The last time the Braves visited the Mets, Atlanta left town five games back of first-place New York.

When the Braves return to New York on Monday, they again will be in pursuit of the Mets — but that’ll be the only similarity between now and then as the longtime National League East rivals prepare for a four-game series.

Left-hander Max Fried (2-2, 3.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for Atlanta against New York right-hander Chris Bassitt (3-1, 2.25 ERA).

The Braves are continuing a seven-game road trip after falling 7-3 on Sunday afternoon in the rubber game of a three-game series against the Texas Rangers 7-3.

The Mets extended their franchise-record, season-opening streak of series wins to seven by beating the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 10-6 on Sunday night.

The latest results dropped the Braves six games behind the NL East-leading Mets. Of course, no one needs to remind Atlanta that large deficits in May — or July — aren’t necessarily a barometer for the rest of the season.

The Braves were 51-53 following a 6-3 win in the teams’ final meeting of last season at New York on July 29. However, Atlanta went 37-20 the rest of the way and won the NL East before capturing the franchise’s first World Series title since 1995.

New York went 22-38 down the stretch to finish in third place at 77-85, 11 1/2 games out of first place.

The new-look Braves — with Matt Olson manning first base instead of stalwart Freddie Freeman, who hit .293 with nine homers and 50 RBIs in 99 games at Citi Field — will meet the Mets fresh off an opening month in which New York showed it is a much different team than a year ago.

“There’s definitely going to be, I would say, a sense of urgency,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley said. “It’s the Mets. They’re hot. That’s a big rivalry there.”

At 16-7, New York is already close to tying last season’s high mark of 11 games over .500. And the seven straight series wins have come with an impressive totality and a bit of an edge from the Mets, who lead the majors in being hit by pitches and had a benches-clearing fracas with the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.

The Mets rank first in the majors in on-base percentage (.344), second in batting average (.262) and third in ERA (2.99).

“It’s pretty fantastic — it’s been a lot of fun so far,” said Jeff McNeil, who tied a career high with four hits Sunday night. “This team’s playing great baseball, kind of doing everything right, winning series. Keep doing that, I like where we’ll be at the end of the year.”

Both Fried and Bassitt earned the wins in their most recent starts on Tuesday, when Fried allowed one run over six innings as the Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 3-1 and Bassitt tossed six scoreless innings in the Mets’ 3-0 victory over the Cardinals.

Fried is 4-3 with a 2.78 ERA in 16 career games (11 starts) against the Mets. Bassitt has never faced the Braves.

–Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Rays are scrambling a bit as they begin a 10-game road trip on Monday with the first of three games against the Oakland Athletics.

Tampa Bay lost two of three over the weekend to the visiting Minnesota Twins and has scored three or fewer runs in six of its past nine games.

The Rays trailed 5-0 after the first inning of a 9-3 loss on Sunday and were held to a two hits over the first six innings by Twins rookie Josh Winder.

“We just went 5-4 on the homestand, and that’s not what we’re shooting for,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “We need to find a way to get on a run and get the offense going and give the pitchers some breathing room a little bit.”

Oakland is also looking to regroup after losing three straight to the Cleveland Guardians. The Athletics have dropped six of their past eight games and were limited to six hits in a 7-3 loss on Sunday.

The A’s and Rays met in St. Petersburg, Fla., from April 11-14, when Oakland took three of four.

Tampa Bay’s Monday starter will be right-hander Drew Rasmussen (1-1, 3.50 ERA), who is looking to build on an impressive outing against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday.

Rasmussen, 26, recorded a career-high nine strikeouts while yielding two hits and one walk over six shutout innings in the Rays’ 3-2 win.

“It’s just one of those things as you get rolling and you’re starting to create swings and misses, the confidence goes up, and then from there we were able to expand,” Rasmussen said. “Tonight was an awesome night. It’s something that felt really good.”

The Washington state native, who threw a season-high 84 pitches in the victory, is set to make his first appearance against Oakland.

