Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced over five scoreless innings in his season debut, rookie Wyatt Langford extended his RBI streak to five games and the Texas Rangers beat the visiting Kansas City Royals 4-0 on Sunday to complete a three-game series sweep.

José Ureña pitched the final four innings for his first save and extended the Rangers’ consecutive scoreless innings pitched streak to a season-high 22, their longest since 23 in a row in September 2016.

“I think there’s a notion out there that I always fight to stay in ballgames, and there’s some pretty good clips of me doing that,” Scherzer said. “There’s probably 20 other times where I’m actually telling the manager I’m coming out, I need to come out of the ballgame. ... I’m very aware of my arm. I’m very aware of where I’m at, and what I can and can’t do. I know you’re going to introduce more risk if I continue to go back out there. And so, you know, we have to minimize risk at this point.”

Josh Smith homered for the Rangers (37-40), who matched their season high by winning their fourth game in a row.

The Royals ended a 2-7 road trip, though at 42-37 overall, they have 20 wins more than at the same point last season. They were shut out for the fourth time this season, including three on the trip that ended with being held scoreless the last two games in Texas.

Texas went ahead for good on Langford’s RBI double in the fourth off Alec Marsh (5-5).

Scherzer struck out four while allowing only one hit and no walks. The right-hander threw 39 of his 57 pitches for strikes in his first start since exiting Game 3 of the World Series last Oct. 30 after three innings because of back tightness. His fastball was consistently in the 92-94 mph range.

Scherzer, who turns 40 on July 27, had surgery in mid-December to repair a herniated disk in his lower back, then during his rehab dealt with a nerve issue that was diagnosed after he experienced right thumb soreness.

MJ Melendez had the only Royals hit off Scherzer, a ground-rule double that bounced into the Texas bullpen in the right-center field gap.

Scherzer’s final strikeout was the 3,371st in his career to match Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux for 11th on MLB’s career list.

It was Scherzer’s first regular-season start since Sept. 12, when he threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings at Toronto.

“It was just fun to get back out there and compete,” he said. “Be on the mound, and being in sync with the game, with the flow of the game.”

BRAVES 3, YANKEES 1 >> Max Fried shut down the Yankees for five innings before tiring on a blistering afternoon, Jarred Kelenic drove in two runs and Atlanta beat New York at Yankee Stadium for its eighth win in 10 games following a five-game losing streak.

Fried (7-3) allowed three singles in the first five innings, then gave up three hits in the sixth that included Anthony Volpe’s RBI double. Fried improved to 4-1 in his last six starts, giving up six hits in six innings with four strikeouts and no walks.

Atlanta (43-32) won two of three from the Yankees (52-28), who lost their third straight series.

Kelenic homered in the third inning on a first-pitch cutter from Nestor Cortes (4-6) and hit a sacrifice fly ahead of Ozzie Albies’ RBI single in a two-run fifth.

Cortes gave up three runs and five hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.

PHILLIES 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1 >> Cristopher Sánchez tossed seven scoreless innings and NL-best Philadelphia beat visiting Arizona.

David Dahl hit a two-run single, and Bryson Stott and Nick Castellanos also had RBIs for the Phillies who took two of three in the series that was a rematch of last year’s NLCS won by Arizona.

Sánchez (5-3) struck out four, walked none and allowed only three singles. He signed a new four-year, $22.5 million contract for 2025-28 on Saturday.

ASTROS 8, ORIOLES 1 >> Framber Valdez pitched seven solid innings and Jeremy Peña and Yainer Diaz had three RBIs apiece as Houston beat visiting Baltimore for a three-game sweep.

Valdez (6-5) allowed six hits and a run with seven strikeouts in seven innings to bounce back after consecutive losses.

Jose Altuve hit a leadoff homer as the Astros jumped on Albert Suárez (3-2) for four runs in the first. Alex Bregman had a season-high four hits for Houston, which extended its winning streak to five games.

Jordan Westburg homered for a second straight game to extend Baltimore’s franchise-record streak of games with a homer to 22.

RAYS 3, PIRATES 1 >> Yandy Díaz hit a home run off the first pitch from rookie standout Paul Skenes before leading off a two-run eighth inning with a single, sparking a road win for Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh.

Díaz opened the first inning by driving Skenes’ near 100 mph first-pitch fastball off the right-field foul pole. He was 3-for-4 with two hits off Skenes.

