The Milwaukee Brewers are hoping ace right-hander Corbin Burnes can get them back on track Friday when they open a three-game series against the visiting Kansas City Royals.

Burnes (3-2, 3.86 ERA) will be opposed by left-hander Josh Taylor (0-0, 6.55), the latter making his first start after nine relief appearances this season.

Milwaukee, which was idle Thursday, lost 8-1 at home on Wednesday to the Los Angeles Dodgers. After winning the series opener, the Brewers were outscored 14-3 in the final two games, giving up six home runs.

The Royals have won four of their last five games, matching their victory total from their previous 21 games. Kansas City has homered in 10 consecutive games, with 18 round-trippers so far in May.

Milwaukee is 2-8 in its last 10 games after getting off to an 18-9 start. The Brewers won five of their first six series, but now have dropped five of the last six.

“We’re not scoring runs the way we need to score runs,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We’re not pitching ideally, but that’s how a season goes. We’ve got a nice off-day here and show up on Friday and try to start a good streak.”

Milwaukee is 17-3 when scoring at least four runs, 3-14 when scoring three or fewer.

“Certainly, to win consistently, one run, two runs, that’s going to be rough to do on most days,” Counsell said. “We’ve been stuck at a low number for a bunch of these games and that’s leading to the little bit of inconsistency.”

Burnes, who won the Cy Young Award in 2021, has not been as sharp thus far as he was the last two seasons. He was 11-5 with a 2.43 ERA in 2021, and 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA last season.

In his last outing, Burnes took the loss in a 6-4 defeat at San Francisco, but only two of the five runs he allowed in six innings were earned. Burnes has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his last five starts, and opponents are batting just .218 against him.

Burnes is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in two career starts against the Royals, allowing two runs in 12 innings.

The Royals, who had won just one of their first 11 series, took three of four against the White Sox, winning the series final Thursday when catcher Freddy Fermin laid down the safety squeeze in the ninth, scoring Nick Pratto from third for Kansas City’s first walk-off win of the season.

“He’s fouled off a couple sac bunts earlier and he stuck his nose in there and got it done,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “It’s a really hard play, if at all possible to defend … to get that bunt down against them is really impressive.”

Mike Massey homered for the second consecutive game on Thursday for the Royals. Massey is batting .476 (10-for-21) over his last seven games.

With starters Ryan Yarbrough and Daniel Lynch on the injured list, the Royals will turn to Taylor for the series opener in Milwaukee. Taylor has pitched in 130 major league games, making his only previous career start in 2019 with Boston. He has never faced the Brewers.

–Field Level Media

Jose Abreu visited the injured list only twice during his nine seasons with the Chicago White Sox. On seven occasions, he played in more than 93 percent of the team’s games.

Now with the Houston Astros, Abreu remains sturdy but is nonetheless struggling. The first baseman enters the series opener at Chicago on Friday with more rest than most of his teammates, getting the day off Wednesday ahead of a team travel day as he works to find a groove.

“He’s so quiet and internalizes everything,” Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “I know it’s killing him not to be helping this team and not to perform.”

Abreu is batting .218 with no home runs, 14 RBIs and a .525 OPS in 36 games. Wednesday marked the first time he was out of the Houston lineup after signing with the club in November.

Baker said he thinks Abreu is “hurting a little bit somewhere, but he’s not saying because he’s such a warrior.” Abreu has served as Houston’s cleanup hitter 31 times this season.

Houston edged the Los Angeles Angels 5-4 on Wednesday to earn a series victory in Anaheim, Calif., and improve to 3-3 on a nine-game road trip that concludes this weekend against the White Sox.

“We held on,” Baker said. “You never know which run is going to be the winning run, and it feels good to win a one-run game on the road.”

The margin of victory has been two runs or fewer in eight straight Astros games and nine of their past 10.

It’s nothing unusual. In splitting a season-opening, four-game series against the visiting White Sox, the defending World Series champions outscored Chicago 17-16.

