished 2 for 3 and Alex Verdugo went 3 for 3 with an RBI as the Yankees extended Miami's early-season woes. The Marlins have now lost 10 of their first 11 games for the second time in team history, having previously done so in 1998.

Luzardo permitted all seven runs while being tagged for eight hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings.

The Miami left-hander had kept the Yankees scoreless until Volpe followed fourth-inning singles by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo with a drive into the left field seats.

Verdugo then doubled and Luzardo walked Jose Trevino before retiring the next two batters to bring up Soto, who launched the first pitch he saw over the wall in right for a 6-0 lead.

Stanton doubled to open the bottom of the fifth before scoring the Yankees' final run on Verdugo's two-out single.

Nationals rout Giants to spoil Snell's San Francisco debut

Lane Thomas went 3 for 5 with a home run and three RBIs as the Washington Nationals spoiled Blake Snell's San Francisco Giants debut with an 8-1 rout in the opener of a three-game series.

Trey Lipscomb also had three hits, including an RBI single, and delivered a steal of home to help pin a loss on Snell in the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner's first start as a Giant.

Snell, who went 14-9 with an MLB-leading 2.25 ERA and 234 strikeouts with the San Diego Padres last season, joined San Francisco on a two-year, $62 million contract in March.

The ace left-hander struck out five in three innings, but surrendered three runs on three hits while walking two.

Washington received a more effective outing from starter Trevor Williams, who held San Francisco to one run on three hits over five innings to move to 2-0 on the season.

Snell's trouble came in the second inning, as he issued consecutive one-out walks before Lipscomb singled to left to drive in a run and tie the score at 1-1. 

Luis Garcia followed with an infield RBI single that put Washington ahead before stealing second base, with Lipscomb running home from third on the play and beating the throw to the plate.

The Giants had taken a 1-0 lead when Jung Hoo Lee singled and LaMonte Wade doubled two batters later, with Lee crossing the plate on an errant throw from Nationals left fielder Jesse Winker.

Thomas' two-run homer off Landen Roupp in the fifth pushed Washington's lead to 5-1, and the Nationals tacked on another run in the inning on Ildemaro Vargas' RBI double.

Washington scored twice more in the ninth via an RBI single from Thomas and a bases-loaded walk to Vargas that forced in Winker.

Ohtani's homer, three hits power Dodgers past Twins

Shohei Ohtani tied a career high with three extra-base hits, including a solo homer, as the Los Angeles Dodgers got back on track with a 4-2 win over the Minnesota Twins.

Ohtani added two doubles along with his third homer in five games to help Los Angeles take the opener of this three-game series. The Dodgers entered Minnesota off two losses in three games to the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.

James Paxton did his part for Los Angeles by holding the Twins to two runs on three hits over six solid innings to win his second straight start to begin the season.

Paxton's lone blemish came when he served up a two-run homer to Manuel Margot in the third inning that gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead.

The Twins maintained a one-run edge until the sixth, when Ohtani greeted reliever Steven Okert with a double and later scored on Will Smith's single.

Okert came on for Bailey Ober, who allowed just one run and three hits over five innings before departing in line for the win.

James Outman put Los Angeles ahead with a solo homer off Jay Jackson in the seventh. Two batters later, Ohtani connected for an opposite-field blast off Jackson that increased the lead to 4-2.

Ober's lone run allowed came after issuing a lead-off walk to Mookie Betts in the first inning. Ohtani followed with a double before Betts crossed the plate on Freddie Freeman's sacrifice fly. 

Michael Lorenzen made quite the first impression to the Philadelphia Phillies fans.

Lorenzen threw the 14th no-hitter in Phillies' franchise history on Wednesday in Philadelphia's 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals in his first start at Citizens Bank Park in a Phillies' uniform.

Acquired by Philadelphia from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, Lorenzen struck out five and walked four while throwing a career-high 124 pitches in just his second start for the Phillies (63-52).

He got Dominic Smith to fly out to shallow centre field to record the fourth no-hitter in MLB this season and the first by a Philadelphia pitcher since Cole Hamels in 2015.

Selected to his first All-Star Game this year, the 31-year-old Lorenzen improved to 5-1 with a 1.11 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in six outings since the start of July, which includes his final four appearances for the Tigers.

While Lorenzen shut down Washington (50-65), a couple of Philadelphia batters hit milestone home runs.

Nick Castellanos hit a pair of homers to give him 200 in his career, while Weston Wilson homered in his long-awaited first major league plate appearance.

The 28-year-old rookie had 2,836 plate appearances in the minor leagues before being called up Sunday.

The Phillies have won four of five, scoring seven, eight, eight and nine runs in those victories.

