UNDATED (AP) — The first-place San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers continue to be separated by 2 1/2 games in the National League West.
The Giants picked up their seventh consecutive win as Wilmer Flores homered and drove in three runs in their 6-5 decision over the Cubs. Kris Bryant scored two against his former team as San Francisco improved to a major league-best 93-50.
Jake McGee gave up a one-out double to pinch hitter Patrick Wisdom before Frank Schwindel and Ian Happ grounded to first to end the game.
In Los Angeles, Max Scherzer carried a perfect game into the eighth inning and recorded his 3,000th career strikeout as the Dodgers clobbered the Padres, 8-0. Scherzer retired his first 22 batters before Eric Hosmer doubled to deep right. The Dodgers’ ace is the 19th pitcher in major league history to fan 3,000.
Corey Seager and Mookie Betts hit solo homers, and Justin Turner added a three-run blast in the seventh.
The Padres finished without Blake Snell, who left after 11 pitches with a left adductor injury.
Also around the majors on Sunday:
— Atlanta and Miami were tied 3-3 until Ozzie Albies and Freddie Freeman belted solo homers in the seventh inning of the Braves’ 5-3 win over the Marlins. Eddie Rosario also went deep and Will Smith put the tying run on base in the ninth before posting his 32nd save. The NL East-leading Braves took the rubber match of the three-game set to move 4 1/2 games ahead of the Phillies.
— Philadelphia absorbed a 5-4 loss to the Rockies as Garrett Hampson homered twice and knocked in all five Colorado runs. Hampson belted a three-run shot and broke a 3-3 deadlock with a two-run blast in the seventh to help the Rockies beat the Phils for the third time in four days. Bryce Harper hit his 32nd homer of the season for the Phillies, while J.T. Realmuto furnished three hits and two runs.
— Francisco Lindor’s third home run of the night broke a 6-6 tie in the eighth inning and gave the Mets the rubber match of their three-game set with the Yankees, 7-6. Lindor launched a three-run homer and a pair of solos shots to help the Mets stay five games behind the NL East-leading Braves. Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton homered for the Yankees, who have dropped eight of nine to fall one game behind Boston and Toronto for the two AL wild-card slots.
— Kolten Wong and Avisaíl García each homered twice as the Brewers crushed the Indians, 11-1 to complete a three-game sweep. Eric Lauer carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning, hours after Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader combined to no-hit Cleveland. Manny Piña also homered for Milwaukee, which can wrap up the NL Central title sometime this week.
— Nolan Arenado homered for the second game in a row and five pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout to help the Cardinals down the Reds, 2-0. Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first off Sonny Gray, who then retired the next 14 hitters. Winning pitcher J.A. Happ allowed two hits over 5 1/3 innings as St. Louis moved one game behind the Padres and Reds for the second NL wild card.
— Robbie Grossman drew a bases-loaded walk in the 11th inning to complete the Tigers’ 8-7 win over the Rays. Jeimer Candelario’s second homer of the day was a two-run shot that tied the game in the 10th after the Rays took a 7-5 lead in the top of the inning. Yandy Diaz doubled twice and drove in three runs for Tampa Bay who lost a series for the first time since mid-August.
— The White Sox pulled out a 2-1 win over the Red Sox on Leury Garcia’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth. Chicago took a 1-0 lead and a three-hit shutout into the ninth before Alex Verdugo hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded off Craig Kimbrel. The outcome gives the White Sox a magic number of no more than nine to win the AL Central and keeps the Red Sox nine games behind the AL East-leading Rays.
— Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Teoscar Hernández each hit a grand slam while the Blue Jays were scoring 22 runs over the first six innings of a 22-7 thrashing of the Orioles. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. slugged his 44th homer to tie Angels slugger Shohei Ohtani for the major league lead. Jake Lamb also homered during a 10-run third inning for the Blue Jays, who took three of the four in the series.
— Lance McCullers Jr and Kyle Tucker carried the Astros to a 3-1 win over the Angels. McCullers was reached for just one run and three hits with seven strikeouts over six innings. Tucker drilled a two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to break a 1-1 tie.
— The Rangers put another dent in Oakland’s playoff hopes by defeating the Athletics, 4-3. Isiah Kiner-Falefa had three hits and two RBIs to help Taylor Hearn win his fourth straight start.
— The A’s, the Mariners damaged their postseason chances with a 5-4 setback against the Diamondbacks. Ketel Marte homered and Tyler Gilbert allowed two hits – both homers – over 5 1/3 innings.
— Kyle Isbel singled home the tiebreaking run in the eighth inning before the Royals finished off a 5-3 win over the Twins. Adalberto Mondesi homered for Kansas City and teammate Whit Merrifield had three hits, including a pair of doubles.
— Patrick Corbin worked seven innings and Lane Thomas slammed a three-run homer as the Nationals topped the Pirates, 6-2 to avoid a three-game sweep. Corbin gave up two runs on four hits to improve to 3-0 versus Pittsburgh since joining Washington in 2019.
