ATLANTA (AP) — Dominic Smith hit a two-run homer, Spencer Strider allowed three runs in five innings and the Atlanta Braves recovered after losing an early three-run lead to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-3 on Saturday and clinch another series win.
Atlanta led 3-0 after three innings. The Pirates pulled even in the fifth on Brandon Lowe’s sacrifice fly off Strider (4-1).
The Braves delivered a quick answer by scoring three runs off Braxton Ashcraft (5-3) in the bottom of the third. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson reached on singles before their double-steal set up a go-ahead sacrifice fly by Ozzie Albies. Smith then lined the two-run homer just inside the foul pole in left field.
Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 13th save. He has converted 31 consecutive save opportunities since July 28, 2025, the majors’ longest active streak.
Lowe left the game after fouling a ball off his right knee in the ninth.
The Braves improved the majors’ best record to 44-21. They have won 18 of 21 series, including 10 of 11 at home.
Pirates third baseman Tyler Callihan, making his first start of the season, had a run-scoring double, a walk and a stolen base.
MARINERS 4, TIGERS 0
DETROIT (AP) — Bryce Miller allowed one hit in six scoreless innings and Seattle got back on track with a win over Detroit.
Dominic Canzone drove in two runs with a pair of long extra-base hits for the Mariners, who had lost two straight after an eight-game winning streak.
Detroit was 4-0 in June after going 6-22 in May.
Miller (2-0) allowed a lead-off triple to Colt Keith in the third and walked two batters while striking out nine. He has allowed 16 hits in 27 innings this season, striking out 29.
Tigers starter Keider Montero (2-4) gave up four runs on six hits in five innings.
ROYALS 3, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning to give Kansas City a come-from-behind victory over Minnesota.
With the Royals trailing 2-1, Isaac Collins led off top of the inning with a single against Eric Orze (2-2). Pinch runner Tyler Tolbert stole second. Josh Rojas tried to sacrifice him over to third, but his bunt went straight back to Orze, who threw to second base too late to catch the retreating Tolbert.
Kyle Isbel successfully bunted the runners up a base, and Tolbert scored on Carter Jensen’s sacrifice fly to tie it. Witt then drove in Rojas with a single to left.
Minnesota tried to rally in the bottom of the inning, as Kody Clemens led off with a double against Alex Lange. But Josh Bell and Austin Martin struck out, and after Victor Caratini was hit by a pitch, Lange fanned Royce Lewis to earn his third save of the season.
The Twins took a 2-1 lead in the eighth on Orlando Arcia’s two-out, pinch-hit home run off Matt Strahm (3-1).
Kansas City starter Luinder Avila pitched five innings, allowing one run on two hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
Minnesota’s Joe Ryan gave up one run on six hits and two walks while striking out five in six innings.
CARDINALS 6, REDS 5
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lars Nootbaar hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning and Jordan Walker also homered as St. Louis beat Cincinnati.
Nootbaar hit a 2-1 pitch from Sam Moll (1-4) 433 feet into the right-center field bleachers to put St. Louis ahead.
Nootbaar, who made his season debut Friday night after opening the season on the 60-day injured list while recovering from surgery on both heels, entered the game as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning.
George Soriano (3-0) pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Riley O’Brien allowed two hits and a walk in the ninth inning but got Sal Stewart to ground out to second with the bases loaded to earn his 16th save in 20 chances this season.
Matthew Liberatore allowed five runs, three earned, on four hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings for the Cardinals, who have won three straight.
Nick Lodolo allowed four runs on nine hits in five innings for Cincinnati.
BLUE JAYS 6, ORIOLES 4
TORONTO (AP) — Ernie Clement hit a three-run home run, Brandon Valenzuela had three hits and an RBI, and Toronto beat Baltimore.
Pete Alonso hit a two-run home run for Baltimore, and Colton Cowser and Blaze Alexander both had solo shots, but it wasn’t enough for the Orioles.
Gunnar Henderson had three hits as the Orioles finished with six, ending an 11-game streak with seven hits or more.
Spencer Miles (3-1) allowed two runs and two hits in 4 1/3 innings to win for the second time in three appearances. He walked one and struck out five.
Louis Varland pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 10th save in 10 chances as Toronto improved to 19-7 when scoring five or more runs.
Clement went 2 for 4 with a triple and scored twice. He also made a highlight defensive play in the eighth, diving to snare Alonso’s grounder and throwing from his knees for the out.
Six straight Toronto batters reached in a four-run fourth against Kyle Bradish (3-7).
CUBS 3, GIANTS 2, 10 INNINGS
CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Busch singled to right in the 10th inning, allowing automatic runner Dansby Swanson to advance from second and score on an error, and Chicago edged San Francisco.
Leading off the 10th, Busch grounded the ball to right off Sam Hentges’ 2-2 slider. Victor Bericoto charged the ball but couldn’t come up with it and was charged with an error. That allowed Swanson — who was slowing at third — to continue home.
The Cubs won for only the seventh time in their last 26 games.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s second solo shot of the game, with two outs in the ninth off Keaton Winn, tied it at 2-2.
The Cubs center fielder added two singles on a 4 for 5 afternoon to extend his hitting streak to a career-high 11 games. Crow-Armstrong, who made a nifty sliding catch in the sixth, has 11 home runs.
Ryan Rolison (5-1) worked around a walk, pitching a scoreless 10th for the win. Hentges (1-1), who entered in the 10th, took the loss.
