Cubs stop Nats 7-4, end three-game skid

CHICAGO — Willson Contreras homered and drove in three runs, Alex Avila homered for his first hit with the Cubs and Chicago beat the Washington Nationals 7-4 on Saturday to even the series between division leaders.

Kris Bryant and Jon Jay each added a run-scoring hit as the Cubs snapped a threegame losing streak.

Bryce Harper hit his 28th homer and threw out a runner at third base for the Nationals.

Saturday was supposed to be a day off for Contreras — with Avila making his first start after being acquired on Monday — but manager Joe Maddon started Contreras in left field to keep his hot bat in the lineup. He entered batting .429 with two homers and eight RBI in the first four games of the home stand.

John Lackey (9-9) allowed three runs (two earned) and six hits in five innings to win his fourth-straight start. Wade Davis got the final three outs — striking out Harper, the potential tying run, to end it — for his 23rd save.

Dodgers 7, Mets 4

NEW YORK — Yasiel Puig hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the thundering Los Angeles Dodgers went deep five times, rallying past the New York Mets to extend their incredible surge.

Chris Taylor, Justin Turner, Corey Seager and rookie Cody Bellinger also connected for the Dodgers, who are 43-7 since June 7. That’s the best 50-game run by a big league team since the 1912 New York Giants compiled the same mark from May 14 to July 3.

Los Angeles has won all but one of its last 13 games, upping the top record in the majors to an astounding 78-32. That puts the Dodgers at 46 games above .500 for the first time since they were 98-51 on Sept. 15, 1962.

That team — led by Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and NL MVP Maury Wills — didn’t even win the pennant after dropping a best-of-three playoff to rival San Francisco. This year’s Dodgers are looking to end a World Series drought that dates to the franchise’s last championship in 1988.