Xander Bogaerts hit a three-run homer during a six-run fifth inning Greedy Williams Jersey , J.D. Martinez and Eduardo Nunez also went deep, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Nationals 11-4 on Tuesday.
Boston has won 17 of its last 19 interleague games.
Washington has lost four straight and 16 of 21 to fall to 42-42, its first time at .500 since it was 17-17.
Red Sox starter Brian Johnson allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings. Brandon Workman (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh.
Nationals starter Tanner Roark (3-10) allowed a career-high nine runs in seven innings and is 1-8 with a 5.19 ERA in 12 appearances (11 starts) since May 5.
YANKEES 8, BRAVES 5
NEW YORK (AP) – Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks and Kyle Higashioka each homered and New York went ahead early and hung on to beat Atlanta.
Aaron Judge had two hits and a walk, and he stole two bases for the first time in his career. Hicks also walked twice as New York drew eight free passes.
The Yankees improved to a major league-best 21-6 against left-handed starters and remain a game behind Boston for the majors’ best record.
Nick Markakis and Ender Inciarte each hit two-run homers for Atlanta, which ended a four-game winning streak. Braves starter Sean Newcomb allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings in the shortest start of his career.
A.J. Cole (2-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief to earn the win.
DODGERS 8, PIRATES 3
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Clayton Kershaw earned his first win in 2 months, five Dodgers homered including Max Muncy with a pair, and Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh.
Ivan Nova (4-6) became the first pitcher in Pirates history to give up five homers in a game. Pittsburgh has been outscored 25-4 in the first two games of the series.
The Dodgers have 11 homers three days into July and 122 so far this season after slugging a major league-leading and franchise-record 55 in June.
Kershaw (2-4) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings of his third start since coming off the disabled list. The left-handed ace struck out two and didn’t walk anyone to earn his first victory since April 15 at Arizona. He had two losses and four straight no-decisions since then.
Kershaw had not gone as late as July 3 with just one win since his rookie year in 2008. That year he didn’t earn his second victory until Aug. 7.
MARINERS 4, ANGELS 1
SEATTLE (AP) – Wade LeBlanc allowed one run over seven innings and Seattle beat Los Angeles for its eighth straight victory.
The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani was activated from the 10-day disabled list and went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his return. He had been sidelined since June 8 with a Grade 2 ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
The Mariners announced they signed LeBlanc (4-0) to a contract extension before his start and the soft-tossing left-hander showed them they made a good decision. LeBlanc allowed three hits, struck out four and retired his final 11 batters.
Andrew Heaney (4-6) tied a career high with 10 strikeouts, but was tagged with three runs in the first inning to fall behind and was handed the loss.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, CARDINALS 2
PHOENIX (AP) – Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer, Zack Greinke pitched effectively into the seventh inning and Arizona ended a four-game losing streak by beating St. Louis.
Goldschmidt followed a four-hit night Monday with a three-run homer off Jack Flaherty (3-4) in the fifth inning. The NL player of the month for June, Goldschmidt is hitting .413 with 11 homers and 28 RBIs his past 26 games.
Greinke (9-5) gave up two runs in the second inning to end his 13-inning scoreless streak but was otherwise sharp in winning his fourth straight game. Yoshihisa Hirano needed one pitch to get a groundout with the bases loaded in the seventh and extend his team record with a 26th straight scoreless appearance.
Brad Boxberger worked around a walk in the ninth for his 20th save in 24 chances.
INDIANS 6, ROYALS 4
KANSAS CITY (AP) – Yan Gomes hit a sixth-inning grand slam as Cleveland rallied to beat Kansas City.
The Indians lead the AL with eight grand slams. Francisco Lindor hit a grand slam Monday.
Edwin Encarnacion led off the sixth with a walk and Brandon Guyer was hit by a pitch from Danny Duffy (4-8). Yonder Alonso’s infield single loaded the bases. Gomes drove a 1-0 Duffy pitch into the left-field bullpen.
Chad Allen got the final four outs for his 17th save in 18 chances. He stranded two runners in the ninth after a single and a walk.
Shane Bieber (4-0) picked up the victory and remains undefeated in his first five big league starts.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Zach Eflin pitched seven strong innings for his sixth straight victory and Andrew Knapp had the winning hit for the second straight game.
Rhys Hoskins had a two-run double for the Phillies, who have won 11 of 16.
Mark Trumbo homered for Baltimore, which has dropped eight of nine.
The game was delayed at the start 1 hour, 25 minutes due to rain and mostly played under a persistent drizzle.
