Rookie James Outman clubbed a tiebreaking grand slam in the ninth inning, his second homer of the night, and the Los Angeles Dodgers cooled off the host Chicago Cubs with a 6-2 victory on Thursday night.

With the score 2-2, the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, Outman lined a pitch from Michael Fulmer (0-2) into the right field basket. The Dodgers began the four-game set with a needed victory following a 2-4 homestand that included losing two of three to the Cubs.

Outman also homered in the third, one inning after Max Muncy’s eighth home run of the season for Los Angeles. David Peralta and Miguel Vargas each had two hits for the Dodgers, who got three-plus innings of two-run, five-hit ball from starter Michael Grove before he left with a right groin strain.

Cody Bellinger homered for Chicago, which had won four straight and 10 of the previous 13 and entered leading the NL with an average of 5.21 runs.

After scheduled Cubs starter Jameson Taillon was scratched and placed on the 15-day injury list due to a left groin strain, Javier Assad was called up from Triple-A Iowa, and he allowed two solo homers, one other hit and two walks in three innings.

Muncy got the scoring started when he opened the second with a homer into the right field bleachers. Bellinger, an ex-Dodger, tied things in the bottom of the inning with his solo drive just to the left of the center field batter’s background against Grove.

Los Angeles regained the lead when Outman went deep to right-center field in the third.

Grove left the game after allowing a walk to Eric Hosmer and a double to Trey Mancini to open the Cubs’ half of the fourth. Dodger relievers Phil Bickford entered and eventually gave up an RBI single to Nico Hoerner, though Mancini was thrown out trying to score on the play.

Caleb Ferguson (1-0) picked up the win after throwing a scoreless eighth inning. Mookie Betts returned to the Dodgers from paternity leave and he went 1-for-2 off the bench while making his first major league appearance at shortstop.

The game started following a 64-minute weather delay.

–Field Level Media

Three weeks into the season, the St. Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners find themselves in similar circumstances entering Friday’s opener of a three-game interleague series in Seattle.

Both clubs, thought to be playoff contenders, are in fourth place in their respective divisions.

The Cardinals went 3-4 against Pittsburgh and Arizona on their just-completed homestand, though they defeated the Diamondbacks 14-5 in the finale Wednesday afternoon. Tommy Edman had a three-run homer with a career-best five RBIs, and Nolan Gorman hit his first major league grand slam.

“So nice to end the homestand on that note, and hopefully we can keep that momentum going,” said Edman, whose team will remain on the road for the rest of the month with series in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

St. Louis set a season high for runs Wednesday, scoring three or more times in four innings.

“We haven’t been able to cash in the amount of runs that we would like, but (Wednesday) that was not the case,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “That is what our offense is capable of doing on any given day.”

Edman entered the game with a .241 batting average and two RBIs. He finished a single short of the cycle.

“Felt like I was able to kind of slow everything down,” Edman said. “My at-bats felt like I was seeing the ball well throughout.”

Rookie Jordan Walker broke out of a 1-for-17 slump with a pair of hits and Gorman hit his fifth homer of the season.

“You’re just seeing a lot of really good hitters do really good at the plate,” Gorman said. “We’ve got a really good lineup. So our bats are going to come around, you know, whenever they do, like they have been, we score a lot of runs.”

The Mariners opened their six-game homestand by sweeping three games from Colorado, only to lose the past three to Milwaukee. They lost 5-3 on Wednesday afternoon as the Brewers scored all their runs in the seventh inning.

“We’re very capable of beating these teams,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “I think coming into the series, the way we were playing, we felt really good about our chances of winning the series. They executed better than we did, they walk out of here with three wins.

“We have to wash it away. We have a lot of baseball to play. And we’re not even close to playing how we can play when we’re at our best, so we’ve got that to look forward to.”

The Cardinals are scheduled to send left-hander Steven Matz (0-2, 6.48 ERA) to the mound Friday to face Mariners right-hander George Kirby (1-1, 3.78). Matz is 1-0 with a 4.70 ERA in two career starts against Seattle; Kirby will be facing St. Louis for the first time.

“It’s just a little bit of inconsistency,” Mariners pitcher Marco Gonzales said of the team’s slow start. “It’s not too surprising to begin the season. We’re finding our footing, finding our identity, but we have a dangerous lineup, guys who can really chuck the rock, so I’m not really worried in any sense. We just need to put it together and click the right way. Hopefully, the off day is a chance to reset and come in for a big weekend series on Friday.”

–Field Level Media

C.J. Cron homered, singled and drove in two runs to lift the Colorado Rockies past the host Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 on Thursday.

Elias Diaz added an RBI single for the Rockies, who entered the game with the worst record in the National League but managed to snap an eight-game losing streak.

Rockies starter Ryan Feltner (1-2) tossed 5 2/3 innings and allowed three hits and no runs with six strikeouts and three walks.

The Phillies had only six hits and left all 11 runners on base. No Philadelphia player had more than one hit.

The Rockies scored at least four runs for the first time since April 12. Before arriving in Philadelphia, the Rockies were outscored 33-9 in a three-game sweep against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Phillies starter Matt Strahm (1-2) gave up three hits and three runs, struck out a career-high 11 and walked two in 5 1/3 innings.

Trea Turner doubled down the left field line to open the eighth inning. Kyle Schwarber grounded out to first and Nick Castellanos struck out. Brandon Marsh walked to place runners at first and third, but Justin Lawrence got J.T. Realmuto to strike out swinging to end the inning.

The Rockies went ahead 2-0 in the first when Cron crushed a two-run homer to left.

