CLEVELAND (AP) — Yordan Alvarez hit his major league-leading 11th home run and Peter Lambert pitched six scoreless innings, leading the Houston Astros to a 2-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday.
Alvarez’s two-run shot in the first inning off Tanner Bibee (0-3) helped the Astros win two of three in the series. Before coming to Cleveland, Houston started 1-9 on the road and dropped eight straight away games.
Lambert (1-1) held the Guardians to three hits in just his second start of 2026. The right-hander began the season at Triple-A Sugar Land before being brought up when the Astros endured a slew of injuries to their starting staff.
Lambert worked out of a two-on jam in the fourth by striking out Cleveland star José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo. He fanned eight.
Four Astros relievers completed the combined five-hitter with Enyel De Los Santos getting the final four outs for his third save.
Alvarez has been among baseball’s hottest hitters. He went 3 for 4, extended his hitting streak to nine games and his on-base streak to 18 and homered for the fourth time in six games.
MARLINS 4, CARDINALS 1
MIAMI (AP) — Janson Junk and five relievers combined on a three-hitter to lead past .
Agustín Ramírez singled twice and drove in a run, and Javier Sanoja had three hits for the Marlins.
Junk (1-2) allowed one hit, walked one and struck out two over five innings. He was lifted after 56 pitches.
Andrew Nardi followed Junk and pitched the sixth and Anthony Bender got three outs in the seventh. Michael Petersen struck out the side in a perfect eighth.
Ivan Herrera homered against Lake Bachar to lead off the ninth for the Cardinals’ run. Bachar then walked Nolan Gorman and retired José Fermin on a flyout. Pete Fairbanks relieved Bachar and got the last two outs for his fifth save.
Owen Caissie hit an RBI single and Jakob Marsee walked with the bases loaded against St. Louis starter Kyle Leahy (2-3) in the second to give Miami a 2-0 advantage.
Singles from Marsee in the fourth and Ramírez in the fifth padded the lead.
Leahy completed five innings, giving up four runs and eight hits. He walked three, struck out two and hit a batter.
RAYS 6, REDS 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Nick Martinez dominated his former team for eight innings, helping avoid a series sweep with a win over .
Martinez (1-1), who signed a with Tampa Bay this offseason, allowed one run while striking out five a day after the Reds battered the Rays for 12 runs.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Rays. The Reds suffered their first loss in their last six games.
The Rays got to Brandon Williamson (2-2) early. The left-hander issued back-to-back two-out walks in the second, and Tampa Bay made him pay. Ben Williamson singled, Chandler Simpson added a sacrifice fly and Yandy Diaz singled in another run for a 3-0 lead. Junior Caminero homered in the third, and Ryan Vilade singled in Diaz, who had three hits, in the fifth. Caminero drove in another in the seventh.
Williamson allowed five runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three.
Spencer Steer had an RBI double in the fifth for the Reds.
ORIOLES 8, ROYALS 6
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Coby Mayo hit his second in as many days during a six-run sixth inning, and Baltimore beat Kansas City to take two of three.
The two homers by Mayo at Kauffman Stadium were his first of the season, and he more than doubled his RBI total to 10. Both were well over the wall in left field, with the latest a 452-foot shot into the bleachers above the fountains.
Pete Alonso also homered for Baltimore, the third this season for the veteran slugger.
Chris Bassitt (1-2) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings for his first win as an Oriole. Anthony Nunez worked a scoreless ninth for his first save.
Carter Jensen hit his team-leading sixth homer for the Royals. Vinnie Pasquantino and Kyle Isbel also connected.
Kansas City’s Michael Wacha (2-1), who entered with a 1.00 ERA in four starts, allowed six runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
ANGELS 7, BLUE JAYS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout homered, Nolan Schanuel homered and hit a three-run double and Jose Soriano worked five shutout innings as Los Angeles beat Toronto to avoid a series sweep.
Trout’s eighth homer of the season was a 428-foot solo shot in the bottom of the fifth. That hit tied the 34-year-old Trout with the late Garret Anderson for the Angels’ franchise record of 796 extra-base hits. Anderson d at the age of 53.
Soriano, who is 5-0, allowed three hits and struck out five in five innings before leaving with a 3-0 lead. He lowered his ERA to an MLB-leading 0.24. The 27-year-old right-hander is the first MLB pitcher since 1900 to allow no more than one run in the first six starts of a season, and he has the lowest ERA (with a minimum of 30 innings pitched) through a pitcher’s first six starts of a season since 1913, when earned runs became official in both leagues.
MARINERS 5, ATHLETICS 4
SEATTLE (AP) — Josh Naylor Cal Raleigh homered for the third time in as many games and Seattle beat the Athletics to avoid a three-game sweep.
The Athletics’ seven-game road winning streak was snapped, while the Mariners won for just the third time in nine games.
With two outs in the ninth, Naylor lined a first-pitch cutter from Joel Kuhnel (0-1) the opposite way into left field to score Raleigh from second. Naylor finished 3 for 5 to raise his batting average to .194.
Raleigh, also off to a slow start, in the third for his fifth homer. He also went 3 for 5 — his first three-hit game this season — and is batting .198.
Nick Kurtz tied it in the top of the ninth when he sent a hanging slider from Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz (3-2) for his fourth homer.
Julio Rodríguez had a pair of singles to extend his on-base streak to 19 games. His RBI groundout in the seventh put the Mariners ahead 4-3.
TIGERS 5, BREWERS 2
DETROIT (AP) — Casey Mize struck out seven and allowed one run in six innings, Spencer Torkelson hit his first homer of the season, and Detroit defeated Milwaukee.
Mize (2-1) extended his strong start to the season, allowing just three hits. The 28-year-old right-hander who was the first pick in the 2018 MLB draft has a 2.51 ERA in five starts this season.