Colin Holderman (3-1) replaced Skenes for the eighth, giving up the single to Díaz followed by another from Josh Lowe. José Caballero, running for Díaz, scored on Randy Arozarena’s sacrifice fly to put the Rays ahead 2-1 before Richie Palacios added another run with an RBI single.

Skenes, a 22-year-old right-hander drafted first overall by Pittsburgh in 2023, struck out eight and allowed one run and six hits with one walk in a season-high seven innings.

The rookie retired the final 11 batters he faced to stay 4-0 and lower his ERA to 2.14. Skenes has thrown 70 pitches of at least 100.0 mph this season. No other starter has more than 36.

BREWERS 6, PADRES 2 >> Rookie Tobias Myers continued his terrific June by winning his fourth straight start and Blake Perkins highlighted a five-run second inning with a two-run single as visiting NL Central-leading Milwaukee beat San Diego to avoid a four-game sweep.

Myers (5-2) held the Padres to one run and five hits in five innings, with three strikeouts and no walks. He allowed one or no earned runs for the fourth time in his June starts.

The Brewers gave him all the support he needed by scoring five runs on six hits off Michael King (5-5) in the second.

The Padres had their four-game winning streak snapped. It had matched their season-best streak.

San Diego finally got to Myers in the fifth when Luis Arraez singled in Ha-Seong Kim, the third straight hit with two outs.

METS 5, CUBS 2 >> Luis Severino tossed six shutout innings, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo hit back-to-back homers and New York topped Chicago at Wrigley Field after closer Edwin Díaz was ejected in the ninth before throwing a pitch.

Díaz came on to try to seal the win, but was tossed for having a foreign substance after umpires inspected his hands and glove.

Drew Smith got two outs in place of Díaz before Jake Diekman struck out Patrick Wisdom for his third save for the Mets, who have won four straight series.

Severino (5-2) struck out a season-high 10 and allowed three hits for New York, which improved to 13-6 in June.

CARDINALS 5, GIANTS 3 >> Sonny Gray allowed one hit over seven innings, Alec Burleson drove in two runs and host St. Louis completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco.

St. Louis swept the series, which began in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday night with the tribute to the Negro Leagues.

Patrick Bailey homered for San Francisco, which has dropped five in a row.

Gray (9-4) retired the first 20 hitters he faced. He struck out eight and did not walk a batter.

TWINS 3, ATHLETICS 0 >> Pablo López took a perfect game into the sixth inning and matched a career high with 14 strikeouts in eight scoreless innings as Minnesota won at Oakland.

López (7-6) limited the A’s to two singles and a walk, retiring the first 17 batters he faced before Lawrence Butler singled on a line drive to right with two outs in the sixth.

Byron Buxton homered off Hogan Harris in the second and added an RBI double in the seventh to help the Twins improve to 16-4 against the AL West.

GUARDIANS 6, BLUE JAYS 5 >> Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor hit solo homers, helping AL Central-leading Cleveland win at home over Toronto.

Cleveland won its fifth straight and has the best home record in the majors at 26-9.

Rookie Spencer Horwitz belted his first two big league homers and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a two-run blast for Toronto, which has lost six in a row.

Naylor equaled his career high with his 20th homer.

MARLINS 6, MARINERS 4 >> Nick Gordon and Jesús Sánchez homered and host Miami defeated Seattle.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. had two hits and an RBI for the Marlins, who won the three-game series against the AL West-leading Mariners.

TIGERS 11, WHITE SOX 2 >> Colt Keith and Akil Baddoo homered in a five-run first inning and Riley Greene cleared the fences in a four-run second, lifting Detroit at home over Chicago.

The Tigers scored more runs in two at-bats on Matt Vierling’s leadoff triple and Keith’s two-run homer than in any of the previous six games, and they were just getting warmed up in the series-winning rout.

Baddoo’s two-run homer capped the five-run first and Greene followed with a three-run shot in the second to put Detroit ahead 9-0.

The Tigers chased Jonathan Cannon (1-2) after they opened the second with three straight singles, including Keith’s run-scoring, opposite-field hit. The rookie right hander gave up eight runs — five earned — on seven hits in one-plus innings.

rED SOX 7, REDS 4 >> Connor Wong and Rob Refsnyder each hit two-run homers as Boston took the road series from Cincinnati.

Boston improved to 24-16 on the road. The Red Sox have won seven of eight and are now a season-best six games over .500.

Jarren Duran went 3 for 5 with a double and two RBIs.