WASHINGTON — Alex Bregman hit three homers in a game for the first time and drove in a career-high seven runs as the Chicago Cubs crushed the Washington Nationals 12-6 on Wednesday.
Dansby Swanson also went deep for Chicago, which pulled within three games of NL Central-leading Milwaukee. The Cubs have won eight of nine and are a season-high 21 games over .500 at 71-50.
Abimelec Ortiz and José Tena homered, and Daylen Lile had three RBIs for Washington.
In the fifth, Bregman ripped a sweeper from Jake Bird into the visitors’ bullpen in left for a three-run shot to cap the Cubs’ four-run inning.
Swanson hit a go-ahead RBI double against Tom Cosgrove (0-2) in the sixth. Two batters later, Seiya Suzuki delivered a two-run single off Yovanny Cruz before Bregman pulled a two-run shot to left off the rookie to make it 9-4.
The three-time All-Star added a two-run drive off Trevor Williams into the Chicago bullpen in the eighth. Swanson was the last Cub with three homers in a game, doing so July 1 against San Diego.
It was Bregman’s ninth multi-homer game and first since March 29, when he did it at home against the Nationals. The 32-year-old has 16 homers in his first season with Chicago.
Cubs starter David Peterson (7-7) allowed four runs — three earned — while striking out six over five innings.
PADRES 4, BREWERS 3 (11 innings)
SAN DIEGO — Jackson Merrill hit a tying sacrifice fly in the 11th inning and Luis Campusano followed with a two-out single to bring in Sun-Mung Song from second base as San Diego Padres beat MLB-leading Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game sweep.
The surging Padres have won five straight and 15 of 19 to move into the National League’s second wild-card spot ahead of Arizona and Philadelphia.
Gary Sánchez doubled home the go-ahead run for Milwaukee off Adrian Morejon (9-2) in the top of the 11th.
Merrill tied it when his sac fly off Antonio Senzatela (9-4) brought in automatic runner Jake Cronenworth. Song, who pinch ran after Ty France was hit by a pitch, stole second before Campusano punched an opposite-field single to right. Luis Lara’s throw home was high, allowing Song to slide in headfirst with the winning run.
The Padres tied the game at 2 with two outs in the eighth when Fernando Tatis Jr. raced around from second base to score on Cronenworth’s infield single.
Cronenworth hit a bouncer to first baseman Jake Bauers, who flipped it to reliever Aaron Ashby but he was late covering first and Cronenworth beat him to the bag for an RBI single. Ashby turned toward home but didn’t make a throw as Tatis sprinted in with the tying run.
Dustin May pitched brilliantly into the eighth for the Brewers. He allowed one run and four hits, struck out six and walked two. He gave up Xander Bogaerts’ homer in the third.
MINNEAPOLIS — Former Blue Jay Alan Roden hit a go-ahead double, seven Minnesota players drove in a run and the Twins rallied from an early deficit to beat Baltimore and win their series.
Minnesota (60-62) sits a game behind the Texas Rangers for the final AL wild-card spot and has won six straight series at Target Field.
Down 4-1 heading into the third, Kody Clemens hit an RBI single before Luke Keaschall tacked on a sacrifice fly and Victor Caratini tied the game at 4 with a single. Roden followed up with a double that plated Brooks Lee and gave Minnesota the lead for good.
Trevor Larnach hit an RBI groundout, and Royce Lewis drove in the Twins’ final run with a double. Josh Bell delivered Minnesota’s first run in the first on a single.
Zebby Matthews (6-8) pitched five innings and allowed four runs on six hits while striking out four. Yoendrys Gómez earned his 17th save after allowing a run in the ninth.
ST. LOUIS — Alec Burleson drove in three runs, including a two-run double during a four-run fifth inning against Zack Wheeler, and St. Louis beat Philadelphia.
Burleson finished 5 for 10 with two doubles and five RBIs in the series as the Cardinals took two of three from the Phillies and moved one game over .500 (61-60). Both teams are chasing an NL wild-card playoff spot.
St. Louis won its third straight series, the first time it has done that this season.
Kyle Leahy (9-4) pitched five innings, allowing one run on six hits and no walks. He struck out six.
All the Cardinals’ runs in the fifth came in with two outs as St. Louis strung together four consecutive hits against Wheeler (10-4).
St. Louis rookie César Prieto opened the fifth with a single to right, ending an 0-for-27 slump with his first hit of the season and second of his career.
WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — AL-best Tampa Bay became the second East Coast team in major league history to go 9-0 on a West Coast trip, beating the Athletics behind a three-run homer from Toronto’s Liam Hicks and another solid start by Drew Rasmussen.
