ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rookie right-hander Bailey Ober threw four effective innings, Ryan Jeffers hit a three-run homer and the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-1 on Saturday night to end a three-game losing streak. Jeffers hit two home runs, including his first grand slam, and drove home six in a 17-14 loss to Detroit on Wednesday. He drilled his ninth home run of the season off St. Louis starter Jake Woodford to highlight a five-run third inning that made it 7-0. Ober, making his 11th career start, allowed one run on four hits over four innings. He struck six and did not walk a batter. Ober recorded his first major league hit with a single in the second inning.
In other Major League action:
— The San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros have split the first two games in the battle of major league division leaders. The Giants took Game 2 on Saturday by hitting four of their five home runs off Zack Greinke (GREHN’-kee) in an 8-6 victory over the AL West leaders. Darin Ruf, Donovan Solano, Wilmer Flores and LaMonte (lah-MAHNT’) Wade Jr. connected off Greinke. Mike Yastrzemski (ya-STREHM’-skee) later added a round-tripper to help the Giants become the first team in the majors with 65 wins. But the NL West leaders needed Brandon Crawford’s RBI single in the sixth to break a tie. Aledmys (ah-LEHD’-mees) Díaz homered twice on his 31st birthday for the Astros, who lost in manager Dusty Baker’s return after serving a one-game suspension. The Astros still own a 5 1/2-game lead over Oakland. The Giants remain three games ahead of the Dodgers.
— The Dodgers cruised to an 8-3 win over the Diamondbacks as Justin Turner hit a go-ahead, two-run homer and Albert Pujols (POO’-hohlz) had a pair of RBI singles. The game was tied at 3 in the seventh when Turner sent a pitch into the Arizona bullpen. The 41-year-old Pujols has 3,289 hits, four shy of Willie Mays for 12th in MLB history.
— Germán (hehr’-MAHN’) Márquez outdueled Yu Darvish and hit a 418-foot home run off his fellow All-Star to lead the Rockies past the Padres, 5-3. Brendan Rodgers and Elias Díaz also homered off Darvish as Colorado won in San Diego for the second straight night. Márquez held the Padres to two runs and four hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking four to snap a two-start losing streak.
— The Rays have moved a half-game ahead of the Red Sox for first place in the AL East with a 9-5 victory over Boston. Wander Franco provided a tiebreaking triple in the sixth and an RBI single during Tampa Bay’s three-run eighth. Francisco Mejía had a two-run single in the eighth as the Rays beat the Bosox for the second straight night.
— Anthony Rizzo homered in his second consecutive game since joining the Yankees to help them beat the Marlins, 4-2. Rizzo also singled, walked twice, was hit by a pitch, and scored the go-ahead run. He is 4-for-5 and has reached base eight times in his two games with New York.
— Jaime Barria looked sharp in his second major league start, allowing six hits over 6 1/3 innings of the Angels’ 1-0 shutout of the Athletics. Los Angeles had gone 29 consecutive scoreless innings without scoring a run on Oakland until Shohei Ohtani (SHOH’-hay oh-TAH’-nee) lined an RBI double in the third inning. It was Ohtani’s 82nd RBI of the season, one behind Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the major league lead.
— The White Sox wasted Seby Zavala’s (SEH’-bee zah-VAH’-lahz) three home runs and six RBIs in a 12-11 loss to the Indians. Playing in his 18th big league contest, Zavala became the first player in big league history to hit his first three career home runs in the same game. Austin Hedges, Owen Miller, and Amed Rosario homered to help Cleveland overcome a 6-1 deficit.
— Jonah Heim slammed his second two-run homer of the game in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Rangers a 5-4 triumph over the Mariners. Heim also hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning off Tyler Anderson to tie the score 2-2. Ty France led off the Mariners’ ninth with a homer and J.P. Crawford singled home a go-ahead run in the 10th for Seattle.
— Alek Manoah and George Springer led the Blue Jays to their third win in a row, 4-0 versus the Royals. Springer homered twice to back Manoah, who worked seven innings and retired 16 straight between the two hits he allowed. Springer jumped on Mike Minor’s first pitch of the game and added a two-run blast in his next at-bat.
— John Means struck out six while holding the Tigers to a run and four hits over six innings of Baltimore’s 5-2 victory. Ryan Mountcastle contributed three hits, an RBI, and scored a run. Mikael Franco homered and Pat Valaika (vah-LAY’-kah) had two hits and two RBIs for the Orioles, who have won six of their last eight games.
— Brandon Drury opened the bottom of the 10th with an RBI single that gave the Mets a 5-4 comeback win over the Reds. Javier Báez homered in his Mets debut and Dom Smith furnished the game-tying single in the ninth to help the NL East leaders stay four games ahead of second-place Atlanta. Joey Votto’s team-record home run streak ended at seven games, one off the major league mark.
— Dansby Swanson launched a grand slam and a two-run shot before finishing with a career-high seven ribbies in the Braves’ 8-1 trouncing of the Brewers. He broke a 1-all tie with a two-run homer in the sixth and cleared the bases with a blast the following inning. Braves rookie Kyle Muller gave up one run on four hits with seven strikeouts in five innings.
— Kyle Hendricks earned his major league-leading 13th victory by holding the Nationals to a run and four hits over seven innings of the Cubs’ 6-3 decision over Washington. Hendricks has won 11 straight decisions in his last 15 starts. Rafael Ortega’s two-run shot gave the Cubs a 5-1 lead in the fourth.
— Bryan Reynolds led off the ninth with a double and scored the winning run on Jacob Stallings’ fielder’s choice that gave the Pirates a 3-2 decision over the Phillies. The Pirates’ JT Brubaker allowed one run and three hits with four strikeouts and two walks over six innings. Chris Stratton worked around two two-out singles in the ninth to get the win.
