Luis Arraez was 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBIs and three runs scored, as the visiting Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Royals 9-2 Saturday night.

The Royals issued three leadoff walks and all three scored.

The Twins have won the first two games of the three-game series.

Joe Ryan (5-2) allowed one run on five hits in 5 2/3 innings to claim the victory. He came into the game allowing opposing batters to hit just 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position, with no walks allowed. Ryan did give up a hit and a pair of walks in six at-bats with runners in scoring position Saturday but managed to avoid the big inning.

Brad Keller (1-4) took the loss. He allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings. He issued three walks and struck out four.

The Twins scored their first two runs in the third inning. Gio Urshela led off with a walk. He moved to second on a bloop hit to center by Ryan Jeffers. The runners were bunted to second and third. Byron Buxton’s sacrifice fly drove in Urshela and a two-out single by Arraez scored Jeffers.

The Royals answered with one in the bottom of the inning. Whit Merrifield pulled a one-out double into the left-field corner. When Andrew Benintendi followed with a single, Merrifield scored the Royals’ first run — and their first run of the season against Ryan, who had pitched six scoreless innings in his first start against the Royals on April 21.

Arraez led off the sixth with a walk and scored on a two-out single by Max Kepler, who then scored on a double by Gary Sanchez for a 4-1 lead.

The Royals loaded the bases in the sixth off Ryan, but Caleb Thielbar got Kyle Isbel to fly out to end the inning.

Thielbar began the seventh by giving up a solo home run to Emmanuel Rivera to trim the lead to 4-2.

But Arraez led off the eighth with another walk and scored the Twins’ fifth run on a wild pitch. The Twins then scored four more runs in the ninth.

–Field Level Media

Randy Arozarena belted two home runs and Jeffrey Springs threw 5 2/3 shutout innings as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the host Baltimore Orioles 6-1 and spoiled the debut of heralded catcher Adley Rutschman on Saturday night.

Kevin Kiermaier also homered as the Rays bounced back from a 13-inning loss from a night earlier.

It was the first game for Rutschman, who was the overall No. 1 draft selection in 2019 and called up from Triple-A Norfolk. He struck out and walked before lacing a triple down the right-field line with one out in the seventh inning off reliever Ralph Garza Jr.

Arozarena posted the fifth two-homer game of his career, with three of them coming against Baltimore.

Kyle Bradish (1-3) took the loss, lasting 5 1/3 innings. The Orioles didn’t score until Trey Mancini’s two-out RBI single in the eighth.

Springs (2-1) allowed only an infield single to Mancini before two walks in the sixth inning resulted in his departure. It was his longest outing of the season, giving up four walks and striking out seven.

Friday night’s 8-6 outcome in favor of the Orioles snapped Tampa Bay’s 15-game winning streak in matchups vs. Baltimore. The Rays wasted little time in re-establishing dominance, winning for the third time in their last four games.

Arozarena’s two-run home run put the Rays up in the first inning. He hit a solo shot in the fourth, giving him four homers this season.

The lead grew to 5-0 with two runs in the sixth, including Kiermaier scoring on Ji-Man Choi’s sacrifice fly. Then Kiermaier’s third hit of the game was a massive homer to right field leading off the eighth.

Rutschman batted sixth in the order. He finished 1-for-3. Mancini notched two of the team’s six hits.

The Orioles lost for the seventh time in their last nine games.

The Rays have won 28 of their last 31 meetings with Baltimore.

–Field Level Media

Tommy Edman’s RBI single in the fourth inning proved the difference Saturday in the visiting St. Louis Cardinals’ 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Paul Goldschmidt was 4-for-5 with a two-run double and Edmundo Sosa added an RBI single for the Cardinals, who have won two straight.

St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore, 22, gave up four runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings, with three strikeouts and two walks in his major league debut.

Drew VerHagen (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings and Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth for his second save.

Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run inside-the-park homer and Yoshi Tsutsugo had an RBI double for the Pirates, who have lost four of five.

Pittsburgh starter Jose Quintana (1-2) entered the game with a 13-inning scoreless streak but allowed five runs, two of them earned, and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings, with four strikeouts and one walk.

The Cardinals pulled outfielder Dylan Carlson before the bottom of the third because of left hamstring tightness.

In the top of the second, Juan Yepez walked and Carlson singled. Yadier Molina reached on third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ fielding error, allowing Yepez to score. Sosa knocked in Carlson with a single to make it 2-0.

Two outs later, Goldschmidt doubled to drive in Molina and Sosa for a 4-0 Cardinals lead.

Pittsburgh got a couple back in the bottom of the second. Ben Gamel walked and went to third on Diego Castillo’s double. Gamel scored on a Liberatore wild pitch and Tsutsugo doubled to drive in Castillo and cut it to 4-2.

In the fourth, Corey Dickerson doubled with two outs and scored on Edman’s single to push St. Louis’ lead to 5-2.

With two outs in the fifth, Hayes singled to left. Reynolds blasted a ball off the wall in left that ricocheted toward center along the warning track. Hayes and Reynolds hustled home, giving Reynolds his fifth homer and the first inside-the-park homer at PNC Park since Pittsburgh’s Pedro Alvarez hit one Sept. 13, 2013.

That narrowed it to 5-4.

–Field Level Media

William Contreras hit two opposite-field solo homers and Kyle Wright tossed five shutout innings as the visiting Atlanta Braves held on for a 4-3 win over the Miami Marlins on Saturday.

