Twins sweep the White Sox with a 6-3 victory

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Chicago White Sox dropped to 3-22, wasting a two-run lead and stretching their losing streak to a season-high seven with a 6-3 defeat Thursday to Minnesota on Thursday as Edouard Julien hit two of the Twins’ five solo home runs.

Chicago matched Cincinnati in 2022, Detroit in 2003 and Washington in 1894 as teams that opened 3-22. Baltimore began 2-23 in 1988.

Julien and José Miranda homered in a three-run sixth inning off Michael Soroka, Julian homered again off John Brebbia in the seventh and Carlos Santana and Jose Miranda went deep against Steven Wilson in the eighth.

Chicago, off to the worst start in franchise history, has been outscored 141-56 and allowed 38 home runs.

Minnesota swept the four-game series, its longest winning streak since five straight from last Aug. 3-7, 2023. Julien has seven home runs this season.

Andrew Vaughn and Korey Lee each had two hits for the White Sox, who wasted 2-0 lead.

Julian and Jeffers homered on consecutive pitches in sixth, and Trevor Larnach, Max Kepler and Willi Castro hit consecutive singles against Tanner Banks (0-2) for a 3-2 lead.

BREWERS 7, PIRATES 5

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Gary Sánchez hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the eighth inning to lift Milwaukee to a win over Pittsburgh and a series split.

Sánchez drove an 0-2 sinker from Aroldis Chapman (0-2) 371 feet to right with two outs, putting the Brewers ahead 6-5. Two of his three home runs came this series, including on Tuesday when he produced Milwaukee’s lone run in a 2-1 loss.

The Brewers have won six of eight after taking the final two of the four-game series. The Pirates have lost eight of 10 after an 11-5 start.

Oliver Dunn tacked on a seventh run with a single to right off Roansy Contreras in the ninth before Trevor Megill retired the side in order in the bottom half for his first save in the majors.

Jared Koenig (1-0) picked up the win, getting through the seventh unscathed after allowing two hits and a walk.

GUARDIANS 6, RED SOX 4

CLEVELAND (AP) — José Ramírez belted his sixth career grand slam and had three hits, Will Brennan had a solo homer and Cleveland beat Boston.

Cleveland has the best record in the American League at 18-7 and matched the second-best mark in franchise history through 25 games. The Guardians won their season series against Boston 5-2 — all in an 11-day span.

Rafael Devers had three hits and Rob Refsnyder tripled in a run for the Red Sox. Jarren Duran had an RBI single in the sixth for Boston, which went 4-2 on a six-game trip through Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

Ramírez’s slam off Chase Anderson (0-1) came one pitch after he appeared to strike out to end the second, but Red Sox catcher Reese McGuire couldn’t hold onto the foul tip. Brennan also homered in the inning as Cleveland went ahead 5-0.

After Boston scored two runs in the third and twice in the sixth to pull within 5-4, Ramírez added an insurance run in the seventh by singling, stealing second, advancing on an error by McGuire, and scoring on a passed ball.

PHILLIES 5, REDS 0

CINCINNATI (AP) — Bryce Harper homered in his return to the lineup following the birth of his third child, and Philadelphia beat Cincinnati for their second shutout win in splitting a four-game series.

Zack Wheeler (2-3) allowed one hit in six innings, a third-inning single by Santiago Espinal. He struck out eight and walked four, extending his scoreless steak to 13 1/3 innings.

Philadelphia has won eight of 10 and leads the major leagues with five shutouts, one more than the Phillies total in all of last season.

Harper returned from paternity leave for the birth of a daughter and hit a two-run homer that capped a four-run third inning against Nick Martinez (0-1). Harper has four home runs in four games against the Reds this season, hitting three on April 2.

Bryson Stott hit an RBI triple and scored on Kyle Schwarber’s sacrifice fly, then added an RBI single in the sixth. Trea Turner had three hits, raising his average to .336.

Orion Kerkering and Jeff Hoffman finished the three-hitter.

MARINERS 4, RANGERS 3

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Ty France and Luis Urías hit two-run homers, Luis Castillo pitched six solid innings and Seattle beat Texas, taking two of three in the series and leaving with first place in the AL West.

Julio Rodríguez, leading off after shortstop J.P. Crawford went on the injured list with a right oblique strain, opened with a single and scored on France’s first homer of the season.

