Michael Busch homered to lead off the game and added two doubles, fueling the visiting Chicago Cubs to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

Chicago’s Nico Hoerner also collected three hits and Pete Crow-Armstrong had an RBI single and joined Ian Happ in delivering a sacrifice fly.

The Cubs (87-64) recorded 14 hits to notch their third straight win and sixth in the past seven games. The Pirates (65-87) took their third consecutive defeat, their 10th loss in the past 11 outings.

Chicago rookie Cade Horton (11-4) improved to 8-1 in his past 10 starts after allowing one run on three hits in five innings. He struck out six and walked one.

Horton finished the fifth before three relievers combined to yield just one hit and strike out four batters over the next three scoreless innings. Brad Keller fanned two in the ninth inning to secure his third save of the season, his second in as many nights.

Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes (10-10) permitted three runs on seven hits before exiting after 3 2/3 innings. He issued three walks and struck out six.

Busch set the tone early by depositing a 2-1 curveball from Skenes over the wall in right field. The homer was Busch’s team high-tying 29th of the season and third in his past four games.

Crow-Armstrong, who also has 29 homers on the season, plated Happ with an RBI single to left field to double the advantage later in the first inning.

Pittsburgh halved the deficit in its half of the inning after Spencer Horwitz reached on a one-out single and scored on Oneil Cruz’s triple to right field.

Busch ripped a one-out double in the second inning, advanced to third on a single by Hoerner and trotted home on Happ’s sacrifice fly.

Chicago secured a 4-1 lead after Moises Ballesteros worked a leadoff walk in the fifth inning, advanced to third on Carson Kelly’s double and scored on Crow-Armstrong’s flyout to right field.

–Field Level Media

Steven Kwan sparked a four-run 10th with an RBI double and the visiting Cleveland Guardians overcame Kerry Carpenter’s ninth-inning tying home run to defeat the Detroit Tigers 7-5 on Tuesday.

Cleveland (79-71) has won 10 of its last 11 games to pull within 5 1/2 games of Detroit (85-66) in the American League Central.

Kwan’s double against Will Vest (6-4) drove in automatic runner Brayan Rocchio. Angel Martinez followed with a triple and he scored on Jose Ramirez’s ground-rule double. Gabriel Arias added an RBI single.

Spencer Torkelson had four hits for Detroit, including a two-run homer in the bottom of the 10th.

Gleyber Torres added a solo homer for the Tigers. Arias also delivered a solo homer for the Guardians.

Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo gave up one run and four hits in five innings. Detroit starter Casey Mize allowed three runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings.

The Guardians scored a two-out run in the second on C.J. Kayfus’ single.

Detroit tied the game in the third as Torres jumped on a fastball and mashed it over the left field wall.

Arias put the Guardians back on top in the fourth with his two-out homer off a first-pitch fastball from Mize.

Cleveland extended its lead in the sixth. Ramirez reached on a single, stole second and advanced to third on Kyle Manzardo’s infield hit, as Mize neglected to cover the first base bag. Bo Naylor’s double to right brought in Ramirez.

After Mize struck out the next batter, Tyler Holton came in and recorded two outs to keep the score at 3-1.

The Tigers scored a run in the bottom of the inning. Riley Greene was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Colt Keith’s single and scored on Dillon Dingler’s fielder’s choice grounder.

Cleveland’s Tim Herrin struck out three batters in the eighth after the leadoff batter singled off Hunter Gaddis. Rafael Montero struck out the side in the top of the ninth.

After Cade Smith (7-5) retired the first two batters, Carpenter crushed a fastball over the center field wall to knot the score.

–Field Level Media

Detroit Tigers star pitcher Tarik Skubal is trending towards a return on Thursday, manager A.J. Hinch revealed to MLB Network Radio on Tuesday.

The left-hander exited Friday’s 8-2 loss against the Miami Marlins after experiencing tightness on his left side in his rib cage area. However, the pitcher told the Detroit Free Press that his return for bullpen workouts Monday went well, saying, “Everything felt good.”

Hinch backed up that assertion.

“The sight of Tarik Skubal throwing off the mound was really awesome,” Hinch said. “He threw his normal bullpen. We’re going day by day. I’ll check in with him today. We’ll continue to inch towards his next start. Right now, that’s penciled in for Thursday.”

Skubal, 28, is coming off back-to-back All-Star appearances and won the American League Cy Young Award in 2024. This season, he is 13-5 with a 2.26 ERA over 29 starts.

Over his six-year career in Detroit, he boasts a 3.10 ERA over 135 games (132 starts).

The Tigers, 85-65, were 6 1/2 games ahead of the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central going into Tuesday’s games.

–Field Level Media

Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez is out indefinitely with a “pretty significant” left ankle sprain, manager Joe Espada said Tuesday.

