Christian Walker’s 2 homers powers Astros past Cubs 3-0 as Chicago drops 7th straight

CHICAGO (AP) — Christian Walker homered twice with three RBIs, and the Houston Astros beat Chicago 3-0 Saturday to extend the Cubs’ losing streak to seven, their longest skid in four years.

Kai-Wei Teng (3-3) allowed two hits in six innings, struck out six and walked three as the Astros won their second straight and third in four games. Three relievers followed, with Bryan King working around a ninth-inning single to finish a three-hitter for his sixth save.

Chicago’s losing streak is its longest since a nine-game slide from July 7-16, 2022. The Cubs, who have lost 11 of 13, also had a pair of 10-game winning streaks this season.

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez left the game in the middle of an at-bat in the sixth inning with a back spasm.

Walker hit a two-run homer in the first and added his 13th homer in the fourth, both against Colin Rea (4-3).

Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner made a between-the-legs flip to first baseman Michael Busch to retire César Salazar on a fifth-inning drag bunt. The two-time Gold Glove winner made a bare-hand pickup before tossing to Busch, who reached high to his left.

Chicago benched Ian Happ, in a 1-for-24 slide, and started Michael Conforto, who went 0 for 2.

CARDINALS 8, REDS 1, 1ST GAME

REDS 7, CARDINALS 6, 11 INNINGS, 2ND GAME

CINCINNATI (AP) — Bryan Torres hit a two-run homer and also singled in his major league debut at age 28, helping St. Louis beat Cincinnati in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

Spencer Steer scored the winning run in the 11th inning with a headfirst slide on Blake Dunn’s one-hopper to shortstop, and the Cincinnati outlasted St. Louis to split their day-night doubleheader.

Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run homer and Nathaniel Lowe launched a two-run shot as Cincinnati took a 5-1 lead in the fifth.

But the Cardinals scored twice in the ninth and tied it 6-all on a two-out RBI single by Jordan Walker, who started the comeback with a three-run homer in the sixth.

Steer was the automatic runner in the 11th and he advanced from second to third on a sacrifice bunt by P.J. Higgins. After a walk to Dane Myers put runners at the corners, Dunn sent a one-hopper up the middle.

With the infield playing in, strong-armed shortstop Masyn Winn made a lunging stop to his left and a spinning throw to the plate, where catcher Yohel Pozo scooped the ball on a short hop. But he couldn’t get his tag back down in time to get Steer, and a replay review upheld the safe call.

Dunn was credited with an RBI on a fielder’s choice. He also prevented the go-ahead run from scoring in the top of the inning with a sliding catch in shallow right field.

BLUE JAYS 5, PIRATES 2

TORONTO (AP) — George Springer hit his 65th leadoff home run and Toronto sent Paul Skenes to losses in consecutive starts for the first time this season, beating Pittsburgh for its fourth straight win and seventh in 10 games.

Skenes (6-4), the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, allowed four runs and a career-high nine hits and one walk in five-plus innings with two strikeouts, just his second time with fewer than five this season. His ERA rose to 3.00.

Skenes left after giving up four straight hits in the sixth. In his previous outing, against Philadelphia on May 17, Skenes tied his big league high by giving up five runs .

Tyler Heineman also homered for the defending AL champions, his first since last July 19.

Patrick Corbin (2-1) allowed one run and five hits in six innings with a season-high seven strikeouts. Jeff Hoffman struck out the side in the ninth for his fifth save in eight chances.

MARLINS 4, METS 1

MIAMI (AP) — Max Meyer threw seven shutout innings of one-hit ball, Liam Hicks homered twice and Miami beat punchless New York.

Owen Caissie drove in two runs with a double for the Marlins, who have allowed only one run and three hits in each of the first two games of the series. Otto López doubled in the third and leads the majors with 69 hits.

Mark Vientos’ opposite-field single to right in the second was the only hit off Meyer (5-0), the third overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft. The right-hander struck out eight, walked three and hit a batter with a pitch while lowering his ERA to 2.52.

He has permitted just two runs over 25 innings in his last four home starts.

TWINS 4, RED SOX 2

BOSTON (AP) — Trevor Larnach matched his career-high with four hits, Taj Bradley allowed one run over five innings in his return from a chest muscle injury and Minnesota beat Boston for its ninth win in 13 games.

Benches and bullpens cleared briefly in the fourth inning after Boston’s Willson Contreras collided with catcher Victor Caratini when he was tagged out trying to score after running through a late stop sign from third base coach Chad Epperson. No punches were thrown.

Larnach had three singles and a double.

Boston had five hits and dropped to 2-20 when scoring two runs or fewer.

NATIONALS 2, BRAVES 0

ATLANTA (AP) — Jake Irvin held the Braves hitless over five innings before leaving with an injury, and Washington defeated Atlanta with a combined one-hitter.

Michael Harris led off the seventh with a clean single to center against Brad Lord for the Braves’ only hit. A call that was overturned — and then disputed — put two runners on for Atlanta, but Ozzie Albies popped out, Dominic Smith flied out and Austin Riley fanned to preserve the shutout.

Lord worked three innings before Richard Lovelady turned in a perfect ninth for his fourth save.

Dylan Crews and Jorbit Vivas homered off starter Grant Holmes for the only runs of a game that was delayed 41 minutes in the middle of the second by rain.