The Athletics will counter with right-hander Daulton Jefferies (1-3, 3.26 ERA). He has lost his past three starts, though Oakland scored just three runs total in those outings.

Jefferies, 26, allowed five runs on four hits over four innings in an 8-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday.

Oakland is looking for more production from its lineup, but one bright spot has been the play of infielder Sheldon Neuse, who is in his second stint with the Athletics. The 27-year-old is batting .328 after going 1-for-3 on Sunday.

“Sheldon is taking advantage of his opportunity right now and really playing well,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “I think we saw glimpses of it in his first go-round here. Now, we’re getting to see it consistently.”

Tampa Bay is hoping to have shortstop Wander Franco back in the lineup after he missed the Sunday game due to right hamstring tightness. Franco, 21, is hitting .313 with four homers and three steals.

Rays infielder Isaac Paredes was recalled from Triple-A Durham on Sunday to replace first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who landed on the 10-day injured list because of loose bodies in his right elbow.

The Rays also optioned outfielder Josh Lowe to Durham after the 23-year-old hit .188 with 27 strikeouts and six walks in 71 plate appearances over 19 games.

–Field Level Media

Once early-season darlings, the Seattle Mariners found themselves desiring a victory in the worst way Sunday. They manifested that longing into a 7-3 road win over the Miami Marlins that snapped a four-game skid and kept them above .500.

Seattle will continue its nine-game road swing Monday in the first of three games against the Houston Astros.

The Mariners’ victory in the finale against Miami featured another strong pitching performance from right-hander Logan Gilbert and the first career home run from rookie outfielder Julio Rodriguez, a three-run blast in the sixth inning that gave Seattle a 5-0 lead.

The combination of Gilbert carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning and Rodriguez producing a 450-foot shot off Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara undergirded the positive vibes from the victory.

“It’s a nice way to be headed to Houston,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We certainly needed the ‘W.'”

Left-hander Marco Gonzales (1-2, 3.86 ERA) will start the series opener for the Mariners. He was forced to leave his previous start in the first inning after being hit by a line drive against the Tampa Bay Rays on April 27. Gonzales, who went 9-1 with a 2.70 ERA after the All-Star break last season, recorded just one out against the Rays while allowing one run on one hit and one walk with one strikeout.

Gonzales is 2-6 with a 4.94 ERA over 11 career appearances (10 starts) against the Astros, including a 2-0 road loss on April 27, 2021, during which he allowed two runs on five hits and three walks with four strikeouts over six innings.

Right-hander Jake Odorizzi (1-2, 6.00 ERA) has the starting assignment for the Astros on Monday. He recorded his first quality start of the season in his previous outing, allowing one run on one hit and one walk with four strikeouts over six innings in a 5-1 victory over the Texas Rangers on April 26.

Odorizzi is 3-6 with a 4.37 ERA over 14 career starts against the Mariners, including a 2-2 mark and 3.91 ERA in five starts against Seattle last season.

After taking a 3-2 loss to the host Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series, the Astros are 10 games into a stretch in which they are playing on 17 consecutive days. The opener against Seattle will mark the start of a seven-game homestand that concludes against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday. Houston will then have its first off day since April 21 before playing for 16 consecutive days.

That span of 33 games in 34 days necessitated right-hander reliever Cristian Javier joining the rotation last week in Texas and has pushed Houston manager Dusty Baker to seek more from his starters, who in turn have combined to log a respectable 59 innings over the past 10 games.

After throwing a season-high 97 pitches in his previous start last week against the Rangers, Astros left-hander Framber Valdez worked 6 1/3 innings and tossed 101 pitches on Sunday. Valdez was just the latest starter to answer the bell for a team in desperate need of length.

“Framber was great. I mean he was excellent,” Baker said. “I thought we took him as far as we could take him.”

–Field Level Media

The 125th meeting between Missouri rivals St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals is scheduled to take place Monday at St. Louis in a makeup game from an April 13 rainout.