NATIONALS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 1
PHOENIX (AP) — Curtis Mead launched a two-run homer in the first inning, Dylan Crews also went deep and Washington held Arizona to two hits in a victory.
Nasim Nuñez drove in two runs and Crews scored twice for the Nationals (33-32), who improved to 21-12 away from home. Only the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves have more road wins, with 23.
Washington starter Zack Littell (6-4) pitched five effective innings. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth, when Pavin Smith led off with a single. Smith scored on LuJames Groover’s single, the first major league hit and RBI for the Arizona first baseman playing in his second career game.
Littell walked one and struck out four. Brad Lord worked two innings for his first big league save. A trio of Nationals relievers combined for four hitless innings.
Arizona left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez (5-2), looking for his 100th career win, got off to a bad start when James Wood singled leading off the game and Mead followed with his ninth homer, a drive to left-center.
Rodríguez settled in after that, giving up just two hits over the next five innings, until Crews led off the seventh with his second homer of the season. After Jacob Young tripled one out later, Rodríguez was relieved by Juan Morillo, and Nuñez’s squeeze bunt brought home Young to make it 4-1.
WHITE SOX 6, PHILLIES 3
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jacob Gonzalez hit his first major league home run, Colson Montgomery also went deep and Chicago defeated Philadelphia.
Playing in only his sixth game after being recalled to replace the injured Munetaka Murakami, Gonzalez crushed an 0-2 slider from Philadelphia starter Andrew Painter 428 feet into the second deck of the right field seats. A first round pick by the White Sox in 2023, Gonzalez has six hits in his first six games in the majors.
Gonzalez’s homer came two batters after Montgomery hit his 16th of the season off Painter on a 1-0 four-seamer.
The White Sox scored four runs in the first inning off Painter (1-7) as each of the first four batters reached base and eventually touched home. Painter was wild, hitting leadoff hitter Sam Antonacci to start the game and then walking two others in the inning.
Andrew Benintendi had an RBI single and Tristan Peters had an RBI double. The other two runs scored on RBI groundouts from Gonzalez and Chase Meidroth. Peters finished the game with three hits.
Sean Burke (3-3) earned the victory. Originally scheduled as the starter, Burke followed opener Brandon Eisert and threw 4 1/3 innings allowing three runs while striking out seven.
ASTROS 13, ATHLETICS 2
HOUSTON (AP) — Yordan Alvarez hit a grand slam for his American League-leading 22nd home run, Tatsuya Imai struck out eight and Houston defeated the Athletics.
Alvarez capped the Astros’ five-run second inning with the fifth slam of his career when he blasted a changeup from Athletics starter Kade Morris (0-1) into the right field seats. Alvarez tops the AL with 48 RBIs.
LaMonte Wade Jr. and Jose Altuve also homered for the Astros, who roughed up Morris in his major league debut and scored all of their runs before the sixth inning.
Morris gave up nine runs and nine hits, walked three and struck out four in four innings. The 23-year-old right-hander was drafted in the third round by the New York Mets in 2023 out of the University of Nevada, Reno. He was traded to the Athletics in 2024 for Paul Blackburn.
Wade Jr.’s solo homer led off the second inning for his first hit with the Astros since signing on Thursday. Wade finished 3 for 5 with three RBIs and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
In the third, the Athletics scored their only runs with on Tyler Soderstrom’s RBI single and a bases-loaded walk by Zack Gelof — with the help of a successful Athletics ABS challenge. Soderstrom has reached base safely in 16 consecutive games.
MARLINS 4, RAYS 3
MIAMI (AP) — Javier Sanoja homered and singled twice, Tyler Zuber earned his first career save and Miami held off Tampa Bay.
Sanoja led off the fifth inning with a 363-foot drive to left field against Shane McClanahan (6-3) to help Miami build a 4-1 lead until the ninth, when the Rays rallied against closer Pete Fairbanks.
Ben Williamson drew a leadoff walk and scored with two outs on a wild pitch by Fairbanks to make it 4-2, followed by an RBI single from Yandy Díaz. After loading the bases, Fairbanks exited to a smattering of boos before Zuber entered and struck out Junior Caminero.
The Marlins totaled 10 hits after managing just two in Friday’s series-opening loss. Joe Mack hit a run-scoring double, and Otto Lopez singled twice.
Díaz had three of Tampa Bay’s five hits.
The Marlins used seven pitchers in a bullpen game. Lake Bachar got the start, striking out three over three perfect innings, and John King picked (3-1) up the win by getting two outs.
McClanahan allowed four runs and eight hits with six strikeouts through five innings for the AL East-leading Rays, who have lost four of five.
GUARDIANS 6, RANGERS 0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Tanner Bibee got his first win of the season in his 14th start, allowing three hits over eight innings to lead Cleveland over Texas.
A 27-year-old right-hander, Bibee (1-7) had been winless in a franchise-record 13 regular-season starts since beating Detroit last Sept. 24.
He needed 87 pitches to get through eight innings, striking out three and walking two. Bibee has receive one or zero runs of support in 10 previous starts this year.
Tim Herrin pitched a hitless ninth to finish Cleveland’s third shutout, all on the road. Texas was blanked for the fifth time — and fourth in the Rangers’ last 24 games.
José Ramírez and Brayan Rocchio homered for the Guardians.
Jack Leiter (3-5) allowed five runs, matching his season high, and six hits in 4 2/3 innings with a season-low two strikeouts. Texas (31-33) has not been at .500 it was 16-16 after play on May 1
