Atlanta’s Ronald Acuna Jr. swings at a pitch in the fourth inning on Saturday in Atlanta. Acuna homered in the first inning and the Braves beat Miami, 7-0. Alex Slitz/Associated Press
ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña and Ozzie Albies homered as part of a six-run first inning and the Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins 7-0 on Saturday as major league batting leader Luis Arraez saw his average dip to .388.
Charlie Morton (8-6) struck out five in 5 2/3 innings and scattered four hits and one walk in winning his third consecutive start.
Kirby Yates, Nick Anderson, Ben Heller, and Joe Jiménez completed the shutout for the Braves out of the bullpen.
Matt Olson went 2 for 4 with a run scored, and Austin Riley was 2 for 4 with two runs scored for the Braves, who have outscored the Marlins 23-4 in the first two games of the series.
The Braves have won 23 of their last 27 games and lead the second-place Marlins by eight games in the NL East.
PADRES 12, REDS 5: Juan Soto hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer in the sixth inning, Manny Machado followed three pitches later with the first of his two home runs and San Diego Padres stopped a six-game losing streak with a win in Cincinnati.
Soto had four RBIs and Machado and Fernando Tatis three each for the Padres, who have not lost seven in a row since Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, 2021.
Tatis had an RBI double in the third, a run-scoring single in the seventh and a sacrifice fly in the eighth, giving him 40 RBIs in 63 games since returning from an 80-game drug suspension.
Michael Wacha (8-2), pitching on his 32d birthday, won his third straight decision. Wacha allowed one run and five hits in five innings in his first outing since June 19 after missing a turn because of shoulder discomfort.
METS 4, GIANTS 1: Justin Verlander pitched seven steady innings for his first victory in nearly six weeks and slumping rookie Francisco Álvarez hit the first of three quick homers that powered New York to a win at home.
Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor launched back-to-back shots as the Mets went deep three times in a span of four batters against Anthony DeSclafani (4-8) in the third.
Tommy Pham added an RBI double off Sean Manaea in the fourth, and New York (37-46) opened July with a much-needed win after going 6-19 in its previous 25 games.
PHILLIES 19, NATIONALS 4: Alec Bohm homered twice and tied his career high with six RBI, and Philadelphia scored its most runs in five years in a rout of visiting Washington.
Kyle Schwarber had a grand slam, and Nick Castellanos homered, singled and doubled with three RBIs for the Phillies, who scored their most runs since beating Miami 20-1 on April 7, 2018. Philadelphia had 18 hits, including four by Bohm, who matched his career best.
BREWERS 11, PIRATES 8: Corbin Burnes carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, Christian Yelich hit his 10th home run and Milwaukee survived a late rally to win in Pittsburgh.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TWINS 1, ORIOLES 0: Bailey Ober allowed two hits over seven innings, Joey Gallo homered and Minnesota won on the road, extending Baltimore’s losing streak to a season-high four games.
Ober (5-4) gave up a second-inning single to Gunnar Henderson, hit Ryan O’Hearn with a pitch in the fourth and yielded a single to Anthony Santander in the seventh.
RANGERS 5, ASTROS 2: Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven scoreless innings to become the American League’s second 10-game winner and AL West-leading Texas beat second-place Houston in Arlington, Texas.
Eovaldi (10-3) struck out five and limited the Astros to two singles, but also had a season-high four walks while throwing 58 of 97 pitches for strikes. The right-hander lowered his ERA to 2.64 with his fifth start this season when he didn’t allow a run.
ATHLETICS 7, WHITE SOX 6: Tyler Wade slid into home with the winning run after second baseman Elvis Andrus misplayed a 10th-inning grounder, giving Oakland a victory at home.
INTERLEAGUE
CARDINALS 11, YANKEES 4: Paul Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead, three-run homer off Luis Severino in a five-run third and Jack Flaherty pitched six shutout innings to lead host St. Louis over New York in a rain-interrupted doubleheader opener.
Goldschmidt had four RBIs and Nolan Gorman also homered for St. Louis, which reached double-digit runs for the first time since May 21.
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