The series will then shift to Kansas City for two more games Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Cardinals, who lead the series 74-50 after a 6-5 win at home April 12, announced Sunday that the start time for Monday’s game at Busch Stadium was changed to 12:15 p.m. CST due to the weather forecast.

The initially scheduled start time was 3:15 p.m. but the National Weather Service in St. Louis was forecasting thunderstorms for Monday afternoon and Monday evening.

The teams originally had a scheduled break in the schedule Monday before beginning a two-game set at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Tuesday night.

Kansas City is coming off being swept in a three-game series at home against the New York Yankees.

The Royals have lost eight of their last 10 games.

“We’re a homegrown team with limited funds facing a financial juggernaut (Yankees) armed with Aaron Judges and it’s not right,” said Kansas City manager Mike Matheny, who was the Cardinals’ manager from 2012 to 2018. “Maybe we need a salary cap so teams like ours can compete.”

St. Louis split a four-game series at home with the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend.

Nolan Arenado returned from his one-game suspension and hit his sixth home run of the season as part of a four-run rally in the seventh inning of the Cardinals’ 7-5 win Sunday. Arenado was hitless in his first three at-bats before the home run. He was suspended for his part in a bench-clearing brawl with the New York Mets last week.

Harrison Bader hit his first home run of the season as part of the rally before Arenado’s home run. He had a curtain call from the fans.

“I was fortunate to be put in a position to deliver for my team and it was a good win for us,” said Bader, whose home run gave the Cardinals a 6-5 lead. “You just try to put a good at-bat together for the team.”

Kansas City will start veteran right-hander Zack Greinke (0-1, 2.86 ERA) on Monday against St. Louis left-hander Steven Matz (2-1, 6.11).

Greinke is 13-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 21 career games (19 starts) against the Cardinals.

Matz has pitched one game in his career against Kansas City — a 5-1 win last season when he was with the Toronto Blue Jays. He had a no-hitter into the sixth inning and won the game allowing just two hits and one earned run in six innings.

Royals catcher Cam Gallagher suffered a strained hamstring in Kansas City’s 6-4 loss to the Yankees and was placed on the disabled list. He was put on the injured list and M.J. Melendez will be called up from Triple-A Omaha to replace him.

–Field Level Media

The New York Yankees will be out to extend their nine-game winning streak when they visit the Toronto Blue Jays for the opener of a three-game series Monday night.

The Yankees completed a three-game series sweep of the host Kansas City Royals on Sunday with a 6-4 victory helped by two home runs by Aaron Judge.

The Blue Jays are on a streak of their own after defeating the visiting Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday in the rubber match of a three-game series. They are undefeated in their first seven series this season (6-0-1), to match the franchise best set in 1992.

The only series the Blue Jays have not won is the four-game split with the Yankees in New York April 11-14. The Blue Jays are 9-2 in one-run games.

The Yankees have won 11 of their past 12 games.

“It’s early,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s a marathon and we have to keep improving and keep working, but record-wise, it’s very encouraging.”

The Yankees will avoid Toronto starter Kevin Gausman, who struck out 10 and allowed two runs over seven innings Sunday. He has not allowed a walk or a home run this season, a total of 122 batters faced over 31 2/3 innings.

Gausman joins Cy Young (1906) as the only pitchers with a minimum of 20 innings pitched to begin a season with no walks or home runs allowed in five straight starts since 1903, according to MLBStats.

“It’s not like I’m trying not to walk guys, I’m just throwing competitive pitches, and for the most part, I’m getting ahead,” Gausman said. “The more that I can get ahead, I know I’m not going to throw that many balls or throw five balls in a row. If I can get ahead, I feel confident.

“Obviously, it’s cool. But I’ve got another start in five days, you know? This game wasn’t the last game of the season. We’re not the last one standing yet. So, on to the next one.”

He acknowledged Sunday’s game against the Astros had an intense atmosphere.

“Almost felt like a postseason game,” Gausman said. “The amount of adrenalin that you have every pitch you know, you’ve got to be really fine.”