Kenley Jansen worked out of a bases-loaded jam for his sixth save of the year as Detroit snapped a two-game skid.
Torkelson’s 400-foot, two-run homer to left-center in the fourth inning came after Riley Greene had doubled and put the Tigers ahead for good.
Kevin McGonigle had an RBI double and Colt Keith added an RBI single in the fifth to extend Detroit’s lead. Kerry Carpenter hit his fifth homer of the year, a solo shot, in the eighth.
McGonigle has reached safely in his past 20 starts and is the first Tigers rookie to accomplish the feat since Greene in 2022. He is the first player 21 or younger to reach in 20 straight starts since Justin Upton in 2008.
Chad Patrick (1-1) took the loss, allowing six hits and four runs while striking out two in four innings of relief. DL Hall struck out two in two innings as Milwaukee’s opener.
William Contreras and Jake Bauers had RBI singles for the Brewers.
BRAVES 8, NATIONALS 6
WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael Harris II homered twice, Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson also went deep and Atlanta rallied from a three-run deficit to beat Washington for its seventh win in eight games.
Harris had his seventh multi-homer game — his third against the Nationals. He started the comeback from a 4-1 deficit with a two-run homer off Zack Littell (0-3) in a three-run second that included Ronald Acuña Jr.’s tying sacrifice fly. Harris then homered for a 5-4 lead in the third.
Olson boosted the margin to 8-4 in the fourth with his seventh home run, a three-run drive against Littell. With three four-homer games, the Braves matched their total of 2025.
Washington closed on homers by Joey Wiemer and James Wood in the sixth off Martín Pérez, who had been slated to start Thursday. Wood leads the NL with nine homers, and Wiemer had the first pinch-hit home run of his big league career.
Dylan Lee (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh and Robert Suarez worked around a leadoff single in an eight-pitch ninth for his second save.
YANKEES 4, RED SOX 1
BOSTON (AP) — Max Fried allowed three hits over eight scoreless innings, and New York extended its winning streak to a season-high five with a win over Boston.
Amed Rosario hit a three-run, first-inning homer and had four RBIs for the Yankees.
Fried (3-1) struck out nine and walked two, and the Yankees came within one out of third straight shutout victory for the first time since 1962.
Jarren Duran had an RBI single off Brent Headrick with two outs in the ninth for his third hit, ending Boston’s 29-inning scoreless streak against the Yankees dating to last year’s AL Wild Card Series. Caleb Durbin then grounded out.
Boston has scored two runs or fewer in six of its last eight games, losing five.
Ranger Suarez (1-2) gave up four runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.
CUBS 7, PHILLIES 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Michael Busch and Seiya Suzuki homered to help Chicago beat slumping Philadelphia for its eighth consecutive win.
Pete Crow-Armstrong had three hits and two RBIs for Chicago, and Alex Bregman also collected three hits. made a successful return from a biceps injury, pitching 4 2/3 innings of two-run ball in his first big league start since April 1.
The Cubs have outscored their opponents 58-20 during the franchise’s longest win streak since it also won eight in a row from July 21-29, 2023. It’s the longest such streak for the club within the month of April since an 11-game run in 1970.
The Phillies dropped their eighth straight game in their longest skid since they lost nine in a row in September 2018. They played without after the catcher was placed on the 10-day injured list because of back spasms.
Taijuan Walker surrendered four earned runs and eight hits in four innings in his second straight loss. Kyle Backhus worked the first as an opener before Walker (1-4) came in.
METS 3, TWINS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Mark Vientos blooped a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning and New York snapped its 12-game losing streak, beating Minnesota after getting one superstar back only to see another exit with a similar injury.
Juan Soto went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in his but shortstop Francisco Lindor was after laboring around the bases while scoring from first on Francisco Alvarez’s go-ahead double in the fourth.
Byron Buxton tied it 2-all with a leadoff homer in the sixth against Clay Holmes, his second longball in two nights.
Brett Baty, who came off the bench to replace Lindor in the lineup, drew his second walk of the game with two outs in the eighth against Taylor Rogers (0-1). Alvarez coaxed a nine-pitch walk from Justin Topa before Vientos dumped an RBI single into shallow right field. Vientos had blatantly ran through a stop sign rounding third and was easily thrown out at home plate for the final out of the sixth.
Luke Weaver (2-0) retired Luke Keaschall with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth and struck out three batters in a one-hit ninth to secure New York’s first victory since April 7 at home against Arizona.
The 12-game skid was the team’s longest since August 2002.
PIRATES 8, RANGERS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Oneil Cruz had the hardest-hit homer in the majors this season, a three-run shot in the ninth inning that powered Pittsburgh to a win over Texas.
The Pirates took a 5-4 lead in the ninth when Nick Gonzales broke for the plate on pinch-hitter Jake Mangum’s one-out chopper to third base off Cole Winn (1-1). Josh Jung’s throw home pulled catcher Kyle Higashioka into foul territory, and Higashioka could not make the tag.
Cruz followed with his 116.9 mph liner that bounced off the top of the foul pole and into the stands. It was the second hardest-hit ball in the history of Globe Life Field, which opened in 2020.
Pittsburgh’s big ninth gave Gregory Soto (1-0) his first win as a Pirate, following his first blown save. The lefty reliever allowed Jake Burger’s two-run single in the eighth that tied the score at 4-all. Dennis Santana pitched a perfect ninth for his third save in four opportunities.
Bryan Reynolds’ fifth-inning single, which produced his 500th career RBI, was part of a three-run frame that gave the Pirates a 4-2 lead. Reynolds is tied with Bobby Bonilla for the most RBIs by a Pirates switch-hitter. He also scored Pittsburgh’s first run on Marcell Ozuna’s first-inning double.
