Markakis’ slam, Fried’s pitching lead Braves past Cards

BRAVES 11, CARDINALS 4

ST. LOUIS — Nick Markakis hit a grand slam, Max Fried took a shutout into the seventh inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 11-4 on Saturday night.

The Braves have won the first two games of the three-game set. The Cardinals have dropped three in a row.

Fried (1-2) stymied the Cardinals on 101 pitches before being pulled with two outs in the seventh. Recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to start the game, he struck out 11, allowed four singles and walked three.

Luke Weaver (4-7) went 42/ innings, giving up 10 runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out five. He gave up homers to Markakis in his final inning and a two-run shot to Ronald Acuna Jr. in the second.

The Braves sent 11 players to the plate in the six-run fifth. After Ozzie Albies doubled in Fried, the Cardinals intentionally walked Freddie Freeman to face Markakis. The right fielder hit his ninth homer of the season and fourth career grand slam off a 3-2 pitch. He hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to bring in Albies, finishing with five RBIs on the day.

Albies went 3 for 5 and has a 10-game hit streak, batting .467 (21 for 47) during that span.

The Cardinals scored all of their runs in the ninth off Matt Wisler, including a leadoff home run from Jose Martinez.

PHILLIES 3, NATIONALS 2 Hit on his pitching arm by a line drive, Phillies right-hander Vince Velasquez made a dazzling throw with his left hand, and Philadelphia overcame an injury to its starting pitcher to bea Washington. Velasquez was struck in the forearm by Adam Eaton’s liner in the second inning. He dropped his glove, hustled to retrieve the ball as it deflected toward third base, and unleashed a strong throw with his opposite arm that nipped the speedy Eaton at first for the final out. Velasquez then dropped to the ground, writhing in pain and was pulled from the game with a bruise. Victor Arano (1-0) followed with two scoreless innings of relief. Rookie Seranthony

Dominguez pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in his eighth chances.

ROCKIES 3, DODGERS 1 German Marquez pitched two-hit ball over eight innings and Ian Desmond homered to help Colorado beat Los Angeles. Marquez (6-8) retired his first 15 batters before Enrique Hernandez connected for a home run off the left-field foul pole leading off the sixth. The right-hander struck out nine and walked none after entering with a 5.53 ERA, third-worst among qualified National League starters. Adam Ottavino pitched the ninth for his second save.

MARLINS 5, METS 2 Brian Anderson hit a two-run homer off Jacob deGrom and Miami climbed out of last place in the NL East. For the second game in a row, a Marlins pitcher beat the Mets while making his first major league start. Pablo Lopez (1-0) allowed two runs in six innings in his big league debut. The Mets (3248) lost for the 10th time in 11 games and fell into last place for the first time this year. They finished 5-21 this month for the worst June in franchise history, and they’ve plummeted from 10 games over .500 to 15 under at an earlier date than any team in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. REDS 12, BREWERS 3 Reliever Michael Lorenzen hit the second grand slam by a Reds pitcher in a week, and Cincinnati snapped a seven game losing streak. Lorenzen’s pinch-hit grand slam off Jacob Barnes in the seventh inning completed an eight-run rally — Cincinnati’s biggest of the season. Lorenzen’s fifth career homer drew a curtain call from the crowd of 24,640. The reliever has homered in his last three at-bats. He also connected Friday during Milwaukee’s 8-2 win.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RED SOX 11, YANKEES 0 Chris Sale pitched his latest Bronx gem, Rafael Devers went 5 for 5 with a first-inning grand slam and the Boston Red Sox held the New York Yankees to two hits during a rout to take back baseball’s best record. Sale (8-4) allowed only Giancarlo Stanton’s clean single over seven innings, striking out 11. He has a 1.73 career ERA against the Yankees, best among pitchers with at least 10 starts against them since 1920. His ERA at Yankee Stadium is 1.86, second only to Seattle’s Felix Hernandez among pitchers with five starts. Boston is a major league-leading 56-28, just ahead of the Yankees at 53-27. New York held the majors’ best mark by percentage points after winning Friday’s series opener 8-1.

BLUE JAYS 4, TIGERS 3 Justin Smoak led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a home run and Toronto handed Detroit its 11th straight loss. Smoak connected against reliever Joe Jimenez (3-1) for his 11th homer of the season. Seyunghwan Oh (4-2) worked one inning for the win. Randal Grichuk also homered for the Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 at home. John Hicks hit a solo homer in the Detroit second off Sam Gaviglio and Nick Castellanos made it 3-0 with a two-run shot in the third, his 12th. Randal Grichuk hit a two-run homer to cap Toronto’s three-run fifth that tied the score.

RAYS 5, ASTROS 2 Wilson Ramos drove in four runs in the first two innings against Justin Verlander, and Tampa Bay won for the seventh time in eight games. Matt Duffy finished with three hits, including two in the first two innings, to help the Rays move to .500 (41-41) for the first time since June 1. Tampa Bay has held opponents to two runs or fewer in five straight games for only the second time in franchise history. Ramos gave the Rays the lead with a two-run double in the first, and made it 5-0 with a two-run single in the second. Alex Bregman got the Astros on the board with a two-run homer in the sixth off Vidal Nuno (2-0). ATHLETICS 7, INDIANS 2 Journeyman Edwin Jackson earned his first win with Oakland, pitching neatly into the seventh inning as the Athletics got their season-high sixth straight victory. Matt Olson, Dustin Fowler and Josh Phegley homered to help the A’s win for the 12th time in 14 games. They’ve won seven straight against Cleveland and nine of their last 10 against the Indians in Oakland. Jackson (1-0), who signed a minor league contract with the A’s on June 6 and is now with his record-tying 13th major league team, gave up only two hits in 6 2/3 innings. The A’s trailed 2-0 going into the sixth, when Franklin Barreto became their first baserunner with a leadoff double against Adam Plutko (4-2).

ANGELS 6, ORIOLES 2 Albert Pujols’ RBI double highlighted a five- run eighth inning and Los Angeles handed Baltimore its seventh straight loss. Playing their 3,000th game under manager Mike Scioscia, the Angels trailed 2-1 before using three hits, three walks and a hit batter to take control against the free-falling Orioles. After Mychal Givens (0-6) issued a pair of one-out walks, Pujols tied it with his 632nd career double, tying David Ortiz for 10th place on the all-time list. An intentional walk followed, and the go-ahead run scored when Chris Young hit into a force play at third base.

INTERLEAGUE CUBS 14, TWINS 9 Minnesota’s Eddie Rosario, Bobby Wilson and Max Kepler all left early because of heat illness on a scorching afternoon at Wrigley Field in the Cubs’ win. Rosario homered in the top of the fifth inning, then was pulled from left field shortly after fielding a hit by Anthony Rizzo in the bottom half. The Cubs said it was 96 degrees at the time with a heat index of 107 — that’s a calculation of how hot it actually feels, with the humidity factored in. Jason Heyward had four of the Cubs’ 20 hits, Ben Zobrist had three RBIs and Chicago had a pair of five-run innings. The Cubs rallied from 3-0 and 7-4 deficits and have scored at least 10 runs in three straight games for the first time since April 2003.