It was an unlikely performance by Irvin (2-4), who had not earned a win since his first start on March 29. He bent over and grimaced after his final out in the fifth, went back out in the sixth for warmups, but was lifted without throwing another official pitch.

GIANTS 10, WHITE SOX 3

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Harrison Bader hit a grand slam for the second time in six days, and San Francisco beat Chicago.

Casey Schmitt homered and drove in three runs, and Willy Adames also went deep to help the Giants end a four-game skid. Luis Arraez, Matt Chapman and Daniel Susac each had two hits.

The Giants totaled 12 runs in their previous four games before putting together a pair of big innings Saturday.

Bader had the biggest hit with his third career slam as part of San Francisco’s six-run fifth. The 31-year-old outfielder, who also had a grand slam against the Athletics on Monday, later reached on an infield single.

Schmitt hit his 10th home run of the season earlier in the fifth as the Giants took a six-run lead.

Miguel Vargas and Tristan Peters had two hits apiece for the White Sox.

Matt Gage (4-1), the second of four Giants pitchers, got all four of his outs on strikeouts to earn the win.

ROYALS 5, MARINERS 0

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Stephen Kolek threw a complete-game shutout and Carter Jensen had two RBIs and Kansas shut out Seattle to end a four-game losing streak.

Kolek (3-0) allowed a walk, four hits and struck out two. He only needed 108 pitches to go all nine innings in a game that lasted only 2:06. The 108 pitches were four more than his previous career high.

It was Kolek’s second career shutout in 23 starts and the seventh complete game and fourth shutout in the major leagues this season. Kolek’s other shutout was a five-hitter in a 21-0 win at Colorado on May 10 of last season while pitching for San Diego.

Kolek joined Chris Archer and Mike Montgomery as the only pitchers to debut since 2010 with two shutouts in their first 23 career starts.

The Royals took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Maikel Garcia led off with a double and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Vinnie Pasquantino. Jensen had a RBI grounder and Pasquantino later scored on Jac Caglianone’s single.

PHILLIES 3, GUARDIANS 0

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler pitched six shutout innings and Bryson Stott hit a two-run single as Philadelphia defeated Cleveland, ending its seven-game winning streak.

After the start was delayed nearly two hours by rain, Wheeler (4-0) allowed just two hits and struck out six while running his scoreless streak to 13 innings.

Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez tossed eight sharp innings Friday against Cleveland, extending his shutout streak to 37 2/3 innings over his last five outings.

The resurgent Phillies have won all six of Wheeler’s starts this season since the right-hander returned from surgery last September for a blood clot discovered in his right shoulder.

Stott broke a scoreless tie in the fourth with a two-out, two-run single. That gave him 20 RBIs this month, most in the National League.

Bryce Harper had his sixth three-hit game of the season — fourth in May — and scored twice. A trio of Philadelphia relievers finished the three-hitter, with Jhoan Duran earning his ninth save as the Phillies (26-26) snapped a three-game skid.

DODGERS 11, BREWERS 3

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Teoscar Hernández homered and matched a career high with six RBIs, and Los Angeles’ bullpen extended its streak of scoreless innings to 36 in the Dodgers’ victory over Milwaukee.

It’s the longest shutout streak for a Dodgers bullpen since at least 1901. According to Sportradar, it’s the longest by any major league bullpen since September 2017, when Cleveland relievers threw 39 straight scoreless innings.

Alex Vesia, Kyle Hurt, Tanner Scott and Jonathan Hernández each pitched an inning in relief of starter Roki Sasaki (3-3). Only one of Milwaukee’s five hits came in the final seven innings.

The last time the Dodgers bullpen allowed a run was in a 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on May 12.

PADRES 2, ATHLETICS 0

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lucas Giolito and four relievers combined on a five-hitter as San Diego beat the Athletics.

Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ty France each drove in a run for the Padres, who have won six of eight. They mustered only two hits themselves, but took advantage of six early walks by A’s starter J.T. Ginn (2-3).

Five days earlier, Ginn took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Angels before giving up a leadoff single to Adam Frazier and a two-run homer to Zach Neto in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss.

This time, the right-hander lasted only 2 1/3 innings. He didn’t allow any hits, but he walked six of the 14 batters he faced and plunked Tatis with a bases-loaded pitch in the second.

DIAMONDBACKS 5, ROCKIES 4

PHOENIX (AP) — Ketel Marte hit a two-run homer and scored twice in Arizona’s victory over Colorado.

Nolan Arenado had a two-run double and Marte finished with three of Arizona’s 11 hits. Zac Gallen (3-4) gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked two.

Kevin Ginkel worked a hitless inning before Paul Sewald pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 12th save.

Arizona has won seven of its last nine games.

TJ Rumfield hit a solo homer and had three hits for Colorado.

ANGELS 5, RANGERS 2

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout hit a two-run homer, Nolan Schanuel added an RBI double and Los Angeles clinched a series win with a victory over Texas.

Zach Neto walked to open the bottom of the first inning before Trout launched his 13th home run of the year over the center-field wall for a 2-0 lead. Neto scored again in the fifth on Schanuel’s double to make it 3-1.

Schanuel exited after his hit with left calf tightness. Vaughn Grissom took over at first base.

Oswald Peraza added insurance in the eighth with a two-run single.

Walbert Ureña (2-4) threw five innings, allowing one run and five hits while striking out six. Kirby Yates earned his first save of the season by pitching a hitless ninth.

Nathan Eovaldi (5-5) gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings while striking out six for the Rangers.