The White Sox are 13 games under .500 since then, and they are coming off an uneven, 3-4 road trip to Cincinnati and Kansas City.

Freddy Fermin dropped a squeeze bunt in front of Chicago pitcher Reynaldo Lopez to score the winning run in the ninth inning on Thursday as the Royals earned a 4-3 victory. Kansas City, which had won just three home games entering the series, took three of four.

“We had some momentum coming in and we got outplayed,” Chicago manager Pedro Grifol said.

The White Sox lost catcher Yasmani Grandal to right hamstring tightness in the fourth inning on Thursday, but they anticipate the return of third baseman Yoan Moncada (back), who is expected to be reinstated from the injured list ahead of the Friday game.

J.P. France, a 28-year-old rookie right-hander, is set to make his second career start for Houston on Friday. France (0-0, 0.00 ERA) took a no-decision in his major league debut at Seattle on Saturday, spacing three hits, one walk and five strikeouts in five scoreless innings.

Right-hander Michael Kopech (1-3, 5.97 ERA) gets the call for Chicago. Kopech earned his first victory of the season on Sunday in Cincinnati, overcoming four solo home runs by the Reds in six innings during a 17-4 White Sox romp.

Kopech is 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA in three career appearances against Houston, including two starts, with seven strikeouts in 12 innings.

–Field Level Media

After going through an offensive drought that lasted nearly two weeks, the Chicago Cubs are finally starting to show life again.

Chicago had averaged just 3.2 runs in 12 games prior to Wednesday’s 14-hit showing, and the Cubs will be hoping to ride their newfound momentum as they head to Minneapolis on Friday to open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins.

With its offense sputtering, Chicago went 3-9 during its 12-game cold spell before breaking out for a 10-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs’ 14 hits were their most since recording 17 against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 21.

“We’d take this style of win every day,” said Chicago catcher Yan Gomes, who went 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBIs on Wednesday. “But I think what’s consistent is our ability to put guys on, keep putting the pressure (on).

“I think we just stick with it. Hits are gonna come. (Wednesday), hits came.”

But if the Cubs want to continue rolling, they will have to find a way to get to right-hander Sonny Gray (4-0, 1.35 ERA).

Gray currently boasts the best ERA in the American League and has allowed more than one run in only one of his seven starts this season. That one start just so happened to be his most recent outing, when he allowed three runs on four hits in five innings against the Cleveland Guardians last Saturday in a no-decision.

All three runs Gray allowed came in the fourth inning.

“If I’d get myself in situations throughout the year, first and third with one out or no out or this and that or runner on base, I’ve been able to make a big pitch and get out of the inning,” Gray said following his start against Cleveland. “And (Saturday), even if it felt like you made a pitch, they just put a ball where we weren’t, and then another walk.”

In 10 career starts versus Chicago, Gray is 4-3 with a 3.11 ERA.

Left-hander Drew Smyly (3-1, 3.05) will oppose Gray after laboring through 3 1/3 innings of a 4-2 victory against the Miami Marlins last Saturday. He gave up two runs on three hits with three walks and five strikeouts as he failed to last long enough to qualify for the win.

In 16 career appearances (six starts) against the Twins, Smyly is 2-1 with a 3.03 ERA.

Minnesota seems to be finding a bit of a rhythm, too, following up a three-game skid with back-to-back wins, including Thursday’s 5-3 victory over the San Diego Padres.

However, designated hitter Byron Buxton has not been trending in the same direction as his club, as he is hitless in his last 22 at-bats.

Shortstop Carlos Correa was also scuffling, going just 5-for-36 (.139) over a nine-game stretch prior to Thursday’s win. But he ripped a go-ahead, two-run double in the seventh inning, and Twins manager Rocco Baldelli thinks that was a sign of things to come.

“He comes up with the big moment for us (Thursday). That won’t be the last one that we see,” Baldelli said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy gets rolling and never looks back.”

–Field Level Media

The Tampa Bay Rays experienced three of their quietest nights at the plate against the Baltimore Orioles earlier this week.