Toronto will start right-hander Ross Stripling (0-0, 3.60 ERA) Monday. New York will start left-hander Jordan Montgomery (0-1, 2.70).

Stripling faced the Yankees twice last season, going 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA. In five career games (2 starts) against the Yankees, he is 0-4, 4.50.

In eight career outings (seven starts) against Toronto, Montgomery is 2-1, 4.03.

“I think the good thing is we’re doing a lot of things well to allow us to win games and we’re winning games in different ways,” Boone said. “And we’re getting a lot of contributions from everyone. I feel like all 28 guys really are contributing through this first month and that’s been really good. Good to see everyone’s been involved; starting pitching the relief pitching and defense, base running offense, it’s been different ways.

“We’ve been able to win games and that’s something that we’ve really put a focus on and it’s good to see the guys get results for the most part.”

New York’s Joey Gallo (groin) did not play on Sunday with Miguel Andujar starting in left field. Gallo’s status for the game Monday is uncertain.

Toronto optioned infielder Gosuke Katoh and right-hander Bowden Francis to Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday.

–Field Level Media

The Baltimore Orioles finally showed signs of cranking up the offense.

They might need quite a bit more of the big production when they face the visiting Minnesota Twins on Monday night.

Baltimore is coming off a 9-5 home victory against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, its highest run total of the season. The Orioles will seek their first three-game winning streak of the year in the opener of a four-game series.

The Twins won the last two games of a three-game series at Tampa Bay, giving them wins in nine of their past 10 games. Minnesota routed the Rays 9-3 on Sunday.

“A lot of good at-bats, a lot of good swings, a lot of using the whole field,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said.

Minnesota has scored nine runs in back-to-back games. The Twins have six games of eight or more runs less than a month into the season.

Baltimore will go with Tyler Wells (0-2, 5.54 ERA) to start the series opener. The Orioles have lost each of Wells’ four starts so far this season.

Twins starter Chris Paddock (0-2, 3.68 ERA) should be well rested on Monday, as he will pitch for the first time since working 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. He has recorded 13 strikeouts and one walk over 14 2/3 innings in his first three starts.

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde finally saw his team turn up the offense. Most of it came in a six-run sixth inning during the series finale against Boston.

“Got some big hits and played solid defensively,” Hyde said. “Hopefully that (big) inning can kind of get us going offensively a little bit.”

Baltimore first baseman Tyler Nevin said he has felt good at the plate and he hopes that starts to translate into more hits. He was in his third game in the big leagues this year after being called up from the minors, and his two-run single in the fifth inning put the Orioles ahead for good.

Nevin had been 0-for-7 for Baltimore in 2022 before the hit.

“It’s good to get that monkey off the back,” Nevin said.

Four Baltimore players had multiple hits Sunday, helping the Orioles improve to 5-4 in home games.

The Orioles clearly need more on the offensive side, particularly with a rotation that has taken its licks.

Minnesota and Baltimore have both played 22 games, with the Twins scoring a total of 94 runs and the Orioles with 71. The Orioles have hit 11 home runs, the second-lowest total in the majors. Minnesota is tied for seventh with 24 long balls.

The Twins will arrive in Baltimore a bit wounded, most notably first baseman Miguel Sano. He exited the Saturday game with a left knee ailment, and the team plans to place him on the injured list, Baldelli said.

With teams having to reduce their rosters from 28 players to 26 on Monday, the Twins also optioned catcher Jose Godoy to Triple-A Saint Paul.

Baltimore designated hitter Trey Mancini was held out of the Sunday contest because of sore ribs.

The Orioles optioned outfielder Ryan McKenna to Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday night as part of the roster cutdown. One more player must be removed from the roster on Monday.

–Field Level Media

It’s been a good week for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It’s been an even better season for the Miami Marlins, who open a three-game home series against Arizona on Monday.

Both teams started the year 1-4.

Since then, the Marlins are 11-5, including a seven-game winning streak that was broken Sunday with a 7-3 setback against the visiting Seattle Mariners. In the past decade, this is just the second time the Marlins had a winning April.

