The Cardinals beat the Dodgers for their fourth straight win

Oscar Mercado and Paul DeJong combined for nine runs as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers 10-5 on Sunday afternoon.

Batting ninth in the order, Mercado went 3-5 and tied his career high with five RBIs. DeJong hit an RBI single and a three-run home run. The Cardinals won their fourth straight series. After starting the season 10-24, they went 11-3.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty allowed three runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Drew VerHagen (3-0) pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to earn the win.

Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (6-4) had the shortest home run of 2023. He allowed four runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.

Yankees 4, Reds 1

Harrison Bader belted a two-run homer and Luis Severino pitched effectively in the fifth inning in his season debut to lift New York past host Cincinnati.

The Yankees won for the 14th time in 19 games since falling to 15-15 on May 1. They went 6-1 while earning their second straight sweep of the season.

Severino returned after more than two months out with a strained right lat. It’s the same injury he suffered on July 13 at home against Cincinnati that cost him two months. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one in 75 pitches while averaging 96.7 mph on his 44 four-seam fastballs.

Mets 5, Guardians 4 (Game 1)

New York came back with a late inning when Starling Marte hit a two-run eighth-inning homer to give the host a thrilling victory over Cleveland in the first game of a doubleheader.

The Mets, who squandered a 3-0 lead, won four in a row in the eighth inning, including three in their last at-bat. Max Scherzer scattered three hits and a walk in six scoreless innings. He struck out five.

The Guardians have lost four of five. Jose Ramirez hit a two-run shot in the top of the eighth to give Cleveland a short-lived lead.

Brewers 6, Rays 4

Milwaukee relied on the long ball to get back to winning ways as Willy Adames, Rowdy Tellez and William Contreras each belted home runs in a victory over Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Contreras’ two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning gave the Brewers a lead to stay in. Freddy Peralta (5-3) pitched six quality innings for the Brewers, allowing three runs on five hits and walking three with four strikeouts. Devin Williams collected his seventh save, working 1 1/3 innings.

The Brewers saved the series finale after dropping the first two games of the series. Josh Lowe had three hits, including his 11th homer, and drove in all four Tampa Bay runs. The Rays suffered a rare home loss (21-4) and are 5-7 since a 29-7 start.

Gemini 4, Angels 2

Mickey Moniak’s two-run double in the seventh inning snapped a 1-1 tie and gave Los Angeles a victory over Minnesota in Anaheim, California.

Moniak’s clutch hit off Twins reliever Jorge Lopez gave the Angels a 3-1 lead before Alex Kirilloff’s solo homer cut the Angels’ lead to 3-2 in the eighth. However, Los Angeles got an insurance run in the bottom of the inning on an RBI double by Matt Thaiss.

Shohei Ohtani started for the Angels and gave up one run on two hits and three walks in six innings while striking out nine. He went 1-3 with a walk at the plate. Willi Castro had three hits for the Twins.

Phillies 2, Cubs 1

Bryson Stott snapped a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and Philadelphia got a start from starter Taijuan Walker on short rest to beat visiting Chicago in the finale of a pivotal three-game series.

Philadelphia managed just four hits through six innings against Chicago starter Justin Steele, but broke the slugger out of the game. Stott homered against Cubs reliever Adbert Alzolay (1-3), extending his hitting streak to eight games with his fourth homer. Philadelphia’s Matt Strahm (4-3) took two in relief to earn the win.

The 2-0 cushion proved to be enough to give the Phillies their second straight win after losing five straight. Walker turned in a strong rebounding effort on three days’ rest, pitching 5 1/3 shutout innings. Christopher Morel hit his fourth homer in four games — and eighth in 11 this season — with two outs in the ninth in Chicago, which fell to 2-7.

Nationals 6, Tigers 4

Riley Adams capped a four-hit performance with a solo homer to lead Washington to a win over visiting Detroit.

Adams also had two doubles and a single for the Nationals, who took two of three from the Tigers. Ildemaro Vargas also played at home, and Jeimer Candelario played four singles in Washington. Starter Josiah Gray (4-5) navigated five innings, allowing one run on three hits and overcoming six walks to get the win.

Nick Maton had a homer and a single and Matt Vierling also had two hits for the Tigers. Detroit starter Joey Wentz (1-4) struck out 16 batters before being pulled in the third inning after allowing six runs on 10 hits in two-plus frames.

Astros 2, Athletics 0

Framber Valdez rebounded nicely from his worst start of the season as Houston completed a three-game sweep of Oakland.

