— Masahiro Tanaka pitched a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts for his fourth major league shutout, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-0 on Monday night to increase their slim lead in the AL East. DJ LeMahieu hit a two-run homer off Yonny Chirinos, and Cameron Maybin homered in his third consecutive game. That was all a dominant Tanaka (5-5) needed while throwing 76 of 111 pitches for strikes in his seventh complete game since coming over from Japan. Edwin Encarnación received an enthusiastic ovation from fans in his Yankees debut after being acquired from Seattle in a trade late Saturday night. Batting fifth as the designated hitter, the veteran slugger went 0 for 4 with a strikeout his first time up. No matter. New York won the opener of a three-game series and moved 1½ games ahead of the second-place Rays.
_ Jorge Soler hit a two-out, two-run homer in the eighth inning off Anthony Bass, and the Kansas City Royals rallied for a 6-4 win over Seattle, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Mariners. After the Royals were shut down for most of the night by Tommy Milone, Soler hit a 1-1 pitch on the outside corner out to deep right-center field for his 19th home run of the season. Martin Maldonado added a solo home run in the ninth.
_ Tyler Beede allowed one run over six innings to earn his first big-league victory and the San Francisco Giants defeated the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in the opener of a four-game set between the NL West rivals. The 26-year-old right-hander scattered three hits, struck out seven and walked five on 97 pitches in the strongest outing of his young career.
_ Manny Machado homered and doubled a few hours after appealing a one-game suspension handed down by MLB, and left-hander Joey Lucchesi threw seven brilliant innings in a combined four-hitter to lead the San Diego Padres over the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0. Machado was suspended one game and fined for “aggressively arguing and making contact” with plate umpire Bill Welke after being ejected for arguing a called third strike at Colorado on Saturday night.
_ Mike Fiers pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning and the Oakland Athletics took advantage of Baltimore’s shoddy defense to beat the Orioles 3-2. Fiers allowed two unearned runs over 6 2/3 innings. Oakland took a 3-2 lead in the second on catcher Chance Sisco’s two-run throwing error. The last-place Orioles suffered their sixth straight loss.
_ Mike Soroka won his eighth straight decision and the Atlanta Braves’ offense kept churning out runs in a 12-3 victory over the New York Mets. The NL East-leading Braves have scored 90 runs in winning 10 of their last 11. Soroka is the youngest pitcher with a winning streak that long since Dontrelle Willis won eight in row for the 2003 Florida Marlins.
_ Dexter Fowler and Matt Carpenter homered to back a strong outing by Miles Mikolas and lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-0 win over the Miami Marlins. Mikolas snapped a career-high losing streak of five straight decisions.
_ Nick Senzel returned from an eye injury and drove in a pair of runs, Luis Castillo pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning, and the Cincinnati Reds held on for a 3-2 victory over the Houston Astros. The Reds got the better of a reunion of once-familiar foes that rarely play each other anymore.
_ Rick Porcello pitched seven shutout innings for Boston to outduel Minnesota ace Jose Berrios, and the Red Sox stretched their winning streak to a season-high six straight games with a 2-0 victory over the Twins. Porcello allowed only four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts, just his third start out of 15 this season with seven or more innings completed.
_ Lance Lynn had another quality start, Danny Santana homered and the Texas Rangers beat Cleveland 7-2 to spoil Mike Clevinger’s return from the injured list. Lynn struck out nine without a walk and gave up one run over seven innings. Clevinger struck out seven and walked three in his first start since April 7. He threw 12 scoreless innings with 22 strikeouts his first two starts before missing more than two months because of a muscle strain in his upper back.
_ Shohei Ohtani hit one of three Angels homers in a seven-run second inning, Mike Trout went deep for the 20th time this season, and Los Angeles downed the Toronto Blue Jays 10-5 on Monday in the opener of a four-game series. Ohtani’s three-run homer capped an offensive outburst from the Angels against a struggling Edwin Jackson, who lasted just 2/3 innings and allowed seven runs with six hits and two walks.
_ The game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals has been postponed because of rain. The start of the game was delayed for nearly three hours before a decision was made to postpone. It will be made up at 1:05 p.m. as part of a day-night doubleheader Wednesday. The four-game series will now begin Tuesday night. Neither team immediately announced its pitching plans for Tuesday.