Bryce Harper returned from a three-day paternity leave and belted a two-run homer to lead the visiting Philadelphia Phillies past the Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on Thursday.

Starter Zack Wheeler (2-3) allowed one hit over six shutout innings to record the win for the Phillies, who earned a split of the four-game series with their second shutout in four days. Wheeler struck out eight and walked four in recording his second straight win.

Wheeler extended his scoreless streak to 13 1/3 innings in posting his second straight scoreless start, and third this season. Trea Turner had three hits, while Harper and Bryson Stott had two hits. Stott drove in two with a two-out, third-inning triple that put Philadelphia on top, 2-0.

Cincinnati starter Nick Martinez (0-1) took the loss, allowing five runs on a career-high tying 11 hits over six innings. Martinez returned to the rotation after Frankie Montas went on the injured list with a bruised forearm.

Dodgers 2, Nationals 1

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched six shutout innings and Teoscar Hernandez homered as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep of host Washington. Yamamoto, a rookie right-hander, gave up four hits and one walk and struck out seven while throwing 97 pitches.

Alex Vesia worked a scoreless seventh with three strikeouts before Daniel Hudson gave up a run in the eighth. Evan Phillips worked a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for his seventh save. Mookie Betts, Enrique Hernandez and Freddie Freeman all had two hits as the Dodgers won their fourth consecutive game.

Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore (2-2) gave up only the home run among his seven hits allowed. He walked two and struck out four. Joey Meneses had three of Washington’s seven hits. The Nationals, who left seven runners on base, only scored four runs in the series and closed a 2-4 homestand.

Brewers 7, Pirates 5

Gary Sanchez socked a pinch-hit, two-run homer in the top of the eighth inning to lift visiting Milwaukee over Pittsburgh.

Rhys Hoskins went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and William Contreras went 2-for-4 with a home run to help the Brewers split the four-game series. Jared Koenig (1-0) gave up two hits in the seventh inning for the win and Trevor Megill pitched a clean ninth for his first save.

Joey Bart hit a three-run home run for the Pirates. Aroldis Chapman (0-2) allowed two runs on two hits in the eighth inning.

Guardians 6, Red Sox 4

Jose Ramirez hit a second-inning grand slam and added an important insurance run in the seventh as host Cleveland beat Boston for its ninth win in 11 games.

In the seventh, after the Red Sox clawed back to make it 5-4, Ramirez singled for his third hit, stole second, went to third on catcher Reese McGuire’s throwing error and scored on a passed ball.

Rafael Devers posted his second straight three-hit game and Rob Refsnyder had two hits with an RBI for Boston, which completed a 4-2 road trip despite the loss.

Cubs 3, Astros 1

Pete Crow-Armstrong slugged a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth for his first major league hit to lift host Chicago to a sweep of Houston.

With the game tied at 1, Bryan Abreu entered the game out of the Houston bullpen to oppose the Cubs’ top prospect. Crow-Armstrong greeted him with a deep fly to right to give Chicago the two-run advantage and saddle Houston’s Rafael Montero with his first loss of the season.

Right-hander Justin Verlander started for Houston and got one out in the fifth before exiting the game. Verlander allowed three hits — all to Nico Hoerner.

Mariners 4, Rangers 3

Ty France and Luis Urias hit two-run home runs as Seattle defeated Texas in Arlington, Texas, to move past the hosts into first place in the American League West.

Mariners ace Luis Castillo (2-4) won his second straight start, pitching six innings and allowing two runs on four hits, with two walks and six strikeouts. Seattle closer Andres Munoz retired the side in order in the ninth to record his third save of the season.

Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Smith hit solo homers for Texas, which lost for the fourth time in its past six games. Rangers left-hander Andrew Heaney (0-3) took the loss. He gave up four runs on five hits over six innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.

Athletics 3, Yankees 1

Nick Allen and Tyler Nevin homered in the third inning, Alex Wood pitched 5 2/3 gritty innings and Oakland beat host New York.

The A’s earned a split of the four-game series despite scoring three runs or fewer for the seventh straight game and 17th time overall. Oakland also homered for the 10th straight game when Allen and Nevin connected in a four-batter span.

Wood (1-2) allowed one run and eight hits. He struck out five, walked two and put runners on base in every inning but the third. For New York, Jose Trevino went deep and Nestor Cortes (1-2) allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings.

Rockies 10, Padres 9

Hunter Goodman hit a three-run homer to ignite a six-run eighth inning and Colorado rallied to beat San Diego in Denver.

Colorado trailed 9-4 entering the eighth but rallied against San Diego’s bullpen. Goodman started the comeback with a three-run homer off Wandy Peralta (1-1). Ezequiel Tovar eventually scored the tying run on a passed ball and Elias Diaz broke the tie with an RBI single.

Tyler Kinley (1-0) tossed an inning of relief to pick up the win for Colorado and Justin Lawrence struck out Ha-Seong Kim to end the game and pick up his second save.

Royals 2, Blue Jays 1 (5 innings)

Salvador Perez homered as host Kansas City outlasted the weather and Toronto to win a rain-shortened contest. The five-inning contest marked their third straight victory by one run and gave the Royals their first series win against the Blue Jays since April 15-18, 2021.

Perez lined a first-pitch, two-run homer down the left-field line in the first inning. His seventh home run of the year gave him 837 career RBIs, tying him with Mike Sweeney for fifth all-time in franchise history.

Perez’s home run snapped a career-best 21 2/3 scoreless innings streak by Toronto starter Jose Berrios (4-1). Berrios surrendered two runs on three hits and three walks with one strikeout in five innings. Four of the five runs allowed by Berrios in his six starts this year have scored via home runs.

Twins 6, White Sox 3

Edouard Julien homered twice as Minnesota belted five home runs and completed a four-game series sweep of Chicago with a victory in Minneapolis.

It was the second multi-homer game of the season for Julien. Ryan Jeffers, Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda also homered and Trevor Larnach went 2-for-4 with a run scored for Minnesota which won for the fifth time in its last six games.

Andrew Vaughn doubled and had two hits and a run scored and Korey Lee also had two hits for Chicago which lost its seventh straight game overall and ninth in a row at Target Field.

–Field Level Media