Valdez (4-4) allowed four hits and didn’t issue a walk while pitching his fifth career complete game and second shutout. He struck out seven over four innings against the Chicago Cubs last week, his shortest outing and one that snapped his streak of seven quality starts.

The Astros swept their six-game homestand and extended their winning streak to seven games. Oakland has lost 12 of 14 games. Athletics right-hander James Kaprielian (0-4), recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas on Saturday, allowed one run on three hits and four walks while recording five strikeouts.

Diamondbacks 8, Pirates 3

Corbin Carroll homered and Christian Walker drove in three runs to help Arizona make it two of three in the weekend series at Pittsburgh.

Pavin Smith and Ketel Marte each had RBI singles for the Diamondbacks, who won seven of nine. Arizona starter Merrill Kelly (5-3) allowed three runs (two earned) and three hits over five innings with two walks and four strikeouts.

Tucupita Marcano hit a two-run double for the Pirates. Pittsburgh starter Roansy Contreras gave up three runs and three hits in five innings with three walks and three strikeouts.

Braves 3, Mariners 2

Rookie Jared Shuster, Atlanta’s top pitching prospect, picked up his first major league win as the Braves beat visiting Seattle in the rubber game of their three-game series.

Shuster (1-2), thrust into the rotation when the Braves lost top-line starters Max Fried and Kyle Wright to lingering injuries, had the best start of his young career. In his fourth appearance, the left-hander went six innings and allowed one hit, one walk and a career-high seven strikeouts.

Mariners starter George Kirby (5-3) pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on six hits, one walk and six strikeouts.

Orioles 8, Blue Jays 3 (11 innings)

Cedric Mullins capped his five-hit performance with a two-run double in a five-run 11th inning to lift Baltimore over host Toronto.

Each team scored once in the 10th inning before Baltimore broke through in the 11th.

Blue Jays Yimi Garcia (1-2) allowed a one-out single to Adam Frazier that sent pinch runner Ryan McKenna to third before Austin Hays hit an RBI single. Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run single to load the bases, and pinch-hitter Terrin Vavra hit a two-run double before Mullins added a two-run double.

White Sox 5, Royals 2

Romy Gonzalez had a two-run triple among his three hits and Lance Lynn pitched six strong innings to lift host Chicago over Kansas City.

The White Sox secured their first series of the season and ended a nine-game homestand with a 6-3 record.

Michael Massey drove in two runs for Lynn in the second inning, but the Royals couldn’t score after that as they suffered their seventh loss in nine games. Lynn allowed two runs and four hits over six innings with two walks and six strikeouts to earn his third win in four May starts.

Rangers 13, Rockies 3

Corey Seager and Josh Jung both went deep in a five-run second inning, Andrew Heaney pitched six innings of one-run ball and host Texas upset Colorado to complete a three-game sweep.

The Rangers outscored the Rockies 31-10 in the series. Texas has won 11 of its last 15 games and is 12 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2016 season.

Colorado’s road woes continued as they fell to 9-16 on the road.

Giants 7, Marlins 5

Patrick Bailey hit his first major league home run, JD Davis drove in two runs, and San Francisco cruised to a series victory over visiting Miami.

Casey Schmitt had two hits and an RBI to cap a memorable first complete home run for the Giants, who went 5-1 against the Phillies and Marlins. Davis, who scored twice, had two hits for the Giants, as did Schmitt and Mitch Haniger. San Francisco’s bullpen pitched 4 2/3 innings in relief, allowing just one unearned run.

Jorge Soler went 4-for-5 with three RBIs for the Marlins. His third hit was a homer off Xavier Edwards to tie Miami at 4-4 in the fifth. Davis’ homer came against Marlins starter Jesus Luzardo (3-3), who was charged with six runs on six hits in five-plus innings. He walked one and struck out eight.

Padres 7, Red Sox 0

Michael Wacha pitched six shutout innings against his former team and Rougned Odor (four RBI) and Matt Carpenter (three) drove in each run as San Diego beat visiting Boston to salvage a win in the three-game series finale.

Wacha extended his scoreless inning streak to 15 as the win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Padres, who won for just the third time in 14 games.

Wacha, who had a no-hitter into the eighth inning in his previous start, held Boston to five hits and improved to 5-1 with four strikeouts. Wacha has walked just once over his last 25 innings and is 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA in May. In 2022, he pitched for the Red Sox.

— Field Level Media