Brett Gardner, Brian McCann and Chase Headley homered during an eight-run first inning as the New York Yankees quickly erased the memory of a lost weekend, romping past the American Central -leading Kansas City Royals 14-1 Monday.
Stephen Drew added another three-run homer off a favourite foil of the Yankees, Jeremy Guthrie (4-3), before the team made an out in the second.
Slade Heathcott hit his first major league homer in the seventh as New York, coming off a sweep by Texas, snapped a six-game skid. The Yankees won for just the second time in 12 games, beating the team that began the day with the best record in the majors.
Nathan Eovaldi (4-1) pitched with runners on in all but two of his seven-plus innings. Working on five days' rest, he allowed eight hits and a run.
NATIONALS 2, CUBS 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Wilson Ramos hit a tiebreaking homer in the sixth and Tanner Roark pitched five effective innings as Washington beat Chicago.
Denard Span also homered for Washington, which has won eight of nine.
Making his first start of the season in place of the injured Doug Fister, Roark (1-2) allowed rookie Kris Bryant's sixth home run and struck out three. Four relievers combined for four innings of two-hit ball, with Drew Storen working the ninth for his NL-best 15th save in 16 attempts — closing out the five-hitter.
GIANTS 8, BREWERS 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee won a challenge after Khris Davis was called out for missing the plate on a home run trot, but Hunter Pence and San Francisco wound up with the win.
Davis hit a pair of solo homers, including one that led to a bizarre sequence.
In the first inning, he pointed in the crowd in celebration and skipped across the plate. It appeared to both umpire Will Little and Giants catcher Andrew Susac that Davis' right foot failed to touch down on the dish, and he was ruled out.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell contested the call and after a replay review that took several minutes, the home run counted. Davis stomped firmly in the middle of the plate after homering in the third.
Pence's two-run double capped a seven-run rally in the sixth. Center fielder Carlos Gomez made two errors in the inning.
ORIOLES 4, ASTROS 3
BALTIMORE (AP) — Caleb Joseph and Steve Pearce hit two-run homers off Dallas Keuchel as Baltimore dealt the left-hander his first loss in a victory over Houston.
Keuchel (6-1) came in with a 1.67 ERA and had won three straight starts. He allowed just one home run in nine appearances this season before Joseph connected in the second inning and Pearce went deep in the seventh.
Keuchel allowed six hits, struck out three and walked one over eight innings in his first complete game of 2015 and seventh of his career.
George Springer had a season-high three hits and a homer for the Astros, who stranded seven and went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
Brad Brach (2-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and Oliver Drake worked a perfect eighth before Zach Britton got three straight outs for his 11th save.
METS 6, PHILLIES 3
Wilmer Flores hit a tiebreaking three-run homer off Justin De Fratus in the sixth inning to help Bartolo Colon win a day after his 42nd birthday as New York beat Philadelphia to stop a three-game losing streak.
With the score 3-all, Daniel Murphy led off the sixth with a single off Elvis Araujo (1-1), De Fratus walked Michael Cuddyer and Flores homered off the original 16-foot left-field wall, over the 8-foot blue fence erected in front of it for the 2012 season.
Colon (7-3) allowed three runs and six hits in six innings, benefiting from plate umpire Larry Vanover's seemingly wide strike zone.
TWINS 7, RED SOX 2
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ricky Nolasco struck out five in 7-plus innings and Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer to lead surging Minnesota to a victory over Boston.
Nolasco (5-1) gave up two runs on seven hits to win his fifth straight start since coming off the disabled list.
The Twins got 16 hits to pick up their AL-leading 16th win in May. After a 1-6 start the Twins (26-18) are now just two games behind first-place Kansas City in the AL Central.
Joe Kelly (1-4) lasted just 1 2-3 innings. He gave up seven runs on eight hits in a performance that sapped any sense of momentum the Red Sox had after picking up two straight wins over the Angels.
Mike Napoli had two hits for Boston, but his string of three straight games with a homer was snapped.
ATHLETICS 4, TIGERS 0
OAKLAND, California (AP) — Jesse Hahn pitched a four-hitter for his first career complete game as Oakland beat Detroit for its first three-game winning streak this season.
Hahn (2-4) struck out five and walked one in his stellar 112-pitch performance. The right-hander pitched around three errors, but allowed only one runner to get to scoring position. He had never gone further than seven innings.
Max Muncy and Sam Fuld hit RBI doubles in the decisive four-run sixth inning.
Yoenis Cespedes went hitless in his first trip back to Oakland since being traded to the Boston Red Sox last July 31. He joined the Tigers in another trade Dec. 11.
ROCKIES 5, REDS 4
CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Reds lost a ninth straight game as Nolan Arenado homered, had three hits and drove in the tiebreaking run with a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning off Aroldis Chapman that gave Colorado the victory.
This is the Reds' longest losing streak since they dropped 11 straight in June 1998 under manager Jack McKeon.
Arenado had a pair of singles and a solo homer off Reds starter Jason Marquis. He then helped the Rockies pull it out against Chapman (2-3), who came in for the ninth.
Charlie Blackmon opened with a walk and took third on D.J. Lemahieu's single. Blackmon scored easily on Arenado's fly to centre fielder Billy Hamilton, whose throw was off-target.
Rafael Betancourt (2-1) retired the four batters he faced. John Axford gave up a walk in the ninth while getting his seventh save in as many chances.
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