Ramirez homers as Rays beat Pirates in matchup of top teams

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Harold Ramírez homered and drove in two runs to lead the Tampa Bay Rays over the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Tuesday night in a matchup of teams with the top two records in the major leagues.

Ramírez drove in the game’s first run with an RBI single in the fourth and boosted the lead to 4-1 with a solo homer in the sixth against Roansy Contreras (3-2). Contreras allowed four runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Tampa Bay left-hander Josh Fleming left in the fifth after taking Ke’Bryan Hayes’ hard-hit single off his left foot. The Rays said initial images didn’t show a fracture.

Colin Poche (3-0) replaced Fleming in the fifth and gave up a double to Bryan Reynolds and Carlos Santana’s tying sacrifice fly. Hayes called safe on a close play at the plate that stood after a video review. Jason Adam worked the ninth for his first save this season.

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ORIOLES 11, ROYALS 7

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle hit two-run homers in consecutive innings and finished with five RBIs, Adley Rutschman had four hits and drove in a run, and the streaking Baltimore earned its 16th win in the last 20 games.

Tyler Wells (2-1) allowed three hits over six innings but they were all homers: Bobby Witt Jr.’s leadoff rocket, a two-run homer by MJ Melendez and a solo shot by Salvador Perez. Wells also walked three and struck out four.

Ryan Yarbrough (0-4) matched a Royals record by striking out the first five Baltimore batters, including Mountcastle, before things fell apart in the fourth. The power-hitting first baseman followed a double by Rutschman with his first two-run homer, and Yarbrough was pulled after 3 2/3 innings as the Orioles batted through the lineup and scored five times.

Mountcastle added another two-run shot off Jose Cuas in the fifth, his eighth homer of the season, then added a run-scoring double in the sixth.

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BRAVES 6, MARLINS 0

MIAMI (AP) — Bryce Elder outpitched NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara by throwing seven innings of three-hit ball and Atlanta shut out Miami.

Ozzie Albies homered and doubled, while Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled, drove in a run and stole his NL-leading 14th base for the Braves. Elder (3-0) struck out six and induced 10 groundouts in his longest start of the season.

Alcantara (1-3) has a 7.40 ERA and lost three of his four starts since throwing a complete game shutout against Minnesota on April 4.

The Braves chased Alcantara after five innings and 103 pitches. Alcantara gave up three runs, six hits, walked three, struck out five and hit two batters.

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ROCKIES 3, BREWERS 2

DENVER (AP) — Elías Díaz homered and drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single, and Colorado has won its last two home games after dropping seven straight at Coors Field.

Rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar hit his first major league home run for Colorado.

C.J. Cron led off the eighth with a double off Peter Strzelecki (2-1), and Díaz singled to bring home pinch-runner Yonathan Daza.

Justin Lawrence (1-1) worked a scoreless eighth and Pierce Johnson handled the ninth for his fourth save.

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RANGERS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 4

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Ezequiel Duran hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the sixth inning, and Texas matched its longest winning streak of the season at four.

Marcus Semien and Travis Jankowski cut the deficit to 4-3 with RBI singles in the fifth off Zac Gallen, who entered the game with a 28-inning scoreless streak, the longest in the big leagues.

Scott McGough (0-3) relieved to start the sixth and allowed a two-out single to Jonah Heim. Duran drove a 1-1 fastball 431 feet to center for his third homer this season and a 5-4 lead. Duran finished a triple shy of the cycle.

Brock Burke (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings, and Will Smith got four outs for his fourth save.

Rangers starter Jon Gray gave up four runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings, raising his ERA to 4.40.

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RED SOX 7, BLUE JAYS 6

BOSTON (AP) — Connor Wong hit two homers, including a tie-breaking solo shot in the eighth, to help Boston rally past Toronto.

Masataka Yoshida and Christian Arroyo also homered for Boston and the Red Sox tied a season-high for hits with 14, including four by Wong.

Wong also had a double in the second that bounced just below the yellow line at the top of Fenway Park’s iconic left-field wall.

Reliever Richard Bleier (1-0) got the win and Josh Winckowski picked up his first save. Erik Swanson (1-1) took the loss.

Daulton Varsho hit a three-run homer for the Blue Jays in the sixth and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. finished with a pair of singles and two RBIs.

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WHITE SOX 3, TWINS 2, 10 INNINGS

CHICAGO (AP) — Andrew Benintendi robbed Carlos Correa of a homer and hit a game-ending single in the 10th inning, and Chicago earned its second straight win after a 10-game losing streak.

Hanser Alberto opened the 10th on second as the automatic runner and advanced on Elvis Andrus’ sacrifice. Tim Anderson bounced to shortstop and Benintendi lined a clean single into left against Caleb Thielbar (0-1).

Eloy Jiménez homered and Michael Kopech pitched six effective innings for the White Sox.

Jimmy Lambert (2-1) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win, which came hours after the White Sox made 11 roster moves.

Minnesota wasted another stellar performance by Joe Ryan, who pitched six scoreless innings. Ryan allowed one hit, struck out seven and walked two, lowering his ERA to 2.37.