Raleigh's eighth-inning homer powers Mariners to seventh straight win

The Seattle Mariners continued their August surge, extending their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 6-1 win over the visiting San Diego Padres.

The score was tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning before the Mariners (62-52) erupted for five runs, taking the lead on Cal Raleigh's tiebreaking two-run homer with one out.

Mariners top pitching prospect, Emerson Hancock had an impressive major league debut, allowing a run and two hits over five innings.

The 24-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked three, and combined with five Seattle relievers to four-hit the Padres (55-60), who have lost four in a row.

Seattle, meanwhile, has lost just four games since July 20, going a major league-best 15-4 in that span to move a season-high 10 games over .500.

Ohtani earns 10th win as Angels top Giants

Shohei Ohtani picked up his 10th win of the season, yielding one unearned run over six innings of three-hit ball in the Los Angeles Angels' 4-1 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants.

The major league leader in home runs, Ohtani struck out five and walked three, becoming the first player in MLB history to have multiple seasons with 10 or more homers and 10 or more wins.

The two-way sensation, who won 15 games in 2022, has not allowed a run in 19 innings over his last three starts, lowering his season ERA to 3.17.

Ohtani has been stuck on 40 homers since August 3, and went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts at the plate against the Giants (62-53), though he did walk twice and scored on Mike Moustakas' tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning.

Moustakas had two hits, and has driven in 10 runs in his last seven games for the Angels (58-58), who have won two in a row following a season-high seven-game losing streak.

The Tampa Bay Rays improved to 6-0 with their second series sweep of the 2023 season, downing the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Wednesday.

The Rays' exceptional start has included winning all six games by four or more runs, outscoring their opponents by 31 runs (44-13) in the process.

Tampa Bay are the first team win their first six games by at least four runs since the St Louis Maroons in 1884, who managed 13 in a row.

It is Tampa Bay's best start in franchise history and the best start of any franchise in the majors since the Baltimore Orioles opened 7-0 in 2016.

It has been a spread of contributions for Tampa Bay as well, with starting pitcher Shane McClanahan having six strikeouts across six innings, with Wander Franco and Harold Ramirez hitting homers.

Franco's third-inning two-run shot opened up a 3-1 lead, with Ramirez's sixth-inning solo blast over center restoring their two-run lead at 4-2 with two outs.

The Rays added two further runs in the sixth, with Taylor Walls driving home Manuel Margot, before Jose Siri singled to right for Walls to score with Victor Robles losing the fly ball in the sun.

Walls along with Randy Arozarena both had two hits, while the latter took a fine leaping catch on Joey Meneses in the first.

Cole outpitches Nola as Phillies slump

Gerrit Cole piled more misery on the struggling Philadelphia Phillies with eight strikeouts in the New York Yankees' 4-2 win.

The Phillies had claimed their first win of the season against the Yankees on Tuesday but slumped to 1-5 with the defeat, where Jose Trevino's seventh-inning two-run shot opened up a 4-1 lead, with Gleyber Torres having three hits with two RBI singles.

Cole outpitched Phillies right-hander Austin Nola, who had seven Ks across six innings. The Yankees pitcher allowed one run with three hits and three walks across six-and-one-third innings.

The Phillies, who were NL champions last year, were held to two or less runs for the third time in four games with Kyle Schwarber hitting a ninth-inning consolation homer.

More Brewers blasts in walk-off win

Rookie Garrett Mitchell blasted a ninth-inning walk-off home run as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the New York Mets 7-6.

Leading off at the bottom of the ninth, Mitchell fell behind 1-2 in the count before unleashing his game-winning shot into the right-field stands, marking his third blast in his past two games.

The result means Milwaukee have won five games in a row, leading the NL Central division with a 5-1 record. The Brewers, who have homered seven times in two games, have scored 38 runs in their past 36 innings.

For the Mets, Pete Alonso hit a duo of two-run homers, the latter putting his side up 6-4 in the fifth.

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.

Shohei Ohtani homered for the second straight game with a go-ahead fifth-inning two-run blast in the Los Angeles Angels 7-3 in over the Seattle Mariners on Monday.

The Japanese two-way star creamed George Kirby's 1-1 pitch over right-center field for a 431-foot blast with a runner, Mike Trout, on first base to put the Angels up 4-2.

Kirby only surrendered one long ball during the final three months of last season, making Ohtani's shot more spectacular, having earlier grounded out with his first two at-bats.

Ohtani had hammered a solo shot in the fifth inning of the 6-0 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, with the Angels improving to 3-1 with their third straight triumph.

