Zack Wheeler strikes out 9 and Rincones homers for first career hit to lift Phillies to a win

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler struck out nine in six scoreless innings of two-hit ball, Gabriel Rincones Jr. homered for his first career hit and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Miami Marlins 7-0 on Monday night.

J.T. Realmuto also went deep and Bryce Harper had an RBI for Philadelphia, which opened a six-game homestand.

Liam Hicks had two of Miami’s four hits. The Marlins lost for just the third time in 13 June games.

Wheeler (6-1) allowed a leadoff single to Hicks to start the contest and then walked Otto Lopez before fanning four straight batters to set the tone for his evening. The 36-year-old righty lowered his ERA to 2.01 through 10 starts.

Tim Mayza, Jonathan Bowlan and Chase Shugart each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to finish the shutout.

NATIONALS 7, ROYALS 3

WASHINGTON (AP) — Luis García Jr. hit a go-ahead single, Dylan Crews added a three-run homer and Washington scored five times in the fifth inning to beat Kansas.

Washington (38-35) has won seven of 10 and moved three games over .500 for the first time since 2019, when the Nationals won the World Series.

García’s two-run single in the fifth gave the Nationals a 4-3 lead. Three batters later, Crews launched a drive to left field for his fourth homer this season.

Curtis Mead got Washington on the board in the third with a two-out single that bounced off the glove of Royals second baseman Nick Loftin and into center field for a 2-0 lead.

Brad Lord (5-0) threw three innings in relief and allowed two runs on two hits while striking out two. Nationals starter Andrew Alvarez gave up one run in four innings, striking out five.

REDS 12, METS 0

CINCINNATI (AP) — Eugenio Suárez homered twice and drove in a career-high six runs, including a grand slam in the second inning as Cincinnati rolled to a victory over New York.

JJ Bleday added a three-run shot and Chase Burns (8-1) struck out seven over five innings in Cincinnati’s most lopsided shutout since a 13-0 win against Philadelphia on April 15, 2023.

Burns and three Reds relievers combined on a six-hitter for the team’s fifth shutout this year.

Bo Bichette had three hits for the Mets, who were blanked for the eighth time. It was their largest shutout loss in eight seasons.

New York had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth, fifth and seventh but could not score.

CARDINALS 3, PADRES 0

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Dustin May took a perfect game into the seventh inning before finishing a one-hitter as St. Louis beat San Diego.

Jimmy Crooks had a two-run double and Alec Burleson added an RBI double for the Cardinals, who won for the eighth time in 11 games.

May (5-6) struck out nine and walked one. He threw 69 of his 101 pitches for strikes during his first complete game in 71 major league starts.

The 28-year-old right-hander didn’t allow a baserunner until he walked Fernando Tatis Jr. to begin the seventh. Manny Machado singled one out later, putting runners at the corners, but Gold Glove shortstop Masyn Winn turned a nifty double play on Gavin Sheets’ grounder up the middle to keep it 3-0.

May struck out the side in the sixth and eighth. He became the first Cardinals starter to get an out in the eighth inning this year and the first to go the distance since Sonny Gray threw a one-hitter against the Guardians on June 27 last season.

TWINS 4, RANGERS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Josh Bell hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Byron Buxton went deep for the 23rd time this season leading off the sixth and Minnesota beat Texas.

All six runs in the game came off homers, with Texas’ Joc Pederson delivering a two-run shot in the third off rookie Mike Paredes.

Minnesota’s 25-year-old left-hander fell an out short of his first major league win in his second start among four career appearances since May 31. Paredes allowed four hits and two runs in 4 2/3 innings.

Buxton has homered in six of his past nine games to get within one of major league leaders Yordan Alvarez of Houston and Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber.

Four Twins relievers held Texas to one hit over the final 4 1/3 innings, starting with Taylor Rogers (3-3) striking out Pederson, the only batter he faced, to end the fifth.

Andrew Morris pitched a perfect sixth, Eric Orze allowed a single over 1 2/3 innings and Yoendrys Gómez retired the final four Texas batters for his second save in two days and seventh of the season, six coming with Minnesota.

CUBS 5, ROCKIES 4

CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong became the first major league player to hit for the cycle this season as Chicago rallied for a victory over Colorado.

