American League

Athletics 3, Astros 1

The Oakland Athletics have long been a stellar second-half team. In a shortened season, they have dominated since Day 1.

Sean Manaea carried a perfect game into the sixth inning en route to winning his fourth straight start, Matt Olson hit a two-run homer and Oakland beat stumbling Houston on Thursday.

“Big series,” Oakland's Mark Canha said. “We came in here with the right mindset. It was very businesslike, and we made it happen. Well-played series.”

The division-leading A's (27-15) moved 6 1/2 games ahead of second-place Houston in the AL West. The teams split Tuesday's doubleheader that was forced by an Aug. 30 postponement at Houston because of Oakland pitcher Daniel Mengden's positive coronavirus test result.

Oakland had four games postponed and is 5-3 since resuming play last Friday against the Padres. Houston (22-23), which won a majors-best 107 games last season and the past three AL West titles, lost for the eighth time in nine games.

“It's not easy. We're all frustrated," Astros manager Dusty Baker said. “But these guys they never get down. They get down momentarily but then they bounce right back.”

The A's have their largest division lead since they were 6½ games up on Sept. 25, 2013.

Manaea (4-2) struck out four and didn't walk a batter over seven innings. The lefty has surged since going 0-2 over his initial five outings. He didn't allow a runner until Josh Reddick doubled leading off the sixth.

“How many rockets did we hit off of him? We hit some balls extremely hard off of him they just didn’t find any holes,” Baker said. “We actually hit the ball harder than they did. It didn’t work.”

Chad Pinder provided insurance with an RBI single in the seventh as Oakland took four of five in the series. Liam Hendriks finished the 2-hour, 18-minute game for his 12th save.

Martín Maldonado grounded into a double play that scored Houston's lone run off Manaea in the sixth. Olson connected in the bottom half on another smoky, sunless day that had the strange sight of ballpark lights on in the afternoon. Ash fell on the field for a third straight game.

Astros right-hander José Urquidy (0-1) didn't allow a runner until Marcus Semien's one-out walk in the fourth and didn't give up a hit until Canha's single in the fifth.

Urquidy allowed two runs and two hits over six innings in his second big league start.

Houston's George Springer had his season-best nine-game hitting streak snapped.

"Everything was going the other guys' way. Today was disheartening because we hit a lot of balls hard off Manaea," Houston's Josh Reddick said. “It's been very heartbreaking, but we have to keep moving forward.”

This marked the 15th five-game series in Oakland history. The A's have never swept one but won four of the games in a five-game set for the fourth time and first since July 5-8, 1984, at Milwaukee.

Astros pitcher Justin Verlander (strained forearm) threw a bullpen Wednesday in Houston. Baker was waiting to hear more details about the session and remains optimistic Verlander will return before season's end. The Astros have mapped out the pitcher's rehab schedule for the rest of September. “He's supposed to be on the mound if everything goes well, no setbacks here, again pretty soon,” Baker said. “Hopefully if everything goes well, he could be back at the end of the month.”

Angels 6, Rangers 2

Mike Trout hit his major league-leading 16th home run, a 449-foot drive into the left field second deck, and the Los Angeles Angels avoided being swept in six games this season at new Globe Life Field.

Trout homered in the fifth inning against Kyle Gibson (1-5) for a 4-1 lead. Rookie Jared Walsh homered for the third time in five games, a go-ahead, three-run drive in the first.

Los Angeles is five games behind the New York Yankees for the AL’s final playoff spot.

Dylan Bundy (5-2) allowed two runs and four hits in 7 1/3 innings with a season-high 12 strikeouts and one walk.

Gibson gave up five runs, 10 hits and three walks in 5 2/3 innings.

Royals 11, Indians 1

Kansas City rookie Brady Singer allowed just one hit — a two-out single through an infield shift in the eighth inning — and flirted with baseball history while leading the Royals past Cleveland.

Making just his ninth career start, the 24-year-old Singer (2-4) was four outs from becoming the 36th rookie to throw a no-hitter when Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges, who came in batting .148, bounced a single through a wide-open right side. The hit came on a full-count.

Maikel Franco and Adalberto Mondesi each hit three-run homers for the Royals.

National League

Cubs 8, Reds 5

Willson Contreras had four hits to tie a career high, rookie Nico Hoerner added three RBIs and Chicago overcame an early three-run deficit to top Sonny Gray and Cincinnati on a long, wet night at Wrigley Field.

Ian Happ drove in two runs and Hoerner, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Cameron Maybin each had two hits as the Cubs broke out of an offensive funk and strengthened their grip on first place in the NL Central. Maybin and Contreras each scored twice in a game that started 75 minutes late because of rain and ended after 4 hours, 7 minutes, with 1 a.m. approaching.