Taylor Ward's eighth-inning two-run shot all but settled Monday's contest after Eugenio Suarez's RBI single in the fifth cut the margin to one run.

Suarez also managed an RBI double in the first inning to put Seattle 1-0 up. The Mariners managed five hits for the game, with Angels starting pitcher Reid Detmers tossing down seven strikeouts.

Ohtani and Ward got the accolades for their blasts, but Brandon Drury went three-of-five with one RBI, driving in Hunter Renfroe with a ninth-inning double.

Tigers win as Alvarez makes Astros history

Matt Vierling scored a tie-breaking two-run homer in the 11th inning as the Detroit Tigers edged the Houston Astros 7-6 for their first win of the new season.

The Tigers had spurned a 4-0 fifth-inning lead, with the Astros launching a four-run fifth-inning rally which was ended by Vierling's backhand catch, before the late drama as the game went to extras.

Yordan Alvarez had led the world champions' fifth-inning rally with a monster three-run blast, which was his 100th career home run.

Alvarez reached 100 homers in only 372 games which is a franchise record, beating Lance Berkman's 452.

Rays and Twins stay perfect

The Tampa Bay Rays maintained their perfect record with a 6-2 win over the Washington Nationals led by outfielder Luke Raley.

Raley blasted two home runs for the game, with a first-inning two-run shot followed by another blast at the top of the eighth over left field.

Drew Rasmussen was outstanding on the mound, with six scoreless innings with two hits and seven strikeouts as well as a brilliant piece of backhand fielding in the fifth.

The Rays are 4-0, with the Minnesota Twins (4-0) the only other remaining team with an unbeaten record after their 11-1 victory over the Miami Marlins.

After the Washington Nationals selected right-hander Thad Ward from the Boston Red Sox with the top pick in the Rule 5 draft, the Philadelphia Phillies turned heads by taking pitcher Noah Song, who has spent the past three years in active military service.

The Red Sox drafted Song in the fourth round out of the Naval Academy in 2019 and hoped the right-hander would be able to get out of his military commitment, but that hasn’t happened.

Song has remained on the military reserve list, where the Phillies will keep him, so he won’t take up a spot on the 40-man roster.

“There’s some uncertainty surrounding the pick for sure,” Phillies general manager Sam Fuld said. “But we feel like the upside of the player is enough to take a chance.”

In November 2019, Defense Secretary Mark Esper signed a memo clearing the way for athletes at the nation's military academies to delay their service commitments and play pro sports after graduation. Song's request to have those new rules retroactively applied to his case was denied.

The 25-year-old impressed in seven starts and 17 innings for Boston’s Class Lowell affiliate in 2019, with a 1.06 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 17 innings. That came after he was 11-1 with a 1.44 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 94 innings as a senior for the U.S. Naval Academy.

Song began school as a flight officer in the summer of 2020 and finished that phase last April. He started additional aviation training in May.

Of the 15 players selected in the major league phase of the draft, three each were taken from the Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Besides Ward and Song, Boston also lost pitcher Andrew Politi to the Baltimore Orioles.

The Oakland Athletics took first baseman Ryan Noda second overall from the Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates grabbed left-hander Jose Hernandez and the Milwaukee Brewers nabbed right-hander Gus Varland, also from the Dodgers.

Aaron Judge made American League (AL) history with his record-tying 61st home run of the season as the New York Yankees won 8-3 over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Judge's seventh-inning two-run blast moved him to 61 single-season homers, equaling Roger Maris' long-held AL and franchise record set in 1961.

The homer ended Judge's run of seven homerless games, along with 31 consecutive plate appearances without a blast.

Judge delivered the shot in his fourth plate appearance of the game, going over left-field deep in the seventh from Tim Mayza, batting leadoff as the designated hitter.

"When I hit it, I thought I got enough but it's been a couple of games since I did that," Judge said.

"So, you never really know if it was going to get out out or, so, I tried to sprint around the bases a little bit then once it got over the fence, just relief that now we're leading the game.

"Getting a chance to tie Roger Maris, you dream about that kind of stuff, it's unreal."

Judge's blast came with scores tied at 3-3, opening up a two-run lead for the AL East-winning Yankees.

Harrison Bader had a single later in the seventh, before driving in two at the top of the ninth, reaching on a fielder's choice.

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole allowed three hits and three hits in six-and-one-third innings, striking out four to match Ron Guidry's franchise single-season record of 248 from 1978.

Escobar stars in Mets' walk-off win

Eduardo Escobar hit five RBIs including the walk-off game-winner in the 10th inning as the New York Mets got past the Miami Marlins 5-4.

