Walker’s home runs soften Alvarez’s injury blow

CHICAGO — Christian Walker homered twice with three RBI, and the Houston Astros beat Chicago 3-0 on Saturday to extend the Cubs’ losing streak to seven, their longest skid in four years.

Kai-Wei Teng (3-3) allowed 2 hits in 6 innings, struck out 6 and walked 3 as the Astros won their second straight and third in four games. Three relievers followed, with Bryan King working around a ninth-inning single to finish a three-hitter for his sixth save.

Chicago’s losing streak is its longest since a nine-game slide from July 7-16, 2022. The Cubs, who have lost 11 of 13, also had a pair of 10-game winning streaks this season.

Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez left the game in the middle of an at-bat in the sixth inning with a back spasm.

Alvarez said through a translator he experienced tightness in right scapula, or shoulder blade, earlier in the day and “didn’t give it time to go away.”

“I was going through my routine before going to hit,” Alvarez said. “I was lifting some weights and felt that the scapula felt a little tight and I couldn’t really raise my right arm a whole lot.”

After fouling off a pitch from Colin Rea and falling behind 0-2 in the count in the sixth, Alvarez appeared to be in discomfort. Manager Joe Espada sent Zach Dezenzo to pinch hit, and Dezenzo struck out on the next pitch.

“Espada came up to me and took me out of the game just to give it some rest and not make it worse,” Alvarez said. “So I just followed his direction.”

GIANTS 10, WHITE SOX 3 Harrison Bader hit a grand slam for the second time in six days, and host San Francisco Giants defeated the Chicago White Sox. Casey Schmitt homered and drove in three runs, and Willy Adames also went deep to help the Giants end a four-game skid. Luis Arraez, Matt Chapman and Daniel Susac each had two hits.

BLUE JAYS 5, PIRATES 2 George Springer hit his 65th leadoff home run and host Toronto sent Paul Skenes to losses in consecutive starts for the first time this season, beating Pittsburgh for its fourth consecutive victory and seventh in 10 games. Skenes (6-4) — the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner — allowed 4 runs, a career-high 9 hits and 1 walk in five-plus innings with 2 strikeouts, just his second time with fewer than five this season. His ERA rose to 3.00. Skenes left after giving up four straight hits in the sixth.

PHILLIES 3, GUARDIANS 0 Zack Wheeler pitched six shutout innings and Bryson Stott hit a two-run single as host Philadelphia defeated Cleveland on Saturday, ending the Guardians’ seven-game winning streak. After the start was delayed nearly two hours by rain, Wheeler (4-0) allowed just two hits and struck out six while running his scoreless streak to 13 innings. The resurgent Phillies have won all six of Wheeler’s starts this season since the right-hander returned from surgery last September for a blood clot discovered in his right shoulder.

MARLINS 4, METS 1 Max Meyer threw seven shutout innings of one-hit ball, Liam Hicks (Arkansas State) homered twice and host Miami beat punchless New York. Owen Caissie drove in two runs with a double for the Marlins, who have allowed only one run and three hits in each of the first two games of the series. Hicks connected off Freddy Peralta (3-4) in the third and fifth to give him 11 home runs this season and his first career multi-homer game.

CARDINALS 8-6, REDS 1-7 Bryan Torres hit a two-run home run and also singled in his major league debut at age 28, helping St. Louis beat visiting Cincinnati in the opener of a day-night doubleheader. Jordan Walker also hit a two-run home run and Andre Pallante (5-4) allowed 1 run and 2 hits over 6 innings in the makeup of Friday’s rainout. Pallante retired his last 13 batters. Blake Dunn’s RBI groundout scored Spencer Steer in the 11th inning of the second game, allowing the Reds to split the doubleheader. Cincinnati forced extra innings with a solo home run from Jose Fermin and an RBI single by Jordan Walker.

NATIONALS 2, BRAVES 0 Jake Irvin held Atlanta hitless over five innings before leaving with an injury, and visiting Washington won with a combined one-hitter Saturday. Michael Harris led off the seventh with a clean single to center against Brad Lord for the Braves’ only hit.

DODGERS 11, BREWERS 3 Teoscar Hernández homered and matched a career high with six RBI, and visiting Los Angeles’ bullpen extended its streak of scoreless innings to 36 in a victory over Milwaukee. It’s the longest shutout streak for a Dodgers bullpen since at least 1901. According to Sportradar, it’s the longest by any major league bullpen since September 2017, when Cleveland relievers threw 39 straight scoreless innings. The last time the Dodgers bullpen allowed a run was in a 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on May 12.

ROYALS 5, MARINERS 0 Stephen Kolek threw a complete-game shutout and Carter Jensen had two RBI as host Kansas City shut out Seattle on Saturday to end a four-game losing streak. Kolek (3-0) allowed a walk, four hits and struck out two. He only needed 108 pitches in a game that lasted only 2 hours, 6 minutes.

TWINS 4, RED SOX 2 Trevor Larnach matched his career-high with four hits, Taj Bradley allowed one run over five innings in his return from a chest muscle injury and visitng Minnesota beat Boston for its ninth victory in 13 games. Larnach had three singles and a double.…Read more by The Associated Press