The Rays shrugged it off and resumed producing big results at the plate in the series opener against the New York Yankees. They will now attempt to enjoy another successful hitting display Friday night when the American League East foes continue a four-game series.

Division-leading Tampa Bay went 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position while dropping two of three to the Orioles, just the Rays’ third series loss of the season. After getting blanked for the first four innings Thursday, the Rays cruised to an 8-2 rout for their third win in four meetings with the Yankees this year.

“It’s just part of the game, it happens,” Tampa Bay right fielder Josh Lowe said. “We ran into a hot Baltimore pitching staff there and they were doing their job, but we know the guys we have in this clubhouse and everybody else, we go out there and put up nights like (Thursday).”

The Rays collected eight of their 11 hits against New York’s relievers, highlighted by a big night from Lowe. He scored the game’s first run on Yandy Diaz’s double in the fifth, then hit a bases-clearing double in the sixth and a two-run homer in the eighth to collect a career-best five RBIs.

“Whether it’s the Yankees or anyone else in the AL East, it doesn’t matter,” Lowe said of being nine games up on the Yankees. “We’re trying to win as many ballgames as we can to separate ourselves from everybody else. So we’re going to do what we can to go out there and win a lot of ballgames.”

The Rays may be forced to pursue their next win without star shortstop Wander Franco, who is day-to-day due to neck tightness. Franco had two hits on Thursday before exiting in the fifth inning.

Gleyber Torres hit a two-run double in the ninth, but the last-place Yankees were held to two runs or fewer for the 14th time. The rough night at the plate came after they scored 28 runs in a three-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics.

Yankees slugger Aaron Judge struck out three times on Thursday in his third game back from a strained right hip.

“We got to come up with a better game plan in the box and execute it,” Judge said.

The Yankees hope they can produce better results at the plate in support of right-hander Gerrit Cole, who is coming off his worst outing this season.

Cole (5-0, 2.09 ERA) saw his ERA climb from 1.35 on Sunday when he allowed season highs of six runs, five earned runs and eight hits in a season-low five-plus innings against Tampa Bay.

Cole also served up his first two homers of the season when Jose Siri hit a solo homer in the fifth inning and Christian Bethancourt slugged a three-run shot in the sixth — hits that helped the Rays eventually get an 8-7 win on a single by Isaac Paredes in the 10th.

“That’s awful,” Cole said Sunday. “I’ve got to find a way to do a better job to get us out of there and get us a little bit deeper and prevent the runs.

Cole is 2-7 with a 3.80 ERA in 16 career starts against the Rays, who have homered 12 times in 97 innings against him to counter their .218 batting average and .645 OPS in their encounters with him.

Tampa Bay will use an opener, with right-hander Trevor Kelley (0-1, 9.00 ERA) expected to make the start. The bulk reliever might be Josh Fleming (0-0, 4.55 ERA), who allowed six runs in five innings against the Yankees on Sunday.

–Field Level Media

Nathan Eovaldi recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts in 8 2/3 scoreless innings as the visiting Texas Rangers handled the Oakland Athletics 4-0 in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday.

Manager Bruce Bochy made a triumphant return to the San Francisco Bay Area as the Rangers won for the fifth time in seven tries on a 10-day Western swing.

Marcus Semien, Robbie Grossman and Jonah Heim — all former Athletics — combined for three hits and three runs.

Eovaldi (5-2) allowed just three hits and one walk while coming within one out of his second shutout of the season. He has not allowed a run in his past three outings, covering 25 2/3 innings.

The A’s forced Bochy, making his Bay Area homecoming after having spent 13 seasons with the San Francisco Giants, to call upon Will Smith out of the bullpen in the ninth after Esteury Ruiz lashed a two-out double and Eovaldi walked Ryan Noda. Smith struck out Brent Rooker for his seventh save.