Arizona is in last place in the NL West, but the Diamondbacks have gone 9-5 since their slow start. They took two of three at home against the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers to start last week, then split a four-game road series against the St. Louis Cardinals, falling 7-5 on Sunday.

“I liked our at-bats,” Miami manager Don Mattingly said after the latest defeat. “I felt like we gave ourselves some chances. We really just weren’t able to get that big, big hit to kind of get us over the hump.”

The Monday pitching matchup features two right-handers with sub-1.00 ERA, Miami’s Pablo Lopez (3-0, 0.39 ERA) and Arizona’s Zac Gallen (0-0, 0.60).

Lopez, who leads the majors in ERA, hasn’t been nearly as good in three career starts against Arizona, going 0-1 with a 5.28 ERA.

This season, Lopez has displayed a brilliant changeup, and he enters play Monday with a streak of 18 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

Gallen, who made his major league debut in 2019 for Miami, has yet to face the Marlins.

On July 31, 2019, the Marlins traded Gallen to Arizona in a swap that has worked well for both teams. Miami got star second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. in return.

This year, Gallen has allowed just one run in 15 innings, yet the Diamondbacks are only 2-1 in his three starts.

Miami ranks eighth the majors with a 3.29 ERA, and pitching helped the Marlins take two of three in the weekend series against Seattle.

“We knew coming into the series that their starting pitching is outstanding,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said of the Marlins, “but their bullpen has a lot of different looks.”

Indeed, the Marlins have four pitchers with at least one save this season, led by Anthony Bender. He has six saves and a 4.32 ERA in 8 1/3 innings. Louis Head (0.00 ERA in 6 1/3 innings), Tanner Scott (5.40 ERA in 8 1/3 innings), and Cole Sulser (0.93 ERA in 9 2/3 frames) each have one save.

The Marlins’ bullpen also includes Steven Okert (1.50 ERA) and Cody Poteet (1.04 ERA). Okert, Richard Bleier (5.06 ERA) and Scott are the bullpen’s lefties.

Arizona, meanwhile, has been winning some tight contests. In the past two series, the Diamondbacks have allowed just six total runs in their four wins.

Three of those victories were by two runs each.

“We’ve learned to embrace close games,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We’ve learned to embrace execution in critical moments. We’re prepared to play games like this all season.”

Those close games are likely due to the fact that Arizona’s strength is canceled out by a couple of glaring weaknesses.

The Diamondbacks are ranked 10th in the majors in ERA (3.37), but they also have the lowest batting average (.181) and one of the worst fielding percentages.

Lovullo believes he finally has a handle on his team’s defensive woes, with the players becoming more “engaged” in the field, according to the manager.

“We had been kind of working into games defensively,” he said. “Nobody is good enough to do that.”

–Field Level Media

Kevin Gausman struck out 10 in seven innings, Santiago Espinal hit the go-ahead single in the seventh and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the visiting Houston Astros 3-2 on Sunday.

Bo Bichette hit a two-run home run in support of Gausman (2-1), who allowed two runs on six hits with no walks. Bichette’s homer in the sixth inning was the Blue Jays’ first hit of the game against Astros left-hander Framber Valdez.

Jordan Roman pitched around a double in the ninth to earn his 11th save. Roman had help from a diving catch in right field by George Springer on pinch hitter Alex Bregman.

Valdez (1-2) allowed three runs, two hits, two walks and a hit batter in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out two.

Yankees 6, Royals 4

Aaron Judge homered twice and drove in three runs as New York ran its winning streak to nine games with a victory over host Kansas City.

Judge homered two batters into the game when he hit a 453-foot drive off Kansas City starter Daniel Lynch and connected again with two outs in the ninth off Josh Staumont. In between Judge’s seventh and eighth homers, he also drove in the tying run with a check-swing grounder off Scott Barlow in the seventh when the Yankees took the lead without getting a hit.

