The Braves’ Marcell Ozuna, right, celebrates his two-run home run during the eighth inning on Thursday night.
John McDonnell | AP photo
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WASHINGTON — Austin Riley hit a go-ahead RBI single, Marcell Ozuna followed with a two-run homer and the Atlanta Braves scored three runs in the eighth inning to rally for a 5-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.
Adam Duvall homered in the seventh inning for Atlanta, which has won three of four.
Rookie Mitchell Parker took a no-hitter into the sixth for Washington, which has dropped four in a row and scored just six runs over its last three games.
The Braves took the lead against Washington reliever Hunter Harvey (2-2). Ozzie Albies doubled into the corner in right, then came around when Riley lined a single to center to make it 3-2.
A pitch later, Ozuna ripped Harvey’s slider to deep left-center for his NL-leading 18th home run. Since the start of the 2021 season, Ozuna has hit 14 home runs in 37 games against the Nationals.
DODGERS 11, PIRATES 7
PITTSBURGH — Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez homered and Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh to avoid a three-game sweep.
Freeman hit a three-run shot in the first for his eighth home run of the season. Betts added a three-run shot of his own during a six-run fifth inning as Los Angeles beat Pittsburgh for just the sixth time in their last 16 meetings despite a relatively quiet night from Shohei Ohtani, who went 1 for 6 with a run scored.
Hernandez finished with three hits, including a go-ahead home run in the fifth off Bailey Falter (3-3). Miguel Rojas added three hits and drove in a pair of runs as the high-powered Dodgers generated a little bit of momentum ahead of a three-game interleague series in the Bronx this weekend against the New York Yankees.
Michael Grove (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of an ineffective Walker Buehler.
Nick Gonzales had two hits, including a two-run blast off Buehler in the third briefly tied it at 4. Ke’Bryan Hayes had his first three-hit game of the season for Pittsburgh. Oneil Cruz added two hits — including a towering 462-foot homer late — as did Rowdy Tellez and Jack Suwinski.
ROYALS 4, GUARDIANS 3
CLEVELAND — Kyle Isbel hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning that scored Adam Frazier and Kansas City beat AL Central-leading Cleveland.
Frazier doubled off Hunter Gaddis (3-2) with two outs and Isbel followed with a liner to right, giving Kansas City a split of the two-game series. The clubs were rained out on Wednesday.
The Royals pulled within four games of Cleveland in the division, winning for the third time in 10 games since May 25. Sam Long (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh and James McArthur picked up his 12th save in 16 chances.
José Ramírez hit a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Guardians, who have the third-best record in baseball at 40-21, trailing the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees. Cleveland entered the day an MLB-best 21-7 at home.
BLUE JAYS 6, ORIOLES 5
TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a three-run home run, Yusei Kikuchi pitched six innings to snap a seven-start winless streak and Toronto beat Baltimore to split their four-game series.
Adley Rutschman homered from both sides of the plate, but the Orioles lost their second straight game.
Baltimore scored 19 runs in the first 20 innings of this series but only five over the final 16 innings.
Rutschman hit a solo homer off the left-handed Kikuchi (3-5) in the sixth inning and added a two-run blast off righty Zach Pop in the eighth. The homers were his 11th and 12th this season.
REDS 8, CUBS 4
CINCINNATI — Elly De La Cruz hit a three-run homer on the anniversary of his major league debut and Cincinnati won a season-high fifth straight game by beating Chicago.
TJ Friedl, Jonathan India and Will Benson also drove in runs as the Reds followed a three-game sweep in Colorado with a win over the NL Central rival Cubs in the first of a four-game series.
Hunter Greene (4-2) struck out eight while allowing four runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings. Three Reds relievers combined to keep the Cubs hitless the rest of the way, with closer Alexis Diaz issuing a walk before striking out three straight batters to end it.
Home runs accounted for all of Chicago’s runs, a two-run, upper-deck blast by Seiya Suzuki in the third inning and a 415-foot, two-run shot to center by Christopher Morel in the sixth.
MARINERS 2, ATHLETICS 0
OAKLAND, Calif. — Bryan Woo and three relievers combined on a two-hit shutout, and Seattle beat Oakland.
Woo, who grew up 10 minutes away from the Coliseum in Alameda, California, allowed two hits and struck out six in six innings. The 24-year-old threw a season-high 85 pitches and didn’t walk a batter while being cheered by friends and family in the stands.