The Rays swept three-game series at Colorado and Seattle before scoring 30 runs in their three wins over the Athletics. Tampa Bay joins the Boston Red Sox, who did it in 1977, as the only teams to go 9-0 out West. The Rays became the 13th team since 1900 to go 9-0 on any trip, and they matched the longest road winning streak in franchise history.
The Red Sox also had an unbeaten nine-game trip this year that began with a series at the Los Angeles Angels.
Rasmussen (12-5) saw his scoreless streak end at 22 2/3 innings when he gave up a two-run double to Carlos Cortes in the third, but he completed an efficient five innings to win his fifth straight start.
Hicks went 3 for 5. His 16th homer capped a four-run fourth against Athletics rookie Jack Perkins (2-9).
Jonny DeLuca also had three hits as Tampa Bay (74-46) improved to 33-28 on the road.
SAN FRANCISCO — Nick Allen hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, Steven Okert led an Astros bullpen that allowed just one run and Houston beat San Francisco.
Houston (62-60) won the series to finish 3-3 on its trip and now returns to Daikin Park for a nine-game homestand, all against AL West opponents.
Okert (6-1) picked up the win after tossing 1 1/3 hitless innings. Tatsuya Imai pitched three innings, allowing three hits and striking out three.
Josh Hader earned his 17th save with a perfect ninth. He is 17 for 17 in save situations this season with a 0.96 ERA.
Nelson Velázquez tied the game at 1 in the seventh with a sacrifice fly that scored Isaac Paredes.
Taylor Trammell then smacked his first triple of the year off the brick wall in right field before Allen sent him home with the go-ahead run off Keaton Winn (2-3).
Giants starter Adrian Houser worked six scoreless innings, fanning five and allowing two hits.
ROCKIES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4
PHOENIX — Brett Sullivan hit a three-run homer in the second inning and Colorado, despite walking 10 batters, held on to beat Arizona.
Sullivan connected on a shot down the right-field line to cap a four-run inning against Arizona starter Merrill Kelly.
Zac Veen, in his first game of the season, added a two-run homer in the fourth for the Rockies. The 2020 first-round pick was called up earlier in the week. The Rockies won consecutive road games for the first time since June 1-2 at the Los Angeles Angels. That was also Colorado’s previous road series win.
Ryan Feltner (5-6) went five innings for the win. He gave up seven hits and two runs, walking three and striking out two.
Former Blue Jay Jordan Romano of Markham, Ont. pitched the ninth for his 12th save.
Kelly (8-10) gave up six hits and six earned runs in five innings.
MIAMI — Griffin Conine and Heriberto Hernández homered and Janson Junk worked six solid inning as Miami extended its winning streak to four games with a win over Pittsburgh.
Junk (6-7) allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits and a walk in six innings. Tyler Zuber, Calvin Faucher and Victor Vodnik each pitched a scoreless inning of relief.
Conine reached base five times. He doubled leading off the third against Carmen Mlodzinski (6-5) with the game tied at 1. Hernández followed with a walk before Agustín Ramírez doubled for a 2-1 lead one out later. That chased Mlodzinski, who was charged with four runs on five hits.
Evan Sisk walked pinch-hitter Javier Sanoja to load the bases and hit Leo Jiménez with a pitch before walking Joe Mack to force in two more runs. Xavier Edwards hit a sacrifice fly for a 5-1 lead. Sisk got two outs and yielded a run.
Conine hit his 13th homer off former Marlins reliever Lake Bachar for a 6-2 lead in the fourth. Bachar, acquired at the trade deadline, walked Conine before Hernández’s 17th homer for a six-run advantage in the sixth. The right-hander surrendered three runs on three hits in three innings.
ATLANTA — Tyler Mahle pitched six strong innings and fellow trade deadline acquisition Lane Thomas homered in Atlanta’s victory over New York.
Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Riley hit back-to-back homers during a three-run seventh for the Braves, who are 60-25 when hitting at least one home run. Riley was 3 for 4 with two runs and Ronald Acuña Jr. had two hits, an RBI and two runs. Drake Baldwin had three singles and an RBI.
Mahle (4-9) picked up his first win in his second start after coming from San Francisco. He gave up one run on four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. His lone blemish came on a home run from Luis Torrens. In two appearances with the Braves, he has given up one run in 12 innings.
Mets rookie Zac Thornton (3-3) gave up three runs in six innings in his eighth career start.
DETROIT — Jo Adell homered and Angel Martínez had three hits as Cleveland defeated Detroit to snap a three-game skid.
The Guardians (59-62) are 7-1 against the Tigers this season and have won 12 of the past 14 meetings between the AL Central rivals.
The Tigers (59-61) had won three straight and eight of 10 overall. They were trying to reach .500 for the first time since they were 18-18 on May 4.
