UNDATED (AP) — There’s no change among the first three positions in the National League East standings following wins by the first-place Atlanta Braves, second-place Philadelphia Phillies, and third-place New York Mets.
Ozzie Albies homered on the first pitch of Ryan Feltner’s major league debut, sparking the Braves’ 9-2 pounding of the Rockies. Austin Riley, Adam Duvall, and Travis d’Arnaud also went deep for the Braves, who earned a split of the four-game series.
Charlie Morton pitched seven strong innings, allowing two runs on two hits in his 13th win.
The outcome keeps the Braves two games ahead of the Phils, with the Mets 3 1/2 games back.
The Phillies avoided a three-game sweep by downing the Marlins, 4-3 on Odubel Herrera’s RBI single in the 10th inning. Herrera had been 0 for 4 in the game before driving in automatic runner Freddy Galvis from second.
Bryce Harper hit his 27th home run and Galvis also connected for the Phillies.
Kevin Pillar’s grand slam capped a six-run ninth as the Mets beat the Nationals for the third time in four games, 13-6. Franciso Lindor sparked the ninth-inning rally with a leadoff homer. Javier Báez went 4 for 4 with a home run for the Mets, who also received a round-tripper from Jonathan Villar (vee-AHR’) in their seventh win in eight games.
Checking out Sunday’s other major league action:
— The Giants defeated the Dodgers, 6-4 to regain the NL West lead by one game over Los Angeles. Steven Duggar hit a tiebreaking two-run triple after being called up earlier in the day. Brandon Belt homered and Brandon Crawford added an RBI double as San Francisco beat Walker Buehler for the first time in eight decisions.
— Jeimer Candelario delivered a two-run triple in the sixth inning, breaking a scoreless tie and sending the Tigers past the Reds, 4-1. Gregory Soto uncorked a wild pitch that scored a run in the eighth inning before fanning Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto with two on in the eighth. The Reds have dropped six of eight, leaving them a half-game behind San Diego for the second NL wild card.
— The Padres surged past Cincinnati by defeating the Astros, 4-3 on Jake Cronenworth’s solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. San Diego hadn’t scored since the first when it took a 3-1 lead against Luis Garcia. The Astros tied it in the seventh when Yuli Gurriel and Carlos Correa homered on consecutive pitches off Chris Paddack.
— Nick Gordon furnished the tying and go-ahead hits as the Twins cooled off the Rays, 6-5. Gordon tied the game with an RBI single in the seventh and added another in the ninth. Luis Arraez singled home a pair for the Twins, who handed the Rays just their third loss in 14 games.
— Tampa Bay still leads the AL East by 7 1/2 games after the second-place Yankees lost to the cellar-dwelling Orioles for the second straight day, 8-7. New York led until Jorge Mateo and Kelvin Gutierrez poked RBI singles in the seventh. The Yanks lost despite Gary Sanchez, who hit a grand slam and a two-run homer.
— Franmil Reyes was 4-for-4 with a solo homer and a two-run double as the Indians routed the Red Sox, 11-5 to avoid a three-game sweep. Bradley Zimmer had a two-run single for the Indians, who matched their single-season record streak of homering in 19 consecutive games. J.D. Martinez hit a two-run homer and had three RBIs for the Bosox, who lead Seattle by three games for the second AL wild card.
— Kyle Seager’s two-run double sparked a seven-run 10th that sent the Mariners to their fifth win in a row, 10-4 over the Diamondbacks. Jake Bauers added a two-run double for Seattle, which also received RBI singles from Abraham Toro, Tom Murphy, and Mitch Haniger. The M’s improved to 14-4 in extra-inning games and are one game ahead of Toronto and Oakland in the wild-card scramble.
— The Blue Jays blanked the Athletics, 8-0 to complete a three-game sweep and win for the seventh time in eight games. Robbie Ray struck out 10 while pitching one-hit ball into the seventh inning. Marcus Semien belted his 35th home run, Alejandro Kirk hit a three-run shot off loser Cole Irvin and Bo Bichette went 4-for-4 with an RBI, and two runs scored.
— Brady Singer tossed seven scoreless innings and Salvador Perez hit another home run as the Royals beat the White Sox, 6-0. Perez had his third home run of the series, eighth in the last 11 games, and 41st of the season. He’s second in the majors behind Shohei Ohtani (SHOH’-hay oh-TAH’-nee).
— DJ Peters homered twice, had a career-high four hits, and drove in four runs in the Rangers’ 7-3 downing of the Angels. Peters hit a solo shot in the second and a three-run blast in the third before adding a single and a late double. Taylor Hearn pitched seven innings of seven-hit ball to win his third consecutive start.