Chicago trailed 4-3 in the ninth inning before Pedro Ramírez hit an RBI single off Seth Halvorsen with the bases loaded and nobody out. Matt Shaw then walked on five pitches to force home the winning run.

Cole Carrigg’s three-run homer off Caleb Thielbar in the eighth, his third home run in seven big league games, gave the Rockies a 4-2 lead. Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice fly in the bottom half pulled Chicago within one.

Crow-Armstrong extended his on-base streak to 19 games with his second leadoff home run in three games, a 434-foot shot center field off Michael Lorenzen.

Crow-Armstrong led off the third with a triple to center. He doubled in the fifth and singled leading off the seventh for the 13th cycle in Cubs history and second since 1993.

Daniel Palencia (2-1) pitched a scoreless ninth for the Cubs (38-35).

TIGERS 9, ASTROS 3

HOUSTON (AP) — Colt Keith hit three home runs and six RBIs as Detroit took down Houston.

Kevin McGonigle and Spencer Torkelson each added homers of their own in an 11-hit game for Detroit.

The 24-year-old Keith, who entered the day with one home run in 65 games this season, became the youngest Tigers player with a three-homer game since 1955. This century, only eight different Tigers have accomplished the feat — including Miguel Cabrera twice.

McGonigle homered in the second inning for a 2-0 lead before Keith drilled his first homer of the night, a 411-foot two-run shot, in the top of the third. Torkelson followed with his 12th home run of the season to put the Tigers up 5-0.

Keith launched his second ball over the right field wall to plate two more runs in the seventh before capping the scoring with a solo shot to left field in the ninth to seal the win.

DIAMONDBACKS 4, ANGELS 3

PHOENIX (AP) — Pavin Smith hit a tiebreaking solo homer off the right-field foul pole, Ryne Nelson threw seven quality innings and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Monday night.

Smith broke a 2-all tie in the seventh when he launched his first homer in nearly a calendar year. The veteran first baseman — who came into the game with a .103 batting average — has spent most of this season on the injured list after having surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow.

Geraldo Perdomo added an RBI double later in the seventh that made it 4-2. Paul Sewald gave up a solo homer to Donovan Walton with two outs in the ninth, but struck out Oswald Peraza to earn his 18th save in 19 chances.

Nelson (3-5) allowed two runs over seven innings, scattering nine hits and striking out five. The right-hander has thrown at least seven innings in five of his last seven starts.

ATHLETICS 11, PIRATES 2

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Nick Kurtz hit two homers and drove in five runs, Jeff McNeil also went deep and knocked in four, and the Athletics beat scuffling Pittsburgh.

J.T. Ginn pitched six strong innings for the A’s, who returned to their regular temporary home in California after going 4-2 on a homestand at their Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, where the big league club plans to move into a new stadium in 2028.

McNeil went 3 for 4 and snapped an 0-for-20 slump with an RBI single in the second. Kurtz followed with an opposite-field homer to left for a 3-0 lead and finished 3 for 5.

McNeil hit his third homer to make it 5-1 in the fourth and added an RBI single in the seventh before Kurtz followed with a three-run shot to left. Eight of Kurtz’s 18 home runs have come in June.

Lawrence Butler sparked the five-run seventh with an RBI double after Zack Gelof reached on a two-out error by second baseman Brandon Lowe.

Ginn (5-3) allowed just an unearned run and six hits with two walks, throwing 98 pitches.

DODGERS 4, RAYS 3

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas launched a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and Los Angeles erased an early deficit to beat Tampa in the opener of a six-game homestand.

Kyle Tucker hit a three-run homer for the Dodgers and threw out a runner at the plate from right field. Kyle Hurt (2-1) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief, and Tanner Scott retired the side in order in the ninth for his eighth save.

Rojas batted for Alex Freeland with one out in the seventh and sent the first pitch he saw from Steven Matz (4-4) into the left-field stands to snap a 3-all tie. It was the Dodgers’ first pinch-hit home run this season and the second of Rojas’ career.

Eric Lauer allowed three runs over six innings for Los Angeles. He remains unbeaten in four starts since the Dodgers acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays on May 17.