Foster Griffin (13-4) allowed three runs — one earned — on four hits and a walk in five innings. He improved to 1-1 in two outings with Cleveland since arriving from Washington in a trade-deadline deal. The rookie left-hander had lost his previous two starts, giving up 11 runs in 9 1/3 innings.
Canada’s Cade Smith got four outs for his 31st save this season, including five against the Tigers.
Framber Valdez (7-8) took the loss, yielding four runs on six hits and five walks in 5 2/3 innings.
TORONTO — Kazuma Okamoto hit the go-ahead RBI single and Myles Straw had a two-run double in a five-run eighth inning, and Toronto beat Boston, for its fifth consecutive loss.
José Soriano, making his second start with Toronto, allowed one run and four hits in six innings. Tyler Rogers (2-2) worked the eighth inning for the win.
Willson Contreras hit his 24th home run but the Red Sox matched their longest losing streak of the season. Boston won at Cincinnati on opening day before losing the next five.
The Blue Jays have won three straight and 11 of 16 to gain ground in the AL wild-card race.
Trailing 6-1, Boston scored three runs in the ninth with two runs off Matt Waldron and one off Louis Varland, who got the final two outs for his 26th save in 27 chances.
CHICAGO — Luis Castillo struck out 10 in seven sparkling innings, helping Chicago beat Rhett Lowder and Cincinnati.
Castillo allowed one hit — Sal Stewart’s single in the first — and walked two in his first win with Chicago. The right-hander, acquired in an Aug. 1 trade with Seattle, was tagged for five runs over four innings in his White Sox debut at Boston last week.
Castillo (4-9) matched his longest outing of the season one day after Chicago blew a 4-0 lead during a 5-4 loss in the series opener.
Chase Meidroth and Drew Romo homered as the AL Central leaders won for the third time in four games. Sam Antonacci had three hits.
Lowder (4-8) was charged with two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.22 ERA in his last four starts.
NEW YORK — Trent Grisham homered twice and hit a go-ahead double in the seventh inning as New York erased an early deficit and pulled away for a victory over skidding Seattle.
Yankees rookie Spencer Jones had three RBIs in his second start batting third. He hit a two-run double in the third and a tying double in the fifth.
Grisham went deep off starter Bryce Miller in the fifth, when the Yankees evened it at 5 after trailing by three. After his double off reliever Gabe Speier (2-3) scored rookie George Lombard Jr. in New York’s three-run seventh, Grisham added a two-run homer off Nick Davila in the eighth to finish with four RBIs from the leadoff spot.
Grisham had his ninth career multihomer game and fifth three-hit game this season. He also scored three times as the Yankees reached double digits in runs for the first time since July 9 at Tampa Bay and 11th time overall.
Ben Rice followed Grisham’s tiebreaking double with a hard RBI single that skipped over shortstop Colt Emerson’s glove. Jazz Chisholm Jr. drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 8-5 after the Mariners intentionally walked Heliot Ramos.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mike Trout had three hits and two RBIs, Jose Siri keyed a three-run sixth inning with a pinch-hit RBI double, and George Klassen earned his first major league win in the Los Angeles Angels’ 5-2 comeback victory over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday night.
Klassen (1-1) gave up two runs and five hits over six innings, striking out five and walking one in his fourth career start. Angels reliever Blake Weiman threw a scoreless seventh before giving up two hits and striking out one in the eighth.
Ryan Watson replaced Weiman and escaped the two-on, one-out jam. Ben Joyce, who missed most of the past two seasons because of shoulder injuries, retired the side in order in the ninth for his fifth career save and first since Sept. 1, 2024.
Texas (60-61) dropped 1 1/2 games behind first-place Houston in the AL West.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Hunter Feduccia homered, and the revitalized Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Kansas City Royals with a 4-2 victory Wednesday night.
Freddie Freeman stayed in the game for LA after a scary moment in the eighth inning when he fell down the Royals’ dugout stairs while trying to catch Isaac Collins’ foul popup. Tommy Edman then pinch-hit for Freeman in the bottom of the eighth.
Eric Lauer pitched 6 1/3 innings of four-hit ball for the back-to-back defending World Series champions, who have won four of five after emerging from a seven-game skid that began around the trade deadline.
Ohtani’s two-run, go-ahead drive in the third was the four-time MVP’s 27th homer of the season and his first in a week. The formerly slumping Betts had two hits and a walk, giving him 11 hits in his past seven games.
Lauer (7-6) yielded one earned run and struck out six in his longest start of the season, throwing 112 pitches. The left-hander is expected to lose his rotation spot when Tyler Glasnow or Ohtani return to the mound soon, but he has revived his career after being dumped by Toronto in May.