The victory was critical for the Mets, giving them a one-game lead ahead of the Atlanta Bin the National League East, moving their magic number to clinch the division to six.

Trailing 4-0 at the bottom of the seventh inning, Escobar cut the lead in half with a two-run blast, before delivering an eighth-inning two-run single.

Escobar produced the walk-off single in the 10th inning, punching one through the hole of the left-side of the infield to drive in Francisco Lindor from second base.

Braves lose ground after Nats upset

The Braves let slip a huge opportunity to keep the pressure on the Mets, slumping to a 3-2 walk-off loss to the lowly Washington Nationals.

C.J. Abrams chopped a career-first walk-off single to right-field to drive in Alex Call for the game-winning run in the 10th inning. It was Abrams' third hit of the game.

Matt Olson crushed his 30th homer of the season among his two hits, while Michael Harris II hauled in a brilliant leaping catch at the center-field wall before driving in the game-tying eighth inning run for Dansby Swanson.

The Braves and Mets are set to meet in a crucial three-game series starting on Friday in Atlanta, weather permitting.

Aaron Judge made American League (AL) history with his record-tying 61st home run of the season as the New York Yankees won 8-3 over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Judge's seventh-inning two-run blast moved him to 61 single-season homers, equaling Roger Maris' long-held AL and franchise record set in 1961.

The homer ended Judge's run of seven homerless games, along with 31 consecutive plate appearances without a blast.

Judge delivered the shot in his fourth plate appearance of the game, going over left-field deep in the seventh from Tim Mayza, batting leadoff as the designated hitter.

"When I hit it, I thought I got enough but it's been a couple of games since I did that," Judge said.

"So, you never really know if it was going to get out out or, so, I tried to sprint around the bases a little bit then once it got over the fence, just relief that now we're leading the game.

"Getting a chance to tie Roger Maris, you dream about that kind of stuff, it's unreal."

Judge's blast came with scores tied at 3-3, opening up a two-run lead for the AL East-winning Yankees.

Harrison Bader had a single later in the seventh, before driving in two at the top of the ninth, reaching on a fielder's choice.

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole allowed three hits and three hits in six-and-one-third innings, striking out four to match Ron Guidry's franchise single-season record of 248 from 1978.

Escobar stars in Mets' walk-off win

Eduardo Escobar hit five RBIs including the walk-off game-winner in the 10th inning as the New York Mets got past the Miami Marlins 5-4.

The victory was critical for the Mets, giving them a one-game lead ahead of the Atlanta Bin the National League East, moving their magic number to clinch the division to six.

Trailing 4-0 at the bottom of the seventh inning, Escobar cut the lead in half with a two-run blast, before delivering an eighth-inning two-run single.

Escobar produced the walk-off single in the 10th inning, punching one through the hole of the left-side of the infield to drive in Francisco Lindor from second base.

Braves lose ground after Nats upset

The Braves let slip a huge opportunity to keep the pressure on the Mets, slumping to a 3-2 walk-off loss to the lowly Washington Nationals.

C.J. Abrams chopped a career-first walk-off single to right-field to drive in Alex Call for the game-winning run in the 10th inning. It was Abrams' third hit of the game.

Matt Olson crushed his 30th homer of the season among his two hits, while Michael Harris II hauled in a brilliant leaping catch at the center-field wall before driving in the game-tying eighth inning run for Dansby Swanson.

The Braves and Mets are set to meet in a crucial three-game series starting on Friday in Atlanta, weather permitting.

Travis d'Arnaud focused on the Atlanta Braves' "marathon" pursuit of the New York Mets after their postseason place was confirmed for a fifth straight year on Tuesday.

The defending World Series champions defeated the Washington Nationals 3-2 at Truist Park, with their playoff spot clinched shortly afterwards as the Mets rallied to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-5.

It was not necessarily the outcome the Braves wanted, however, as a victory for the Brewers would have seen Atlanta level with the Mets atop the NL East.

As it is, the Braves are one game back, but d'Arnaud warned their rivals they have plenty still left in the tank.

"It's a marathon, it's not over," d'Arnaud said. "So we'll just keep going after it until the end."

All-Star catcher d'Arnaud had extended his career-high home run total to 18, while William Contreras, his backup, has 19.

They are just the fourth catching duo in NL or AL history to each hit at least 18 homers in a season with at least two-thirds of their games played at catcher.

And Arnaud was effusive in his praise of Contreras, adding: "It's been so much fun.

"The energy he brings every day honestly inspires me and makes me feel young. So I don't know if I'd be having as good of a year if he wasn't here."

The Braves face the Nationals again on Wednesday, looking for a clean sweep as the Mets do likewise against the Brewers.