Andrew Heaney (0-3) retired the next 10 batters after France went deep until Dylan Moore, at shortstop in place of Crawford, led off the fifth with a double. Urías then homered to break a 2-2 tie.

Castillo (2-4) struck out six and walked two while allowing two runs and four hits. Andrés Muñoz, the third Seattle reliever, worked a perfect ninth for his third save in four chances.

Heaney also went six innings, with seven strikeouts and no walks. But the left-hander gave up the four runs on the two long balls.

CUBS 3, ASTROS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a tiebreaking two-run homer for his first major league hit, and Chicago swept Houston with a victory.

Nico Hoerner had three hits and Mike Tauchman went 1 for 1 with three walks as Chicago won for the fourth time in five games. Hayden Wesneski (2-0) pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings for the win in relief of Javier Assad.

Houston has lost a season-high five straight and eight of nine overall. At 7-19, it is off to its worst 26-game start since it was 6-20 in 1969.

First-year manager Joe Espada was ejected by plate umpire Jansen Visconti in the top of ninth.

ROCKIES, 10, PADRES 9

DENVER (AP) — Elias Díaz capped Colorado’s six-run eighth inning with a tiebreaking RBI double, and the Rockies beat San Diego Padres.

Elehuris Montero and Hunter Goodman homered for Colorado, which earned a split of the four-game series. Brenton Doyle and Brendan Rodgers each had three of the Rockies’ 14 hits.

Rodgers started Colorado’s big rally with a one-out double. Sean Bouchard then walked before Goodman greeted Wandy Peralta (1-1) with a 448-foot drive to left-center for his first homer of the season.

The 24-year-old Goodman was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque on Wednesday.

Jacob Stallings singled, Ezequiel Tovar walked and Brenton Doyle singled to produce another run for Colorado. After Tovar scored on a passed ball, Díaz lifted the Rockies to a 10-9 lead when he doubled into the left-field corner against Stephen Kolek.

Tyler Kinley (1-0) got three outs for the win. Justin Lawrence pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save.

Ha-Seong Kim and Jurickson Profar homered for Padres, who had won three of four. Xander Bogaerts had two hits and drove in a run.

DODGERS 2, NATIONALS 1

WASHINGTON (AP) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched six shutout innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated Washington to complete a three-game sweep.

Teoscar Hernández homered for the Dodgers, who matched a season high with fourth straight wins.

Joey Meneses had three hits for Washington, which was swept for the first time this season. The Nationals scored four runs in the series and went 4 for 20 with runners in scoring position.

Yamamoto (2-1) didn’t allow a runner past second and allowed four hits and a walk while striking out seven. He had multiple runners on only in the sixth, when he gave up a pair of two-out singles before Keibert Ruiz’s inning-ending groundout.

ROYALS 2, BLUE JAYS 1, 5 INNINGS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a two-run homer in the first inning, Cole Ragans held Toronto in check long enough for the rain to arrive, and the Kansas City beat Toronto in a game called after five innings and a long weather delay.

Ragans (1-2) allowed the lone Toronto run on three hits and three walks while striking out four.

José Berrios (4-1) had his streak of 22 1/3 scoreless innings snapped when Perez, following Vinnie Pasquantino’s two-out walk, deposited the first pitch he saw into the left-field bullpen to give Kansas City the lead in the first inning.

When the fifth ended, and an early drizzle had turned to steady rain, umpire chief Chris Guccione called for the tarp to cover the infield. Blue Jays manager John Schneider came out to argue, wanting another opportunity to tie or take the lead, and apparently he convinced Guccione to have the grounds crew roll the tarp back and attempt to get the field in shape.

After about 10 minutes, Guccione again summoned the tarp. The field was covered for about 2 hours, and when the rain stopped, the grounds crew spent another hour-plus working on it. At that point, the game was called after a delay of 3 hours, 38 minutes.

ATHLETICS 3, YANKEES 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Mason Miller retired Aaron Judge with a runner on for his first four-out save, and Oakland beat New York for a four-game split.

Nick Allen and Tyler Nevin homered in the third inning off Nestor Cortes (1-2), and Alex Wood (1-2) escaped bases-loaded trouble in the first and fourth innings.

New York was 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, stranded 11 runners and outhit Oakland 11-6.

Miller, a 25-year-old right-hander, relieved T.J. McFarland with a runner on first in the eighth and struck out Jose Trevino on a 101.3 mph fastball.