Oneil Cruz hit his first career grand slam to help Bailey Falter and the Pirates beat Washington 6-1 on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Henry Davis also connected for Pittsburgh, which had dropped four of five. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had two hits and scored run.

Falter (1-2) allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings. It was the 10th time this season that a Pirates starter went six innings or more — tops in the majors.

Washington wasted a sharp performance by Mitchell Parker (2-1), who tossed six innings of one-run ball. The Nationals scored their only run on Alex Call’s sacrifice fly in the ninth.

The benches cleared in the seventh after a pitch by Jorge López went near Andrew McCutchen’s head. López, who also hit Bryan Reynolds, was ejected. McCutchen had to fall to the ground to avoid getting hit by a 92 mph ball near his head.

Padres 4, Cubs 2 >> Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado each drove in two runs and Nick Pivetta pitched six strong innings for host San Diego, which beat Chicago to take two of three in a series between National League division leaders.

The Padres improved to a major league-best 15-4. The NL West leaders have won 12 of 13 home games, with the lone loss coming on Tuesday night in 10 innings against Chicago.

Blue Jays 3, Braves 1 >> Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit his first home run of the season and drove in a pair, Chris Bassitt pitched five shutout innings and host Toronto spoiled Spencer Strider’s return from elbow surgery by beating Atlanta.

Chris Bassitt (2-0) struck out a season-high 10 and allowed three hits, all singles. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 0.77 through four starts.

The Blue Jays set a single-game, nine-inning record with 19 strikeouts.

Strider (0-1) allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. Making his first big league appearance in 376 days because of surgery to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, the right-hander struck out five, walked one, and hit a batter.

Orioles 9, Guardians 1 >> Jackson Holliday hit a second-inning grand slam, Dean Kremer turned in his best start of the young season and host Baltimore routed Cleveland.

Holliday snapped an 0-for-17 drought with a drive that carried into the Baltimore bullpen in center field off Gavin Williams (1-1) with one out in the second.

Twins 4, Mets 3 (10) >> Ty France singled in the 10th inning to give Minnesota a victory over visiting New York, who had rallied with a three-run eighth.

With the speedy Byron Buxton conveniently on second as the automatic runner, France smacked a 1-1 pitch from Reed Garrett (0-1) with none out that bounced in center field with no chance for Tyrone Taylor to get his glove down.

Kershaw has first rehab start >> Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw threw three scoreless innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City in his first rehab start as the 37-year-old left-hander tries to work his way back from offseason surgeries on his toe and knee. Kershaw allowed two hits without a walk and struck out two in the game against Tacoma.