Michael A. Taylor homered, Nicky Lopez scored on a wild pitch and Carlos Santana hit an RBI double in a three-run third before the Royals lost for the eighth time in 10 games. Kyle Isbel scored Kansas City’s other run on a throwing error by Josh Donaldson in the fourth.

Cubs 2, Brewers 0

Pitching on his 31st birthday, Marcus Stroman allowed two hits over seven stellar innings and outdueled Corbin Burnes to earn his first victory for Chicago in a road win over Milwaukee.

Patrick Wisdom belted a solo home run and Seiya Suzuki delivered an RBI double for the Cubs, who snapped a three-game skid and avoided being swept. Stroman (1-3), who entered the day with a 6.98 ERA, walked one and fanned five.

Burnes (1-1) completed seven innings, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out 10 and walking one. The Brewers saw their five-game winning streak end.

Orioles 9, Red Sox 5

Jordan Lyles worked out of trouble across six innings and Baltimore defeated visiting Boston.

Rougned Odor homered and the light-hitting Orioles racked up 13 hits. Lyles struck out six, but he didn’t return after a rain delay of more than 90 minutes in the bottom of the sixth.

The Red Sox lost for the third time in their last four games, nearly failing to score more than one run in any of those setbacks until J.D. Martinez’s grand slam in the ninth.

Dodgers 6, Tigers 3

Walker Buehler tossed five shutout innings and Mookie Betts scored two runs as Los Angeles beat visiting Detroit.

The Dodgers improved to 8-2 at home this year while winning two out of three in the interleague series against Tigers.

Miguel Cabrera and Jeimer Candelario each hit a home run for Detroit, which has lost seven of its last eight games and went 1-5 on a six-game road trip.

Twins 9, Rays 3

Josh Winder pitched six shutout innings in his first major league start, Byron Buxton hit a home run and Jorge Polanco had four RBIs as Minnesota rolled to a victory over Tampa Bay at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Winder (1-0) allowed two hits and a walk while striking out seven in his fourth big league appearance. He didn’t allow a runner past second base while throwing 83 pitches, 54 for strikes.

Polanco went 2-for-5 with a pair of two-run doubles, while Carlos Correa had his fourth-consecutive multi-hit game going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Buxton, Trevor Larnach and Gilberto Celestino each had two hits as the Central Division-leading Twins won for the ninth time in their last 10 games.

Rockies 10, Reds 1

C.J. Cron and Randal Grichuk homered as Colorado pounded out 12 hits and rolled over Cincinnati in Denver.

Brendan Rodgers, Connor Joe, Elehuris Montero and Yonathan Daza each added two hits for the Rockies. Kyle Freeland (1-3) pitched seven strong innings, giving up one run on four hits and one walk with four strikeouts.

Brandon Drury had two hits, including a home run, for the slumping Reds. Cincinnati has lost 19 of 21 games since winning on Opening Day, matching the 2018 team for the worst start in franchise history at 3-18.

Padres 5, Pirates 2

Trent Grisham went 3-for-5 with two RBIs as visiting San Diego topped Pittsburgh in the rubber game of a weekend series. Manny Machado and Jake Cronenworth added RBI singles for the Padres.

San Diego starter Joe Musgrove (4-0), a former Pirate, gave up one run and seven hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and no walks. Taylor Rogers pitched the ninth for his ninth save.

Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller (0-4) went six innings, the longest outing on the team this year. He gave up one run and five hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Angels 6, White Sox 5

Michael Lorenzen fell two outs short of his first career complete game and Mike Trout had two hits, including a solo home run, as visiting Los Angeles exhaled with a close win against Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

Entering the ninth inning with a shutout intact, Lorenzen allowed three hits, the last a two-run double off the bat of Leury Garcia, before Raisel Iglesias yielded two more runs. The White Sox collected five runs and six hits and sent 11 men to the plate in the inning, but Ryan Tepera notched his first save of the season by getting Gavin Sheets to ground out to first base with the bases loaded to end the game.

Trout smacked a solo home run against White Sox lefty Dallas Keuchel two batters into the afternoon. Angels star Shohei Ohtani left the game in the ninth inning with right groin tightness.

