



NEW YORK >> Juan Soto hit his first two home runs at Citi Field as a member of the Mets on Thursday afternoon, but the Arizona Diamondbacks earned a 4-2 win to hand New York a rare home series loss.
The Diamondbacks won the final two games of the three-game series — the first time the Mets have lost back-to-back contests at Citi Field since July 27-28, when they fell to the Atlanta Braves.
New York, which is 13-3 at Citi Field this season, had its franchise-record streak of 10 straight home series wins snapped.
Zac Gallen (2-4) allowed only two hits over six innings. He didn’t allow a runner past first base until Soto’s opposite field 391-foot blast with one out in the sixth.
Soto then hit a 399-foot shot to almost the same area of left-centerfield off Kevin Ginkel in the eighth.
Soto entered Thursday batting .241 with four doubles, 10 walks and eight strikeouts in his first 15 home games since signing a 15-year deal worth $765 million last December. He had 12 homers in 35 games at Citi Field as a visiting player.
Nationals 4, Phillies 2 >> Luis Garcia Jr. singled, doubled and drove in a run, Brad Lord pitched effectively into the sixth inning for his first major league win and the Washington Nationals avoided a three-game sweep with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night.
Nathaniel Lowe also drove in a run for Washington, which had lost three in a row overall.
Lord (1-3) allowed two runs and six hits in five-plus innings. The rookie right-hander struck out four and walked one.
Jose A. Ferrer fanned three in two scoreless innings of relief, and Kyle Finnegan got three outs for his 10th save.
Trea Turner had three hits for Philadelphia, which had won four straight.
Guardians 4, Twins 3 (10 innings) >> José Ramírez became the first player in Cleveland franchise history to reach 250 career homers and 250 steals and then scored the winning run in the 10th inning as the Guardians rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.
Ramírez’s single drove in Steven Kwan to tie it at 3. Ramírez then stole second base to become the 24th player in major league history — and only active one — to reach the milestone.
After Kyle Manzardo was intentionally walked, pinch-hitter Angel Martínez hit a sharp grounder into right field to score Ramírez and give Cleveland its second walk-off win of the four-game series.
The Guardians took three games in the four-game set and went 6-4 on their 10-game homestand. There were two rain delays totaling 2 hours, 23 minutes on what was ironically Weather Education Day.
Royals 8, Rays 2 >> Bobby Witt Jr. homered to extend his hitting streak to 22 games and had three RBIs, Seth Lugo pitched solid six innings and the Kansas City Royals earned a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays with an 8-2 victory on Thursday.
Vinnie Pasquantino had a single, a double and two RBIs for the Royals, who have won nine of their past 10.
Mikael Garcia hit a line-drive double to center field for the Royals, stole third base and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Michael Massey to tie it 1-1 in the fourth.
Lugo (3-3) gave up two runs and five hits with five strikeouts. Daniel Lynch IV, Angel Zerpa and Chris Stratton each threw a scoreless inning of relief for the Royals.
Shane Baz (3-1) gave up seven runs and nine hits with three walks over 5 2/3 innings and had his ERA increase from 2.45 to 3.86.
Cubs 8, Pirates 3 >> Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all took Pirates ace Paul Skenes deep in the fifth inning as the Cubs pulled away for an 8-3 victory on Thursday.
Suzuki later added a two-run shot off reliever Kyle Nicolas as Chicago took two of three from the last-place Pirates.
Skenes (3-3), fresh off a masterful performance in a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers last Friday, labored through his shortest start of the season.
The 22-year-old reigning National League Rookie of the Year lasted just five innings. His four walks matched his total on the season coming in and the aggressive Cubs pounced in the fifth to turn a two-run deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Colin Rea (2-0) allowed two runs in a season-high six innings for Chicago.
Reds 9, Cardinals 1 >> Jose Trevino hit a two-run homer and Spencer Steer added a solo shot as the Cincinnati Reds defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 9-1 on Thursday afternoon in a game delayed 1 hour, 37 minutes by rain.
Trevino’s two-out, two-run homer off Matthew Liberatore put the Reds ahead 2-0 in the second.
Brendan Donovan scored from first on Nolan Arenado’s single when Elly De La Cruz booted the ball in short left field for his major-league leading seventh error, making the score 2-1.
Neither team’s starter returned following the rain delay.
Liberatore (2-3) allowed two runs and two hits in three innings for the Cardinals. Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott gave up a run on four hits over four innings.
White Sox 8, Brewers 0 >> Miguel Vargas hit a three-run home run, Luis Robert Jr. had four RBIs and the Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-0 on Thursday.
Sean Burke (2-4) gave up two hits and three walks over six scoreless innings for his first win since the season opener. Mike Vasil, Brandon Eisert and Jared Shuster each threw an inning of no-hit relief as Chicago dealt the Brewers their first shutout of the season.
After Edgar Quero and Andrew Vaughn hit back-to-back two-out singles to chase starter Chad Patrick, Vargas hit a 1-2 pitch off Craig Yoho over the wall in left to make it 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth.
Athletics 3, Rangers 0 >> Jeffrey Springs gave up two hits in six scoreless innings, Jacob Wilson and Miguel Andujar each had two hits and an RBI and the Athletics beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 on Thursday.
Springs (4-3) had allowed at least three runs in each of has last five starts and 19 total in that span. Mason Miller pitched a perfect ninth inning and earned his 10th save in as many opportunities this season.
Wilson hit a RBI single in the top of the seventh and Luis Urías added another in the eighth for the Athletics.
Tyler Mahle (3-1) gave up a run on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts over six innings.
The 30-year-old right-hander gave up two runs across 12 innings in his previous two starts, both no decisions.