Farmer’s 5 RBIs, 4 hits keys Reds’ 20-5 rout of Cubs

CINCINNATI • Kyle Farmer homered twice and tied his career high with five RBIs to power the Cincinnati Reds to their high-scoring game in 23 years, a 20-5 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.

Nick Senzel also had four of the Reds’ hits, and Brandon Drury, Tommy Pham and Albert Almora Jr. had three apiece. Drury Pham, Almora and Matt Reynolds each had three RBIs.

The Reds scored the most runs since a 22-3 win at Philadelphia on Sept. 4, 1999, while Chicago gave up its most since a 21-8 defeat at the Phillies on July 3, 1999.

Hunter Greene (2-6) won for the first time since his major league debut on April 10 despite giving up five runs, seven hits and two walks in five innings. Justin Steele (1-5) gave up seven runs, seven hits and two walks in twoplus innings.

Blue Jays 6, Angels 3

ANAHEIM, CALIF. • Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered off Shohei Ohtani for the first time, and George Springer hit a leadoff home run in Toronto’s victory over Los Angeles.

Ohtani (3-3) struck out 10 while yielding five runs over six innings in his eighth mound start of the season. He fell behind 5-2 in the sixth on a drive off the left field pole by Guerrero, who finished right behind the Angels’ twoway star in last year’s AL MVP voting.

Bo Bichette hit a two-run double and Santiago Espinal had an RBI single in the third inning for Toronto in the opener of a four-game series at the Big A. Danny Jansen added his third homer in two games in the ninth.

Hyun Jin Ryu (2-0) gave up six hits and two runs over five innings for Toronto while retiring Mike Trout three times. The three-time AL MVP is 0 for 13 against the South Korean lefthander — his worst mark against any pitcher he has faced at least 10 times.

Yankees 7, Rays 2

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. • Nelson Cortes took a three-hit shutout into the ninth inning, Matt Carpenter sparked a go-ahead, three-run rally in his Yankees debut and New York beat Tampa Bay.

Cortes (4-1) won his third straight start, striking out five and walking one in eight-plus innings. He threw 77 strikes among a career-high 109 pitches.

Aaron Judge had a pair of RBIs to raise his total to 36 as the Yankees won their third straight.

Ryan Yarbrough (0-1) held the Yankees hitless through five innings. He gave up three runs — two earned — and two hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Phillies 4, Braves 1

ATLANTA • Aaron Nola struck out 10 while pitching shutout ball into the ninth inning for his first victory since opening day, leading Philadelphia over Atlanta.

J.T. Realmuto homered as the Phillies prevented the World Series champion Braves from posting their first threegame winning streak of the season.

Nola (2-4) did little wrong against the Braves, allowing one run and five hits in 8 1/3 innings.

Kyle Wright (4-3) retired the first six batters before Realmuto connected.

Brewers 4, Cardinals 3

ST. LOUIS • Josh Hader escaped a ninth-inning jam in his 37th straight scoreless game and Milwaukee held off St. Louis for its third straight win.

Tyrone Taylor drove in a run for the seventh game in a row and Luis Urías homered as the NL Central leaders increased their edge over the second-place Cardinals to 4 1/2 games.

Milwaukee first baseman Rowdy Tellez helped with his glove, ranging to catch five foul balls for outs. Overall, Brewers fielders caught seven foulouts.

Paul Goldschmidt homered and extended his hitting streak to 17 games for the Cardinals.

Eric Lauer (5-1) gave up two runs on four hits in the first two innings. He struck out one and walked four, throwing 96 pitches over five innings.

Tigers 4, Guardians 3

DETROIT • Miguel Cabrera’s third hit of the game was a game-ending single in the ninth inning, lifting Detroit past Cleveland.

Jonathan Schoop hit a one-out double in the final inning, advanced on a wild pitch from Trevor Stephan (2-2) and scored on Cabrera’s 3,029th hit.

Gregory Soto (2-2) gave up one hit and struck out one in the ninth, earning the win for the Tigers.

The Guardians ended Tarik Skubal’s 21-inning scoreless streak, the longest by a starter pitcher this year, and tied the score in third. Luke Maile hit an RBI double and Owen Miller had a tworun single.

Royals 3, Twins 2

MINNEAPOLIS • Whit Merrifield drove in two runs with a double and scored on Bobby Witt Jr.’s double, as Kansas City rallied for three runs in the eighth inning and beat Minnesota.

Josh Staumont (2-1) worked a scoreless inning and picked up the win. Scott Barlow earned his fifth save as the Royals snapped a seven-game losing streak.

Devin Smeltzer pitched seven scoreless innings for the Twins before Tyler Duffey (2-3) let the lead slip away in the eighth. Emmanuel Rivera singled with one out and moved to second on Ryan O’Hearn’s two-out, pinch-hit single. Merrifield then lined a double into the gap in right-center to tie the score at 2. After Andrew Benintendi walked, Witt doubled to left-center, scoring Merrifield with the go-ahead run.

The Twins got on the board in the second inning on Ryan Jeffers’ RBI single. They added their second run in the fourth when Jose Miranda doubled and came around on a two-out single by Gilberto Celestino.

Dodgers 14, Diamondbacks 1

PHOENIX • Freddie Freeman highlighted a five-RBI, four-hit night with a three-run homer for his first long ball in more than a month, leading Los Angeles over Arizona.

The Dodgers’ offense got off to a quick start with back-to-back doubles in the first from leadoff hitter Mookie Betts and Freeman. Two batters later, Will Smith’s single up the middle scored Freeman for a 2-0 lead. It was the start of a 24-hit barrage, the Dodgers’ most since getting 24 against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 13, 2014. Every player in the starting lineup had at least two hits.

Chris Taylor had a two-run homer in the eighth for the Dodgers’ 20th hit of the night.

Los Angeles won for the 10th time in 12 games. The Dodgers also became the second team in the big leagues with 30 wins, joining the Yankees.