Nationals 11, Giants 5

Yadiel Hernandez drove in a career-high five runs, including two in a five-run first inning Sunday afternoon that gave Josiah Gray an immediate comfort zone and propelled visiting Washington to a victory over San Francisco in the finale of their three-game series.

Hernandez and Juan Soto collected three hits apiece for the Nationals, who ran up a total of 45 hits in taking two of three from the host Giants one week after San Francisco swept them in a three-game set in Washington. Gray (3-2) coasted through six shutout innings, allowing just one hit, a single by Jason Krizan with two outs in the fifth.

The Nationals jumped on Alex Cobb (1-1), reinstated from the injured list before the game, for four hits, three walks and five runs before he could get a third out in the first inning.

Mariners 7, Marlins 3

Top prospect Julio Rodriguez slugged his first major league homer — a 450-foot bomb to left-center field — to lead visiting Seattle to a victory over red-hot Miami.

The loss snapped the Marlins’ seven-game winning streak, their longest since 2016. The streak fell just two wins short of the franchise record.

Miami starter Sandy Alcantara (2-1), who hadn’t allowed a homer since Opening Day, gave up two on Sunday — Rodriguez’s three-run shot and J.P. Crawford’s solo blast. Logan Gilbert (4-0), who started the day leading the American League in ERA, earned the win. He pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three hits, four walks and one run, leaving his ERA at 0.64.

Cardinals 7, Diamondbacks 5

Harrison Bader and Nolan Arenado each hit home runs as part of a four-run rally in the seventh inning to lead host St. Louis over Arizona.

The Cardinals’ seventh started with an Andrew Knizner single, followed by a Paul DeJong double off reliever Kyle Nelson. After Brendan Donovan grounded out to score Knizner and cut the deficit to 5-4, Keynan Middleton (0-1) replaced Nelson on the mound. Bader greeted Middleton with his first home run of the season, scoring DeJong to give St. Louis a 6-5 lead.

Arenado added his sixth home run of the season with two outs. The Diamondbacks hit four home runs, two by Jordan Luplow, as the teams split their four-game series.

Rangers 7, Braves 3

Adolis Garcia’s bases-loaded triple broke open a close game and sparked Texas to a win over visiting Atlanta in Arlington, Texas.

Garcia was 3-for-5, scored a run and drove in four to help the Rangers win their second three-game series of the year. Garcia knocked in 11 of the team’s 25 runs during the seven-game homestand.

Starting pitcher Taylor Hearn (1-2) bounced back from consecutive poor outings to earn his first win. He worked five innings and gave up two runs on four hits and three walks while matching his season high with six strikeouts. The losing pitcher was Kyle Muller (0-1), who was wild in his 2 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs on four hits, six walks and three strikeouts.

Guardians 7, Athletics 3

Triston McKenzie struck out seven over 6 1/3 scoreless innings and Franmil Reyes drove in two runs as visiting Cleveland completed a three-game sweep of Oakland.

McKenzie (1-2) allowed four hits and walked one for the Guardians, who have won three straight following a seven-game losing streak. McKenzie threw a season-high 96 pitches.

Oakland starter James Kaprielian (0-1) struggled in his season debut, yielding four runs on three hits over two-plus innings. The Athletics trailed 7-0 before scoring three runs in the ninth against Anthony Gose. Oakland has lost six of its past eight games.

Mets 10, Phillies 6

Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith tied their career highs with four hits apiece and Max Scherzer extended his unbeaten streak to 24 starts despite giving up three homers as New York won another series by beating visiting Philadelphia.

The Mets have won a franchise-record seven straight series to open the season. The Phillies lost for jus the second time in seven games.

McNeil went 4-for-5 with two singles and two doubles in his last four at-bats, his ninth four-hit game. His past four four-hit games have all come against the Phillies. McNeil’s last hit, an RBI double in the eighth, scored Brandon Nimmo with New York’s final run.

–Field Level Media