Mets’ lefty-laden lineup pays off against tough Cards righty Mikolas

Facing emerging righthanded ace Miles Mikolas, Mets manager Buck Showalter stacked his lineup with six lefties and two switch-hitters.

That played just right for the NL East leaders.

Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith helped New York chip away at Mikolas, Trevor Williams was sharp in a spot start and the

Mets beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 Tuesday to open a doubleheader at Citi Field.

McNeil and Smith each had two hits, including an RBI double apiece in the third inning. McNeil also narrowly missed a homer foul during a 12-pitch at-bat against Mikolas in the first and Smith singled and scored on a groundout in the second.

Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks ● 6: Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Justin Turner homered in a fiverun sixth inning, and host Los Angeles outlasted Arizona to begin the first doubleheader ever played between the NL West rivals.

Will Smith also connected early for the Dodgers, whose four homers matched their season high.

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0: Jose Abreu hit a tworun double in a three-run fifth inning, Dylan Cease pitched scoreless ball into the sixth, and Chicago won at Kansas City in the first game of a doubleheader.

Cease (4-1) wrangled out of trouble throughout, allowing runners in every inning. He gave up seven hits in 5 2⁄3 innings, with nine strikeouts — several in clutch situations.

The Royals struck out 14 times overall, went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners.

White Sox 3, Royals LATE MONDAY

Yankees 6, Orioles 2:

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Luis Severino allowed one hit in six innings, and Jose Trevino became the first New York catcher with a home run this year when he hit a three-run drive in the fourth to lift the surging Yankees at Baltimore.

Josh Donaldson and Anthony Rizzo added back-to-back solo homers in the ninth for the Yankees, who won for the 19th time in 22 games. New York (26-9) is off to one of the best 35-game starts in franchise history. Only the 1939 and 1928 teams, at 28-7, were better at this point.

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Willson Contreras led off with a double and became a rare leadoff hitter with a first-inning grand slam as host Chicago burst to an eight-run lead.

Contreras became the 10th leadoff hitter since 1901 with a first-inning slam, the first since Houston’s George Springer off Kansas City’s Edinson Volquez on June 24, 2016.

Cubs 9, Pirates 0:

HARVEY SUSPENDED

Major League Baseball announced that Matt Harvey has been suspended for 60 games without pay for “participating in the distribution of a prohibited Drug of Abuse in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.” In February, Harvey testified in court that he shared Percocets with pitcher Tyler Skaggs while they were teammates with the Angels. Skaggs fatally overdosed in 2019.