Rays beat White Sox to win 13th consecutive home game

Zach Eflin of the Tampa Bay Rays delivers a pitch to the Chicago White Sox during the first inning Sunday at Tropicana Field. Eflin allowed one run in five innings as the Rays won their 13th consecutive home game to start the season. JULIO AGUILAR — GETTY IMAGES

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Zach Eflin pitched five effective innings in his return from injury and the Tampa Bay Rays hit two more home runs Sunday, beating the slumping Chicago White Sox 4-1 for their 13th consecutive home win to begin the season.

Tampa Bay (19-3) tied the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers for the second-longest home winning streak to start a season since 1901. The 1907 New York Giants opened with 15 straight wins at home.

Luke Raley and Harold Ramirez went deep for the Rays, who have homered in each of their first 22 games — extending their major league record. Tampa Bay has 48 home runs, second-most in big league history through 22 games behind the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals (52).

Eflin (3-0) allowed one run and three hits in a game that took only 2 hours, 2 minutes. He had been on the injured list with lower back tightness.

Yonny Chirinos followed with three perfect innings. Peter Fairbanks then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to get his third save and run his team-record scoreless streak to 29 innings.

Eloy Jiménez had an RBI double for the White Sox, who have lost nine of 11 and are 7-15 overall.

red sox 12, brewers 5 >> Masataka Yoshida homered twice during Boston’s nine-run outburst in the eighth inning as visiting Boston rallied to beat Milwaukee. Justin Turner and Yoshida started the eighth with back-to-back homers off Matt Bush (0-1) that gave the Red Sox a 5-4 lead. Yoshida then capped the inning with a grand slam off Javy Guerra that landed in the second deck of right-field seats.

Yoshida ended up driving in six runs. He also had a sacrifice fly in the first.

Yoshida became the fifth Red Sox player to homer twice in one inning, and first since Hall of Fame slugger David Ortiz in August 2008.

astros 5, braves 2 >> Yordan Alvarez tied the game with a two-run single in the eighth inning, Corey Julks had a go-ahead pinch-hit single in the ninth and visiting Houston won its fourth straight. The defending World Series champion Astros loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against reliever Nick Anderson before closer A.J. Minter (1-2) entered to face Alvarez, who delivered the hit that made it 2-all.

Minter allowed two batters to reach in the ninth before Julks delivered a single to left-center that gave Houston a 3-2 lead.

guardians 7, marlins 4 >> Host Cleveland’s Logan Allen held Miami to a solo homer and struck out eight over six innings to win his major league debut. The 24-year-old left hander gave up a two-out homer to Jon Berti in the third. He finished with a flourish by striking out three around a one-out walk in the sixth.

Amed Rosario sparked Cleveland’s slumbering offense by going 4 for 5 with two singles, a triple and double with three runs. José Ramírez, who had four RBIs, and Josh Bell hit back-to-back homers in the third.

phillies 9, rockies 3 >> Trea Turner and Kody Clemens hit solo homers, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh hit two-run shots and Zack Wheeler struck out 11 to lead host Philadelphia. The Phillies have won six of eight overall. The NL champions have made strides of late on the strength of their rotation. Wheeler (2-1) survived a rough fourth inning — plunking Yonathan Daza on the hand and allowing three runs — to finish with his 17th career double-digit strikeout game.

CARDINALS 7, MARINERS 3 >> Lars Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game, Nolan Gorman added a three-run shot and visiting St. Louis beat Seattle to prevent a three-game sweep. Paul DeJong also went deep in his season debut, getting three hits after returning from the injured list and Jack Flaherty (2-2) recovered from early trouble to pitch six solid innings with nine strikeouts. Jarred Kelenic homered for the second consecutive day for the Mariners.

blue jays 5, yankees 1 >> Kevin Gausman struck out 11 in seven shutout innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho hit back-to-back homers following for visiting Toronto. The Blue Jays won for the 12th time in 18 games and took two of three in the Bronx to hand New York its first series loss. The Yankees had won or split their first six series, their longest streak to start a season since 2003, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

PADRES 7, DIAMONDBACKS 5 >> Yu Darvish pitched effectively into the sixth inning for visiging San Diego before leaving with an apparent injury. Darvish (1-2) allowed two hits in 5 2/3 innings. He left two pitches into an at-bat by Pavin Smith after San Diego’s trainer checked on his right leg. Matt Carpenter had a homer and five RBIs for the Padres. Alek Thomas, Nick Ahmed and Jake McCarthy homered for Arizona.

TWINS 3, NATIONALS 1 >> Jorge Polanco homered and Bailey Ober pitched three-hit ball into the sixth inning for host Minnesota. Michael A. Taylor also connected for the Twins, who won for just the second time in eight games after a 10-4 start. Polanco had three hits, while Ryan Jeffers and Jose Miranda each had two. The Nationals finished with three hits after getting 15 in Saturday’s 10-4 win. Keibert Ruiz had an RBI double in the first.

orioles 2, tigers 1 (10 innings >> Adam Frazier dashed home on Mason Englert’s wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning to give host Baltimore its sixth straight victory. The Orioles won for the 10th time in 12 games, this time on a day when Detroit’s Eduardo Rodriguez retired the first 20 Baltimore hitters. Keegan Akin (1-1) kept the Tigers off the scoreboard in the top of 10th.

giants 5, mets 4 >> Joc Pederson scored from first base on Mike Yastrzemski’s one-out double in the eighth inning, sending host San Francisco over New York. Activated off the injured list, Pederson drove in the Giants’ first run with a single in the first and then started the winning rally with a walk against Drew Smith (1-1). Yastrzemski followed with a line drive into right-center to knock in Pederson.

rangers 5, a’s 2 >> Jacob deGrom struck out 11 batters in six innings, showing no ill effects from the right wrist soreness that forced an early exit in his prior start for host Texas. Robbie Grossman hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBIs for the AL West-leading Rangers (14-7), who took two of three from major league-worst Oakland (4-18).

pirates 2, reds 0 >> Vince Velasquez struck out 10 in seven innings and host Pittsburgh won its seventh straight. The surprising Pirates moved into first place in the NL Central and improved to 16-7 — the top record in the National League — for the franchise’s best start since its last division title in 1992.