Cardinals down Nationals for fifth win in a row

WASHINGTON — Miles Mikolas outpitched Max Scherzer, Marcell Ozuna had three hits and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 5-1 Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.

José Martínez drove in two runs for the Cardinals, who have won 10 of 11.

Washington has lost the first three games of the series and six of their last seven overall, and fell to 12-17.

The Cardinals touched up Scherzer (1-4) for three runs in the first as Victor Robles -- playing right in place of Juan Soto, who was scratched from the lineup with back spasms -- misread Ozuna’s flyball and it went for an RBI double. Martínez delivered a two-run single a batter later.

Scherzer pitched seven innings and struck out eight. He yielded eight hits, half of them coming in the first inning.

The Nationals mustered a run in the fourth, but couldn’t solve Mikolas (3-2), who was winless in his first three road starts this year. The right-hander gave up a run and seven hits while striking out four in six innings, and his final pitch resulted in a flyball to left by Michael A. Taylor fly that Ozuna caught while backed up against the door to the visitor’s bullpen.

St. Louis added two runs in the eighth off Joe Ross, ending the Washington bullpen’s scoreless streak at 16 innings.

REDS 1, METS 0 Jose Iglesias homered off Edwin Diaz in the ninth inning to give the Cincinnati Reds a 1-0 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night. Mets ace Jacob deGrom rediscovered his Cy Young form, throwing seven shutout innings of three-hit ball after losing his previous three starts. But as was often the case last season, his teammates didn’t provide much support. It was the second time in three nights that Diaz (0-2) gave up a tiebreaking homer to the Reds in the ninth. Jesse Winker connected against the All-Star closer in the series opener Monday to give Cincinnati a 5-4 victory. This time, the diminutive Iglesias pulled an 89 mph slider into the left field corner with two outs for his second home run this year and 23rd overall in eight major league seasons.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

RED SOX 7, ATHLETICS 3 Mitch Moreland homered and drove in another run on a sacrifice fly after a lucky hop off the second base bag moved the runners along and Boston beat Oakland 7-3 on Wednesday to complete a threegame sweep for the previously struggling World Series champions. The Red Sox already trailed 1-0 when Rafael Devers singled leading off the second inning and Michael Chavis bounced a perfect double-play grounder up the middle. But the ball hit the base and eluded second baseman Chad Pinder, going into center field and allowing Devers to take third. Moreland followed with a

deep sacrifice fly to tie the score, then hit a solo homer over the Green Monster in the fourth to give Boston the lead for good. Marcus Walden (4-0) relieved Red Sox starter Hector Velázquez after two innings and pitched three scoreless innings, striking out three and allowing one hit. Mike Fiers (2-3) gave up three runs and five hit in five innings for Oakland, which has lost six in a row starting a nine-game trip.

ROYALS 3-8, RAYS 2-2 Kelvin Gutierrez hit his first big league homer, Kansas City pounded AL Cy Young winner Blake Snell for the second time in a week, and the Royals routed the Tampa Bay Rays 8-2 on Wednesday to wrap up a doubleheader sweep. In the opener, Adalberto Mondesi hit a two-run homer to highlight a three-run first inning for Kansas City, and Jacob Junis and the bullpen held on the rest of the way for a 3-2 victory. Snell was easily outpitched by Glenn Sparkman (1-1), who was recalled from Triple-A Omaha and earned his first career win. Sparkman had allowed three runs in three relief appearances this season, but he shut down a club coming off the most wins by the end of April (19) in Rays history. Sparkman pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, striking out six with just one walk. Billy Hamilton chased Snell (2-3) with an RBI single in the fourth, the third straight batter to reach to start the inning. By the time all three scored, Snell had allowed seven runs on six hits and three walks in his second start since a 10-day layoff for a broken toe. It was the first time the Royals swept a doubleheader since July 7, 2015, when a team that would reach its second straight World Series also accomplished the feat against the Rays. Mondesi also drove in a run in the second game to cap a big afternoon. Gutierrez likewise had RBIs in each game, continuing his hot pace since an arrival from Omaha earlier this week. Junis (3-2) won his second consecutive start, both against the Rays.

ORIOLES 5, WHITE SOX 4, GAME 1

Jonathan Villar hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly, and the Baltimore Orioles stopped a four-game slide by rallying for a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the opener of a doubleheader. Richie Martin opened the eighth inning with a triple into the right-field corner off Kelvin Herrera (0-1). Villar then hit a fly ball to center, and Martin scored easily when Adam Engel’s throw landed up the third base line.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 7, RANGERS 5 Rookie Bryan Reynolds kept up his impressive start, hitting a three-run double as the Pittsburgh Pirates completed a two-game sweep in Texas by topping the Rangers 7-5 on Wednesday. A day after his first career home run put the Pirates ahead in the 11th inning of a 6-4 win that ended an eight-game losing streak, Reynolds extended his career-opening hitting streak to nine games with a liner over left fielder Joey Gallo’s head in the fourth. A 24-year-old outfielder acquired in the trade that sent Andrew McCutchen to San Francisco before the 2018 season, Reynolds is one of two Pirates since 1900 with a hit in each of his first nine games in the big leagues. Gregory Polanco debuted with an 11-game streak in 2014.

DIAMONDBACKS 3, YANKEES 2 Ketel Marte homered, Merrill Kelly won his first start against the Yankees and Arizona beat New York 3-2 Wednesday to sweep a two-game series. New York dropped to 0-5 this year against teams that currently have winning records and is 17-7 against clubs that started the day under .500. New York had won nine of 10 heading into the series against the Diamondbacks but wound up heading home 6-3 on its western swing.

CUBS 11, MARINERS 0 Jon Lester and two relievers combined on a one-hitter, Javier Baez homered and doubled during Chicago’s six-run second inning, and the Cubs beat the Seattle Mariners 11-0 on Wednesday for their 13th win in 17 games. The Cubs handed Seattle starter Marco Gonzales his first loss of the season, thanks to the big second inning when 12 batters came to the plate. Gonzales (5-1) failed to make it out of the inning after giving up five hits and walking two. Baez led off the second with a homer to deep right-center field — his 10th of the season — and later added an RBI double just inside third base. Jason Heyward also had an RBI single, and two of the walks came with the bases loaded.