Pirates 2, Nationals 0 Mitch Keller pitched eight innings of two-hit ball, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

Keller (12-9) struck out seven and walked one. The 27-year-old right-hander improved to 3-1 with a 3.07 ERA in his last seven starts.

David Bednar pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 35th save.

Pittsburgh won the final three games of the four-game set against last-place Washington. The Pirates have won 11 of 16 overall.

Tigers 8, Reds 2 Matt Vierling hit a grand slam, Reese Olson pitched six sharp innings and the Detroit Tigers beat the Cincinnati Reds.

Akil Baddoo also went deep for Detroit, which salvaged the finale of the three-game series. Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson each drove in a run.

Olson (4-7) permitted one run and two hits. The rookie right-hander struck out seven and walked four.

Brewers 4, Marlins 2 Tyrone Taylor hit two RBI doubles and put Milwaukee ahead for good with an impressive slide home in the NL Central-leading Brewers’ victory over the Miami Marlins.

The Brewers won three of four from the Marlins this week and extended their division lead to 4 1/2 games over the Chicago Cubs. The Marlins remain just outside of playoff position as they pursue one of the NL’s three wild-card spots.

Game one: Red Sox 5, Yankees 0 Trevor Story hit a three-run homer, Tanner Houck pitched six effective innings and Boston climbed out of the AL East basement with a victory over the New York Yankees in the opener of a doubleheader after the Red Sox fired Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom.

Bloom was dismissed after nearly four seasons. He was hired from the Tampa Bay Rays to help revive the farm system and bring financial stability to a team that was one of baseball’s biggest spenders.

Game Two: Yankees 8, Red Sox 5 Aaron Judge hit a grand slam, DJ LeMahieu broke an eighth-inning tie with an RBI double, and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox to split a doubleheader.

Oswald Peraza hit his first career homer, a two-run shot in the ninth for the Yankees (74-73), who won three of four at Boston to draw even with their rival at the bottom of the AL East.

Mets 11, Diamondbacks 1 Kodai Senga struck out 10 over six scoreless innings, Jeff McNeil and Jonathan Araúz homered, and the New York Mets continued playing the spoiler with a rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Diamondbacks dropped the final three games of a four-game series against the Mets to fall into a tie for the third NL wild-card spot with the Cincinnati Reds (76-72) and San Francisco Giants. The Reds, who visit New York for a weekend series, have the tiebreaker over Arizona by virtue of winning the season series 4-3.

Rays 4, Orioles 3 Luke Raley hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning, and Tampa Bay’s remarkable bullpen retired everyone it faced in the Rays’ victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the opener of a huge series at Camden Yards.

The Rays pulled within a game of first-place Baltimore in the AL East, and their relievers extended their streak to 34 innings without an earned run.

Ryan O’Hearn and Gunnar Henderson homered for the Orioles, but with the game tied at 3, Raley hit a drive to center field off Kyle Bradish (11-7) for his 19th home run of the year.

Twins 10, White Sox 2 Kyle Farmer hit a two-run homer to cap Minnesota’s four-run seventh inning, Kenta Maeda threw seven strong innings and the Twins routed the Chicago White Sox.

Rookies Edouard Julien and Royce Lewis hit solo shots in the fourth to get the Twins rolling and help first-place Minnesota (77-70) extend its lead in the AL Central to eight games over idle Cleveland.

Rangers 9, Blue Jays 2 Corey Seager homered and drove in three runs, Jonah Heim hit a solo home run and the Texas Rangers routed the Toronto Blue Jays to complete a four-game sweep.

Robbie Grossman reached base four times and drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk as the Rangers (82-64) won their sixth straight, moving 2 1/2 games ahead of the Blue Jays in the AL wild-card race.