“This is going to keep him out for a while,” Espada said. “Let’s not get into days, weeks, any of that. We are going to take one day at a time, but this is going to take some time to heal.”

Alvarez suffered the injury during Monday’s win versus the Texas Rangers after he appeared to slip while crossing home plate in the first inning. He was seen leaving the team’s clubhouse with a crutch and a boot on his left foot.

Alvarez underwent an MRI on Tuesday.

The timing of the injury couldn’t be worse for the Astros, who find themselves in the middle of a tight race for AL West supremacy with just 11 games remaining. Houston sits a half-game back of the Seattle Mariners, who have won nine straight contests. The Astros are currently three games ahead of the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians, who have won four straight contests, for the last AL wild-card spot.

Alvarez’s ankle sprain marks yet another setback in an injury-marred campaign for the slugger. He’s only played in 48 games this season after missing 101 earlier this year due to a fractured right hand. The three-time All-Star is hitting .273 with six home runs and 27 RBIs in 2025.

“We need him in there, but those are the things that we can’t control,” Espada said of Alvarez. “It’s a freak accident that happens on a baseball field, and that’s not what we need right now. But we do have guys here that understand the situation that we’re in. We’ve got talent. We’ve got guys that want it. We’ve got guys that can fight and get us through this stretch.”

–Field Level Media

Baltimore Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg, out since mid-August with a sprained right ankle, was activated on Tuesday and will hit in the cleanup spot as the designated hitter against the host Chicago White Sox.

The Orioles also activated left-hander Jose Castillo, designated third baseman Emmanuel Rivera for assignment and optioned left-hander Grant Wolfram to Triple-A Norfolk.

A 2024 All-Star, Westburg rolled his ankle on Aug. 18 against the Boston Red Sox and landed on the 10-day injured list on Aug. 22 (retroactive to Aug. 19).

Westburg, 26, was hitting .276 with 15 home runs and 34 RBIs in 73 games when he was injured. Baltimore’s 2020 first-round pick (No. 30 overall) has hit .267 in 248 career games with 36 home runs and 120 RBIs.

Castillo, 29, is on his fourth team this season and is 2-2 with a 4.38 ERA in 24 relief appearances. The O’s claimed him off waivers from the Seattle Mariners on Monday after stints with the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks. In parts of five seasons with the San Diego Padres (2018-19, 2022-23), Diamondbacks, Mets and Mariners, he is 5-5 with a 4.29 ERA in 64 relief appearances.

The 29-year-old Rivera hit .250 with 13 RBIs in 42 games this season. Over parts of five seasons with the Kansas City Royals (2021-22), Diamondbacks (2022-23), Miami Marlins (2024) and Orioles (2024-25), he is a .245 hitter with 22 home runs and 116 RBIs over 382 games.

Wolfram, 28, made his MLB debut with the Orioles on April 26 and is 3-1 with a 4.85 ERA in 20 relief outings.

–Field Level Media

Matt Olson homered in his fourth straight game, Jose Suarez threw seven quality innings and the visiting Atlanta Braves posted a 6-3 victory over the Washington Nationals in the opener of a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday.

Suarez (2-0) was called up to make his first major league appearance since April 10 and his first start since Sept. 25, 2024, while with the Los Angeles Angels.

In the spot start, Suarez allowed two runs on five hits while walking two and striking out a career-high nine batters. Raisel Iglesias worked a scoreless ninth, securing his 26th save of the year and the 250th of his career.

Jurickson Profar hit a two-run homer for the Braves (68-83), who have won three straight following a four-game losing streak. Atlanta, which broke the game open with a five-run fourth inning, got three hits apiece from Ronald Acuna Jr. and Michael Harris II.

Jake Irvin (8-13) allowed five runs on eight hits across six innings, striking out five and walking two for Washington (62-89), which has dropped five of its past seven. Daylen Lile had two hits, while Jacob Young, CJ Abrams and Jorge Alfaro each drove in a run.

After the Nationals’ Dylan Crews walked and Brady House singled with one out in the second inning, Young’s base hit scored the game’s first run. Abrams’ sacrifice fly then gave Washington a 2-0 lead.

Atlanta’s Ha-Seong Kim and Harris singled to put runners on the corners with one out in the fourth, before Eli White’s run-scoring groundout and Vidal Brujan’s RBI double knotted the score at 2-2.

Profar followed with his 14th homer of the season and Olson then hit his 27th of the year, extending the Braves’ lead to 5-2.

Kim, Harris and Brujan singled in the eighth off reliever Orlando Ribalta to give Atlanta a 6-2 advantage.

Lile tripled and then scored on Alfaro’s RBI single in the bottom of the eighth to cut Washington’s deficit to 6-3 off reliever Pierce Johnson.

–Field Level Media