Miami scored an unearned run in the eighth to pull within 4-2 before Garrett Cooper delivered a run-scoring double off Kenley Jansen in the ninth. The Marlins had two runners on and two outs before Jansen struck out Jorge Soler for his 10th save.

It was Contreras’ second multi-homer game of the season for the Braves, who have won three of their last four.

Wright (4-2) allowed two hits with three walks and six strikeouts while throwing 91 pitches.

Cooper had three hits for the Marlins, who lost their third straight. Elieser Hernandez (2-4) allowed one run on three hits with one walk and five strikeouts over five innings.

The Marlins loaded the bases with two outs in the first against Wright before Jesus Sanchez grounded out to end the inning.

Atlanta broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the fifth when Contreras deposited Hernandez’s 3-2 fastball over the left-center field wall.

Contreras snapped an 0-for-11 skid with his 394-foot blast off Hernandez, who has allowed 11 homers in his first eight starts.

The Braves added to their lead with two runs in the sixth. Ronald Acuna drew a leadoff walk from Tanner Scott and moved to second on a groundout before stealing third and scoring on Marcell Ozuna’s single to right field.

Ozuna went 1-for-4 and is batting .303 (10-for-33) with four home runs during his eight-game hitting streak.

Dylan Floro replaced Scott with two outs and two runners on in the sixth and yielded Adam Duvall’s run-scoring single to left field.

The Marlins got on the board in the sixth against Darren O’Day, when Cooper hit a leadoff single and came around to score on Soler’s double to the left-center field gap.

Atlanta added an insurance run on Contreras’ leadoff homer in the seventh against Cody Poteet.

Miami shortstop Miguel Rojas was hitless in two at-bats before exiting the game in the seventh inning with left calf tightness.

Ozzie Albies had a pair of singles for the Braves, who have won eight of their last nine games in Miami.

–Field Level Media

Mookie Betts singled, doubled, homered and drove in three runs to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers past the host Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 on Saturday.

Will Smith and Austin Barnes each homered and Justin Turner added three hits for the Dodgers, who won their seventh in a row. Cody Bellinger had two hits.

Mitch White started for the Dodgers in this bullpen game and lasted 2 1/3 innings. White allowed three hits and three runs to go along with two strikeouts and one walk.

Daniel Hudson (2-3), one of eight Los Angeles pitchers on the evening, earned the win. Craig Kimbrel threw a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his ninth save in nine opportunities.

Alec Bohm hit a two-run homer and Kyle Schwarber hit a solo shot for the Phillies, who lost their third straight.

Bryce Harper (1 for 4) returned to the lineup after missing the previous five games while recovering from a PRP injection in his right elbow.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola tossed 5 1/3 innings and gave up five hits and four runs. He struck out nine and walked one.

Jose Alvarado (0-1) took the loss.

The Phillies went ahead 1-0 in the second inning when Jean Segura hit an RBI double to center field. Betts tied the game at 1 when he crushed a curve ball over the wall in left with two outs in the third.

Philadelphia regained a 3-1 advantage in the third when Bohm launched a two-run homer to left. In the fourth, Schwarber hit a solo homer to center for a 4-1 lead.

The Dodgers closed within 4-3 in the fifth when Betts hit a two-run double to left-center. Betts slipped around second and appeared to injure his hand, but he remained in the game.

When Smith homered in the sixth, the Dodgers equalized at 4.

The Phillies loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Bohm lined out to right. Betts then threw out Odubel Herrera trying to score.

Gavin Lux hit an RBI single and Seranthony Dominguez tossed a run-scoring wild pitch to put the Dodgers ahead 6-4 in the eighth. Barnes then homered in the ninth for a three-run lead.

–Field Level Media

The Chicago White Sox took offense to comments made by New York Yankees infielder Josh Donaldson on the field Saturday, calling the veteran player’s remarks “racist.”

White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson, who is black, was upset to Donaldson calling him “Jackie” during Saturday’s game.

Donaldson admitted after Saturday’s game to making the comment. He said it was in reference to a 2019 Sports Illustrated story when Anderson likened himself to a current-day Jackie Robinson, the first black player to play in the major leagues.

“He made a disrespectful comment,” Anderson said. “Basically tried to call me Jackie Robinson, ‘What’s up Jackie.’ I don’t play like that. I don’t need to play at all. I wasn’t really bothering nobody today, but he made the comment, and it was disrespectful, and I don’t think it was called for. It was unnecessary.”

Said White Sox manager Tony La Russa: “He made a racist comment, Donaldson. And that’s all I’m gonna say. … That’s as strong as it gets.”

Donaldson made the “Jackie,” comment in both the first and third innings, according to Anderson, with the players arguing with each other in the third inning before they both were escorted off the field.

Benches emptied in the fifth inning after White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal began to have words with Donaldson at the plate.

The teams also had a benches-clearing incident on May 13 at Chicago after Donaldson made a hard tag on Anderson.

“I took responsibility for the tag, I wasn’t trying to do anything there,” Donaldson said afterward. “Today just trying to diffuse it, like make light, like, ‘Hey, we’re not trying to start any brawls,’ or anything like that. Obviously he deemed that it was disrespectful and, look, if he did, I apologize.

“That’s not what I was trying to do by any manner and that’s what happened.”

The series will conclude Sunday night in a nationally-televised game.

Anderson was asked if he agreed with La Russa that Donaldson’s comment was racist.

“Same, along that same line,” Anderson said.

–Field Level Media