Before Ruiz’s second hit of the night in the ninth, Eovaldi had allowed just three baserunners, two of whom were gunned down by Heim trying to steal. Eovaldi had faced just one batter over the minimum until Ruiz’s double.

Eovaldi’s 12 strikeouts were one more than his previous career-high total set for the Boston Red Sox against the Seattle Mariners on May 22, 2022.

Promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas to make the start, A’s right-hander Luis Medina (0-2) matched zeros with Eovaldi through four innings before a single by Josh Jung, a wild pitch and a two-out RBI single by Leody Tavares put the Rangers up 1-0 in the fifth.

The visitors tacked on two in the sixth on Semien’s seventh homer of the season and on a wild pitch that scored Grossman, who had doubled.

Heim doubled and completed the scoring in the seventh on an RBI infield out by Sam Huff, who was making his season debut.

Medina was pulled after six innings, charged with three runs on five hits. He struck out three and issued no walks.

Jung joined Ruiz as the only players in the game with multiple hits as the Rangers out-hit the A’s 7-3.

–Field Level Media

Casey Schmitt had four hits, including his second home run in his first three major league games, and the San Francisco Giants opened a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 6-2 win on Thursday in Phoenix.

Alex Cobb (3-1) tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings for the Giants, who led 2-0 before scoring four runs in the top of the ninth. The right-hander allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out three.

Schmitt, who was promoted from Triple-A Sacramento on Tuesday, also singled twice, doubled and drove in three runs. He is 8-for-12 to begin his career, tying Willie McCovey for the most hits by a Giants player in his first three games.

Schmitt gave the Giants an early lead with a two-run homer to left field in the second inning against Tommy Henry (1-1). The 443-foot blast landed in the second deck and scored Michael Conforto, who was on after drawing a one-out walk.

Henry was lifted after giving up two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two while throwing 97 pitches.

The D-backs lost their third straight game and grounded into three inning-ending double plays.

Arizona had runners on the corners with one out in the second before Cobb induced a double-play grounder from Gabriel Moreno.

Moreno bounced into another inning-ending double play in the fifth against Cobb, who has given up a total of four runs over his past five starts covering 33 1/3 innings.

The D-backs threatened again in the sixth inning following back-to-back two-out singles by Josh Rojas and Ketel Marte, but Cobb escaped the jam when Pavin Smith flied out to right field.

Tyler Rogers relieved Cobb with one on and one out in the eighth and quickly erased the baserunner when Marte grounded into a double play.

Schmitt sparked a four-run rally in the ninth inning with an RBI double against Jose Ruiz. Joey Bart followed with a run-scoring single, Schmitt scored on LaMonte Wade Jr.’s fielder’s-choice grounder, and Bart crossed the plate on Bryce Johnson’s sacrifice fly.

Dominic Fletcher had three hits and helped Arizona avoid the shutout with a two-run single in the bottom of the ninth against Cole Waites.

–Field Level Media

Nathan Eovaldi recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts in 8 2/3 scoreless innings as the visiting Texas Rangers handled the Oakland Athletics 4-0 in the opener of a four-game series on Thursday.

Manager Bruce Bochy made a triumphant return to the Bay Area as the Rangers won for the fifth time in seven tries on a 10-day Western swing. Bochy managed the San Francisco Giants to three World Series titles over 13 seasons with the club.

Eovaldi (5-2) allowed just three hits and one walk while coming within one out of his second shutout of the season. He has not allowed a run in his past three outings, covering 25 2/3 innings.

Promoted from Triple-A Las Vegas to make the start, A’s right-hander Luis Medina (0-2) matched zeros with Eovaldi through four innings before giving up a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Medina was charged with three runs on five hits in his six innings. He struck out three and issued no walks.

Royals 4, White Sox 3

Freddy Fermin and host Kansas City squeezed by Chicago for a walk-off win on a rainy afternoon.

With runners at the corners and one out in the ninth inning, Fermin executed a perfect safety squeeze bunt, scoring Nick Pratto for the Royals’ first walk-off win since Sept. 7, 2022 — 2-1 over the Cleveland Guardians.

