DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Byron Buxton hit Minnesota’s first back-to-back homers this season — Keirsey’s was a two-run job — Chris Paddack pitched seven shutout innings and the visiting Twins extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday.
The win streak is the fourth-longest in Twins history.
The record is 15 straight in 1991.
They had a 12-game winning streak last season. The Twins swept the season series 6-0 after being swept by the Orioles 6-0 last year.
Paddack gave up three hits and one walk. He struck out three.
Louis Varland and Jhoan Duran finished up the Twins’ third shutout this season.
Since giving up nine runs in his season opener, Paddack has posted a 2.51 ERA over eight starts and pitched seven or more innings in consecutive starts for the first time in his seven-year MLB career.
Willi Castro and Royce Lewis had two hits each with Lewis reaching 500 for his career.
Baltimore’s Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3) went 6 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk while striking out three.
Ryan O’Hearn had two hits for the Orioles.
Reds 7, White Sox 1: Elly De La Cruz, Will Benson and Matt McLain homered, Nick Martinez pitched seven shutout innings and host Cincinnati snapped a three-game losing streak with a win over Chicago.
The Reds came in averaging 2.2 runs over their last 10 games.
They won Thursday for just the third time in 12 games.
Martinez (2-4) gave up two hits and walked none while striking out three. He has not given up a walk in his last three starts covering 19 innings.
De La Cruz’s homer was his eighth of the season and third in five games. Benson’s was his first and McLain’s his sixth. Those three and Gavin Lux had two hits apiece with Benson driving in three.
Braves 5, Nationals 2: AJ Smith- Shawver allowed only two hits and no earned runs in six strong innings, Nick Allen drove in a run with two hits and host Atlanta beat Washington.
The Braves won three of four games in the series, leaving the Nationals with eight losses in their past nine games. Washington snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 5-4 comeback win on Wednesday night.
Smith-Shawver (3-2) relied on his splitter for six strikeouts and gave up one unearned run. He has won his last three decisions.
C.J. Abrams had two hits, including a homer off left-hander Dylan Lee in the eighth, for Washington.
Rays 8, Blue Jays 3: Josh Lowe had a homer among his three hits in his first game since getting injured on opening day, Brandon Lowe homered twice and visiting Tampa Bay defeated Toronto.
Josh Lowe, recovered from an oblique strain, scored on Brandon Lowe’s sixth and seventh homers of the season and hit his first of the season in the fifth inning.
Brandon Lowe finished 3 for 5 with four RBIs.
Kameron Misner hit his fourth homer. José Caballero had two hits, as did Danny Jansen, including an RBI single against his former team.
Zack Littell (3-5) worked 7 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on eight hits with a walk and two strikeouts. The Rays have won Littell’s last four starts, a span in which he has posted a 3.23 ERA over 25 1/3 innings.
Addison Barger hit his second homer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added his fifth and Nathan Lukes his third, all off Littell.
Rangers 1, Astros 0: Jacob deGrom went eight innings to win his fourth consecutive start for host Texas, which got Jake Burger’s solo home run off Hunter Brown in a win over Houston in an anticipated pitchers’ duel that certainly lived up to expectations.
The win gives Rangers manager Bruce Bochy his 2,195th career victory to break a tie with Sparky Anderson for the sixthmost by an MLB manager.
Bochy, who turned 70 last month and is in his 28th season as a manager, has a record of 2,195- 2,206 in regular-season games with Texas, San Diego and San Francisco.
Two-time Cy Young Award winner deGrom (4-1) is having quite a comeback after missing most of the past two seasons following Tommy John surgery.
The 36-year-old right-hander struck out seven, two of those to end innings with two runners on base, while walking one and giving up five hits.
Brown (6-2), who is 10 years younger that deGrom, struck out nine without a walk while scattering three hits in his first career complete game. The righty was tied for the major league lead in wins and retired the first 12 batters he faced before Adolis García lined a double to left to start the fifth.
Shawn Armstrong worked around a two-out walk in the ninth for his second save.
Burger went deep leading off the sixth, a 394-foot drive into the Texas bullpen in right-center.