The Phillies managed only two hits through the first five innings — singles by Castellanos and Bryson Stott.

Colorado took a 3-0 lead in the sixth when Diaz hit an RBI single to left. Ryan McMahon was initially called out following a strong throw from Jake Cave. After the Rockies challenged, the call was reversed.

The Rockies soon loaded the bases with two outs and Andrew Bellatti walked Alan Trejo to force in a run for a 4-0 advantage.

Schwarber singled with one out in the home sixth, but Castellanos popped out to shortstop. Marsh walked and Feltner was lifted. Lawrence then allowed an infield single to Realmuto before Alec Bohm struck out looking to end the threat.

Mike Moustakas contributed a pinch-hit RBI double in the ninth inning for the final margin.

–Field Level Media

Connor Joe and Jack Suwinski hit back-to-back home runs in a four-run first inning Thursday to send the Pittsburgh Pirates on their way to a 4-3 win over the visiting Cincinnati Reds in a series opener.

The Pirates have won four straight and five of their past six.

Pittsburgh starter Roansy Contreras (2-1) allowed one run and five hits in 6 2/3 innings, with eight strikeouts and two walks. It was the team’s 10th straight quality start.

David Bednar pitched a one-two-three ninth for his sixth save.

Jason Vosler and Jonathan India each hit an RBI single for the Reds, who have lost three in a row and four of five.

Cincinnati starter Luke Weaver (0-1), making his season and Reds debut after an elbow injury, pitched six innings and allowed four runs and four hits, with eight strikeouts and two walks.

In the first, Ke’Bryan Hayes led off with a single to left and Bryan Reyolds drew a four-pitch walk. After Andrew McCutchen grounded out and Carlos Santana struck out, Joe hit his second homer, a full-count blast into the bullpen in center, for a 3-0 Pittsburgh lead. Suwinski followed with his fifth homer, to right, to make it 4-0.

Weaver settled down after that, giving up only a one-out single to Austin Hedges in the second.

Cincinnati broke through in the seventh. Jake Fraley and Tyler Stephenson walked. Wil Myers grounded into a double play, with Hayes at third making a diving stop to his left to get the play started. That moved Fraley to third, and Vosler drove him in with a flare to shallow center to cut it to 4-1.

In the eighth against Colin Holderman, Jose Barrero reached on an infield hit. He went to second on Holderman’s throwing error, reached third on a wild pitch and scored on India’s base hit to right. TJ Friedl singled to right, and both runners advanced on a double steal. India scored on Spencer Steer’s sacrifice fly to left, closing it to 4-3.

–Field Level Media

Major League Baseball suspended New York Mets pitcher Max Scherzer for 10 games and fined him an undisclosed amount on Thursday for using a grip-enhancing foreign substance.

Scherzer was ejected from Wednesday’s game at the Los Angeles Dodgers and declared his innocence afterward.

It was originally reported that Scherzer would appeal the decision, but Scherzer later told reporters he was dropping the appeal because he learned it would be heard not by a neutral party, but by MLB special adviser John McHale Jr.

“I thought I was going to get in front of a neutral arbitrator, but I wasn’t, it would be through MLB,” Scherzer said. “So given that process, I really wasn’t going to come out on top given that. The best thing for the Mets, I’m going to follow what the Mets wanted me to do and that was to accept the suspension and come to a settlement with that.”

The suspension begins immediately. Scherzer will be eligible to return May 1 at home against Atlanta.

The right-hander was also fined $10,000, the New York Post reported.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner was ejected before the bottom of the fourth inning after umpires examined his glove.

It was the second glove examination in two innings for Scherzer, after umpires requested that he change gloves before the bottom of the third inning. Crew chief Phil Cuzzi ejected Scherzer after discovering a second issue with the glove.

Michael Hill, MLB’s senior vice president of on-field operations, announced the discipline.

The league said in a statement: “MLB reviewed relevant video and first-person reports, including a report from the umpiring crew led by Crew Chief Dan Bellino. Despite having been warned earlier in the game, including being required to make an equipment change, Mr. Scherzer was found to be in violation of the foreign substance prohibitions of the Official Baseball Rules prior to the bottom of the fourth inning.”

Scherzer maintained after the game that all he used was sweat and rosin, a substance which is legal for pitchers but not when used excessively or applied directly to the glove.

“(Cuzzi) said my hand’s too sticky,” Scherzer said Wednesday. “I said, ‘I swear on my kids’ lives, I’m not using anything else. This is sweat and rosin, sweat and rosin.’ I keep saying it over and over, and they touch my hand, they say it’s sticky. Yes, it is, because it’s sweat and rosin. They say it’s too sticky. They threw me out because of that.”

Bellino, the plate umpire, told a pool reporter on Wednesday, “Both Phil (Cuzzi) and I touched his hand. As far as stickiness, level of stickiness, this was the stickiest that it has been since I’ve been inspecting hands, which now goes back three seasons.

“Compared to the first inning, the level of stickiness, it was so sticky that when we touched his hand, our fingers were sticking to his hand. And whatever was on there remained on our fingers afterward for a couple innings, where you could still feel that the fingers were sticking together.”

Cuzzi added, “I said this to Buck (Showalter, the Mets’ manager,) and to Max, it really didn’t matter to us what it is. All we know is that it was far stickier than anything that we’ve felt certainly today and anything this year, and so in that case, we felt as though he had two chances to clean it up, and he didn’t.”

Scherzer, 38, gave up one hit over three scoreless innings with two walks and three strikeouts over 47 pitches.

–Field Level Media