Six relievers combined for 5 1/3 innings and allowed only one earned run for the Cubs. Kyle Ryan (1-0) got the win and Jeremy Jeffress earned his seventh save.

Gray (5-3) was chased in a five-run fourth.

Padres 6, Giants 1

Jorge Oña homered for his first major league hit, Manny Machado also went deep, and San Diego beat San Francisco despite an injury to starter Chris Paddack.

Six relievers blanked the Giants over the final seven innings as San Diego won its fifth straight and stopped San Francisco’s five-game winning streak. Paddack went two innings before exiting with a sprained right ankle. X-rays were negative.

Adrian Morejon (2-0), Craig Stammen, Matt Strahm, Pierce Johnson, Emilio Pagán and Dan Altavilla quieted the Giants to secure the Padres’ 18th victory in their last 23 games.

Trevor Cahill (0-1) pitched three innings, permitting four runs and five hits.

Diamondbacks 5, Dodgers 2

Carson Kelly hit a two-run homer, Christian Walker added a two-run double and Arizona earned a rare win over Los Angeles.

The Diamondbacks snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Dodgers and won for just the third time in 21 games overall.

Arizona starter Madison Bumgarner fought through five decent innings, giving up two runs on back-to-back homers by Corey Seager and AJ Pollock.

Diamondbacks rookie Daulton Varsho brought home the go-ahead run when his triple scored Nick Ahmed in the sixth. Kelly followed with a towering homer that made it 5-2.

Arizona rookie Riley Smith (1-0) earned his first career win after throwing 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Travis Bergen got two outs for his first career save.

Dodgers starting pitcher Dustin May was pulled after just one inning with a bruise after he was hit on the left foot by a sharp grounder.

Tony Gonsolin (0-1) gave up three runs over five innings.

Braves 7, Nationals 6

Freddie Freeman homered twice, Dansby Swanson hit a go-ahead shot in the eighth inning and Atlanta rallied from a 5-0 deficit to beat Washington.

Freeman tied the game at 6 in the seventh with a 443-foot, two-run drive to right-center off Will Harris. Swanson’s solo shot off Tanner Rainey gave the Braves their first lead.

After a scary bout with COVID-19 during the Braves’ summer camp, Freeman is among the major league leaders in OPS. He has five homers and 20 RBIs in his past seven games.

Chris Martin got the win and Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his ninth save in 10 chances.

Ronald Acuña Jr. also hit a two-run homer for the Braves, who weathered another ineffective outing from their makeshift rotation. Spot starter Robbie Erlin got five outs and allowed five extra-base hits.

Marlins 7, Phillies 6

Starling Marte hit a tying, three-run double off Brandon Workman in the eighth inning and Jorge Alfaro singled home the winning run in the ninth for Miami in the opener of a seven-game series, the longest in a major league regular season in 53 years.

Alfaro grounded a single up the middle just past the glove of diving shortstop Didi Gregorius for his first big league walk-off hit, giving the Marlins their first walkoff win this season.

The series includes three makeup games and two doubleheaders, replacing a series postponed from July 31 to Aug. 2 due to a novel coronavirus outbreak among the Marlins.

The previous seven-game, regular-season series was between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field in 1967, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Interleague

Cardinals 12, Tigers 2, first game

Tigers 6, Cardinals 3, second game

Yadier Molina, wearing uniform No. 21 in honor of Roberto Clemente, hit a two-run homer in the second inning as the Cardinals hit five homers in a rout in the first game of a doubleheader against Detroit.

The normally stoic Molina jumped into the air after passing first base and appeared to wipe away a tear with his uniform sleeve as he approached home plate.

Born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Molina was among players from the commonwealth who wore the number as part of Major League Baseball’s tributes this week to Clemente, who died when a plane crashed en route to a relief mission in Nicaragua on Dec. 31, 1972.

Molina put St. Louis ahead 2-0 in the second against Tarik Skubal (1-2) with his third home run this season. It was his 158th homer for St. Louis, passing Johnny Mize for 10th on the Cardinals career list.

Lane Thomas, Tyler O’Neill, Paul Goldschmidt and Rangel Ravelo also homered for St. Louis.

Jeimer Candelario capped a two-homer day with a two-run, bases-loaded single in the seventh inning to help the Detroit Tigers earn a doubleheader split.

Candelario hit a two-run homer in the first game and added a solo shot in the second game.

Jose Cisnero (2-2) picked up the win for the Tigers. Giovanny Gallegos (1-2) took the loss.

Jorge Bonifacio added a two-run homer for Detroit. Tommy Edman homered for St. Louis.