Eflin (7-2) allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and no walks to become the first Phillies pitcher since Cliff Lee in 2011 to record six consecutive wins.
Orioles starter Alex Cobb (2-10) gave up three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 6 2/3 innings.
CUBS 5, TIGERS 3
CHICAGO (AP) – Anthony Rizzo drove in his second run of the game in the seventh inning to snap a tie, Kyle Schwarber followed with a solo homer in the eighth and Chicago rebounded from an early three-run deficit to edge Detroit f Aaron Slegers and Jake Cave have been called up from Triple-A by the Minnesota Twins three times apiece this season, and the All-Star break is still more than one week away.
Their contributions to this struggling team on Thursday night were sure worthy of a longer stay.
Slegers picked up his first major league win with six smooth innings, Cave reached base all four times he batted, and the Twins stopped their six-game losing streak by hanging on for a 5-2 victory over the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
”I know that I think, and I know Slegers thinks the same thing, that we can play big league baseball,” Cave said. ”We’re ready to go anytime the team needs us, and that’s just kind of how you’ve got to think of it.”
Logan Morrison homered and Cave drove in an eighth-inning insurance run with one of his two doubles for the Twins, who turned to Fernando Rodney in the ninth for his 18th save following two consecutive blown chances. Slegers (1-0) gave up only one run, on the first of two homers by Jonathan Schoop.
”It’s fun to have that in the stat column, to be a major league winner,” Slegers said. ”I can say that for the rest of my life.”
With eight right-handers in the Orioles lineup Sheldrick Redwine Jersey , except for Chris Davis, Slegers put his sinker to good use against the second-lowest scoring team in MLB. The Orioles managed just three hits against the 6-foot-10 Slegers, who was the latest to fill the recently revolving fifth spot in the rotation. Manager Paul Molitor stopped short of a commitment, but he indicated Slegers earned another turn after needing only 72 pitches to complete those six innings in his first major league start this season.
”Sometimes you make tough decisions to protect those young guys when they’ve had good outings and make sure they feel good when they come out of the game,” Molitor said.
The Orioles squandered another quality start by Andrew Cashner (2-9) and lost for the 10th time in 11 games. They have the worst record in the major leagues at 24-62, just the team the Twins needed to face to start a season-long 11-game homestand after a pivotal 1-8 road trip.
Trailing AL Central-leading Cleveland by 11 1/2 games, Minnesota has become a probable seller before the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31 with several accomplished players on expiring contracts. Baltimore has essentially been in that boat since April, with slugging shortstop Manny Machado widely considered the best asset on the market this summer.
CASHED OUT
Cashner, one of the offseason acquisitions by the Orioles that suggested their commitment to contending in the daunting AL East, has had more than three runs scored for him in only one of his 17 starts this year. He gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits.
”It’s not like we didn’t want to score for him,” Schoop said. ”I hope things start changing.”
Orioles starters have received the least amount of run support in the major leagues this season.
”I probably had the worst stuff I’ve had this season, but I thought I just grinded throughout the game,” Cashner said. ”When you’re not scoring runs, I feel like I keep my mind sharp on what I want to do out there and thinking pitch to pitch.”
WHOOPS
Cashner was charged with an error in the third, when he was covering first base on a chopper hit by Bobby Wilson to Davis and fumbled the relay toss to let Cave score from second. Wilson eventually scored on a single by Eddie Rosario.
WHIFFS
Rodney struck out Davis to start a perfect ninth Austin Seibert Jersey , pushing the sputtering slugger into a first-place tie on the Orioles list for strikeouts with 1,305. He is tied with Cal Ripken Jr., who played 3,001 games for Baltimore. Davis has appeared in 972 contests.
MAN, CAVE
Cave, who was recalled from Rochester last week, made a fully extended catch at the wall in right-center to take a potential extra-base hit away from Davis in the fourth inning. Cave doubled twice, driving in one run, to go with a single and an intentional walk.
”He can really flash it out there,” Slegers said.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Orioles: RHP Darren O’Day (strained left hamstring) has been scheduled for his season-ending surgery on July 12. He’ll need six months to recover.
DOZIER’S DAY
Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, who has started 80 of 84 games and appeared in all but one this season, went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. He’s batting .218.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Dylan Bundy (6-7, 3.75 ERA) will come off the DL to start Friday night. Bundy has been sidelined by a sprained left ankle.
Twins: RHP Lance Lynn (5-7, 5.49 ERA) will take the mound in the second game of the series, coming off his worst turn of the season. He gave up seven runs in Chicago to the Cubs in just 1 2/3 innings.