NEW YORK — Aaron Blair won for the first time in 13 major league starts, Freddie Freeman drove in three runs off a misfiring Noah Syndergaard and the Atlanta Braves put a momentary brake on the New York Mets’ wild-card chase with a 7-3 victory Monday night.
Freeman had four hits for the Braves, who have the worst record in the National League, and rookie Dansby Swanson had three hits and three RBI.
New York had won 11 of its previous 14 games and led the NL wild-card race at the start of the night, one game ahead of San Francisco and two in front of St. Louis.
Acquired from Arizona along with Swanson and Ender Inciarte in December’s trade that sent Shelby Miller to the Diamondbacks, Blair had been 0-6 with an 8.23 ERA in his first 12 big league starts, including 0-2 in three outings against the Mets.
The 24-year-old right-hander, the 36th overall pick in the 2013 amateur draft, went on the disabled list after an Aug. 28 loss because of a strained left knee, then worked on his mechanics during two injury rehabilitation starts in the minors.
Activated to start against the Mets, Blair (6-1) did not allow a hit until the fourth, when Curtis Granderson singled and Pacific Coast League batting champion T.J. Rivera hit his third home run this month.
Blair gave up six hits in six innings, struck out four and walked one, lowering his ERA to 7.71.
MARLINS 4, NATIONALS 3: Wei-Yin Chen of the Marlins was sharp through four innings in his first game since July 20. Chen allowed a three-run homer to Danny Espinosa in the fifth but Miami was able to score twice in the sixth for a win at home.
Miami trails San Francisco and St. Louis for the second wild-card spot with 12 games left.
Giancarlo Stanton hit his 26th home run, and Christian Yelich, Ichiro Suzuki and Derek Dietrich also drove in a run for the Marlins.
Brian Ellington (3-2) picked up the win with an inning of relief and A.J. Ramos pitched the ninth for his 38th save in 41 chances.
The Nationals have lost three straight.
A.J. Cole allowed two runs and four hits in four innings for the Nationals. He struck out three and walked two.
CUBS 5, REDS 2: Dexter Fowler hit a tiebreaking single with two outs in the seventh inning as Chicago won at home.
Fowler’s line drive into center field capped a three-run rally for the Cubs after they were shut down by Tim Adleman most of the night. It also made a winner of Jason Hammel (15-9), who pitched seven solid innings.
Jason Heyward added a two-run homer in the eighth as the Cubs moved seven games ahead of Washington for the best record in the National League, lowering their magic number for clinching home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs to five.
Brandon Phillips homered for last-place Cincinnati, which has lost 5 of 6. Joey Votto went 2 for 3 with an RBI single and a walk, increasing his batting average since the All-Star break to .416.
The Reds allowed three more homers to run their season total to 242, breaking the major league record of 241 belonging to the 1996 Detroit Tigers.
CARDINALS 5, ROCKIES 3: Randal Grichuk had a two-run home run and scored twice as St. Louis won on the road.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ROYALS 8, WHITE SOX 3: Yordano Ventura kept his pitch count down, which enabled him to go nine innings for the first time in the majors.
Ventura picked up his first complete-game victory and Kendrys Morales hit a three-run homer as Kansas City won at home.
The Royals have won three straight, keeping their faint playoff hopes flickering with 12 games remaining.
The Royals went 14-5 against the White Sox this year.
Ventura (11-11) gave up nine hits, struck out five and walked one. His only other complete game in the majors was a 3-2 loss July 28 at Texas.
Ventura had allowed 10 runs, 17 hits and six walks in 111/3 innings in losing his previous two starts. He threw only 16 pitches in a 10-batter span to end the fifth and into the seventh.
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