DUNEDIN, Fla. — Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit three home runs, including a grand slam and solo shot off Washington ace Max Scherzer, and had seven RBIs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Nationals 9-5 on Tuesday night.
Guerrero’s grand slam in the third put the Blue Jays ahead 4-3 and ended Scherzer’s scoreless streak at 19 innings.
Guerrero made it 7-3 with his drive in the fifth and added a two-run, seventh-inning shot off Kyle Finnegan to complete his first three-homer game.
Scherzer (1-2) joined Ivan Nova as the only pitchers to have allowed a homer to both Guerrero Jr. and his father, Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero. Scherzer allowed seven runs — five earned — and eight hits over five innings.
Tommy Milone (1-0) was the winner.
RAYS 4, ATHLETICS 3
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brett Phillips hit a two-run homer in the sixth, helping send Oakland to its second loss in 16 games.
Joey Wendle’s two-out single in the seventh tacked on another run for the Rays and ended Tampa Bay’s 0-for-26 stretch with runners in scoring position.
Phillips’ first homer of the season came off Frankie Montas (2-2). Jeffrey Springs (1-0) got the win in relief. Diego Castillo gave up a home run to Sean Murphy in the ninth before earning his fifth save.
RANGERS 6, ANGELS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Joey Gallo ended the longest home run drought of his career at 20 games with the Texas slugger’s hardest hit of the season, an early tiebreaking two-run shot, and Texas beat Los Angeles.
Nick Solak homered twice to take the Texas team lead with seven as the Rangers stopped a second four-game losing streak, their longest of the season.
Shohei Ohtani was 0 for 4 with a strikeout as the LA designated hitter.
Mike Foltynewicz (1-3) allowed eight hits and one run in 5 1/3 innings for the right-hander’s first win with the Rangers. He signed as a free agent in the offseason.
Solak had a pair of solo shots in his first career multihomer game, starting in the first against José Quintana (0-2). The LA left-hander allowed six hits and five runs in 3 1/3 innings. Solak connected again in the seventh.
ASTROS 2, MARINERS 0
HOUSTON — Cristian Javier combined with two relievers on a two-hitter, and Houston beat Seattle.
Javier (3-0) allowed two hits in seven innings — both by Kyle Seager — struck out six and walked three. He extended his scoreless streak to 17 innings over three starts and lowered his ERA to 0.87.
Brooks Raley and Ryan Pressly each pitched a perfect inning, with Pressly getting his third save.
Yordan Álvarez had a sacrifice fly and Kyle Tucker an RBI single in a two-run fourth off Marco Gonzales (1-3), who allowed five hits in six innings with four strikeouts.
DIAMONDBACKS 5, PADRES 1
PHOENIX — Merrill Kelly gave Arizona another strong pitching performance and Carson Kelly hit a two-run homer against San Diego.
The Diamondbacks have won seven of eight, improving to 12-11 for the season. It’s the first time they’ve been above .500 this year.
Coming off a doubleheader sweep in Atlanta on Sunday in which Madison Bumgarner pitched a no-hitter that doesn’t qualify for the record book and Zac Gallen threw a one-hitter in a pair of seven-inning shutouts, Merrill Kelly kept up the mound mastery.
Kelly (2-2) gave up one run and four hits in six innings. Carson Kelly’s sixth homer of the season in the sixth made it 5-1 and chased Chris Paddack (1-3).