Scott Barlow (1-2) earned the win, pitching a hitless top of the ninth. Kansas City starter Brady Singer threw six innings, allowing a run on five hits, striking out four and walking two. White Sox starting pitcher Mike Clevinger allowed three runs on three hits, walking two and striking out two in six innings.

Giants 6, Diamondbacks 2

Casey Schmitt had four hits, including his second home run in his first three major league games, and San Francisco opened a four-game series against Arizona with a win in Phoenix.

Alex Cobb (3-1) tossed 7 1/3 scoreless innings for the Giants, who led 2-0 before scoring four runs in the top of the ninth. The right-hander allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out three.

Tommy Henry (1-1) was lifted after giving up two runs on five hits over 6 2/3 innings for the Diamondbacks. He walked two and struck out two while throwing 97 pitches. The D-backs lost their third straight game and grounded into three inning-ending double plays.

Rays 8, Yankees 2

Drew Rasmussen struck out Aaron Judge three times and pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball as visiting Tampa Bay routed New York in the opener of a four-game series.

Josh Lowe hit a two-run homer and drove in a career-high five runs for the Rays, who beat the Yankees for the third time in four meetings this season. Taylor Walls added an RBI double in the seventh and Isaac Paredes contributed a run-scoring double in the eighth as the Rays became the first team to reach 30 wins, doing so in their 39th game.

Rasmussen (4-2), who allowed two singles to former Tampa Bay outfielder Jake Bauers, has thrown 21 scoreless innings in four career appearances against the Yankees. He struck out seven, walked none and got nine outs on groundouts while throwing 57 of 76 pitches for strikes.

Reds 5, Mets 0

Four pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout and Spencer Steer added a solo home run as Cincinnati cruised to a win over visiting New York in the rubber match of the three-game series.

Right-hander Ben Lively (1-0), who was recalled from Triple-A on Tuesday, earned his first major league win since Sept. 29, 2017. He scattered four hits over three innings of relief.

The Reds jumped on Mets starter Kodai Senga (4-2) for four runs with two outs in the first inning. The Reds made it 5-0 in the fifth inning on Steer’s fifth homer of the season, a high fly to the seats in left field. New York has dropped 13 of its last 17 games.

Twins 5, Padres 3

Carlos Correa capped a seventh-inning rally with a go-ahead, two-run double as Minnesota defeated San Diego in the rubber match of a three-game series in Minneapolis.

After Max Kepler grounded into a forceout to bring home a run and tie things at 3-3, Correa pulled a ball down the third base line to give the Twins their first lead. San Diego loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth, but Brock Stewart struck out Trent Grisham to escape the jam. Jorge Lopez worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Joey Gallo went 2-for-3 for Minnesota, which improved to 2-1 on its six-game homestand. Minnesota’s comeback spoiled a stellar outing from Padres starter Yu Darvish, who allowed two runs on four hits through six innings. He walked one and fanned seven. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Rougned Odor hit solo shots for San Diego.

–Field Level Media

Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco exited Thursday’s game against the host New York Yankees with tightness on the right side of his neck.

Franco grounded out to New York starter Domingo German to end the fifth after the Rays took a 1-0 lead on Yandy Diaz’s double. After the out, Franco jogged slowly from first base and replays showed him appearing to strain his neck.

Franco was replaced at shortstop by Taylor Walls, who moved from third base. Isaac Paredes took Franco’s spot in the batting order and manned third.

Franco singled in his first two at-bats and is batting .318 with seven homers in 23 RBIs. He was ranked inside the top five in the AL in batting average following the game.

–Field Level Media

Drew Rasmussen struck out Aaron Judge three times and pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball as the visiting Tampa Bay Rays routed the New York Yankees 8-2 on Thursday in the opener of a four-game series.

Josh Lowe hit a two-run homer and drove in a career-high five runs for the Rays, who beat the Yankees for the third time in four meetings this season.

The Tampa Bay offense came to life after getting blanked for the first four innings against New York starter Domingo German.

Yandy Diaz hit an RBI double in the fifth after Lowe reached on a fielding error by New York first baseman Anthony Rizzo.

In the sixth, Lowe ripped a bases-clearing double off the base of the center field wall against Ron Marinaccio. The Rays right fielder then blew the game open with a two-run blast to center off Ryan Weber in the eighth.

Taylor Walls added an RBI double in the seventh and Isaac Paredes contributed a run-scoring double in the eighth as the Rays became the first team to reach 30 wins this year, doing so in their 39th game.

Rasmussen (4-2), who allowed two singles to former Tampa Bay outfielder Jake Bauers, has thrown 21 scoreless innings in four career appearances against the Yankees. He struck out seven, walked none and got nine outs on groundouts while throwing 57 of 76 pitches for strikes.

It was the fifth time Rasmussen did not allow a run in his eight starts this year. On Saturday, he limited the Yankees to two hits in 5 2/3 shutout innings during a no-decision.

Rasmussen highlighted his latest scoreless showing by fanning Judge in the first, fourth and sixth.

After scoring 28 runs in a three-game sweep of the major-league-worst Oakland Athletics, the Yankees were blanked until Gleyber Torres hit a two-run single in the ninth.

German (2-3) allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out three and walked three.

–Field Level Media

The Washington Nationals have been trending up recently while the New York Mets have been going in the wrong direction.

They’ll face each other in a series for the second time this season, beginning the four-game stretch Friday night in Washington.

The Nationals have won three of their last four games. They’re coming off Wednesday’s 11-6 victory at San Francisco, where they produced a season-high run total.

“I hope it keeps going, because when we’re scoring runs early and often, we’re a really good team,” Nationals pitcher Josiah Gray said.

The Mets lost 5-0 on Thursday afternoon at Cincinnati, marking their ninth loss in their last 12 games.

New York has scored two or fewer runs in six of its last eight games.

“It’s tough because we know our guys are capable of a lot better offensively,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “It’s frustrating for everybody. You’ve got to make your luck sometimes.”

If there was a downside for the Nationals this week, it was that third baseman Jeimer Candelario departed with a sore ankle based on a slide Wednesday.

“We’ll see how he feels come Friday,” Washington manager Davey Martinez said.

Candelario, who homered earlier in the season against the Mets, is batting 4-for-30 this month. His homer in the series at New York was his lone hit in a 1-for-14 series.

Left-hander MacKenzie Gore (3-2, 3.65 ERA) will start for the Nationals on Friday night. He has gone six innings in three of his last four starts, averaging 7.5 strikeouts in those four outings.

Gore got the win against the Mets on April 26, going six innings and allowing one run. Washington won 4-1 with Gore striking out 10 and relievers upping the staff’s strikeout total to 15.

Combined with Gray logging seven innings Wednesday and Thursday’s day off, Washington’s pitching should be in good shape for this series. Nationals starters have lasted at least six innings in the past three games.

“It’s about pounding the strike zone and not giving any free passes,” Martinez said.

The Mets have right-hander Tylor Megill (3-2, 4.33) slated as their starter. He has failed to complete five innings in two of his last three starts. Those have been hindered by control issues as he has yielded seven walks with 10 strikeouts across those stints.

Megill has faced the Nationals five times across the previous two seasons, notching a 2-2 record with 6.52 ERA.

New York dropped two of three meetings with the Nationals last month at home, with the lone victory coming in the series finale by scoring the tying and winning runs in the eighth inning.

“We’ve got to figure it out,” Showalter said. “Guys are pushing, sometimes to a fault. You’ve got to dwell on the next game.”

The Mets put catcher Tomas Nido on the injured list Wednesday due to dry-eye syndrome. Michael Perez was called up from Triple-A Syracuse to fill in, but he wasn’t used Thursday and hasn’t played in the majors since last August.

–Field Level Media