WASHINGTON — Max Scherzer dominated after an early hiccup Saturday, striking out 11 and retiring his final 20 batters as the Washington Nationals ended a three-game skid by beating the Colorado Rockies, 6-2.

Scherzer (3-1) issued a one-out walk in the first inning and Charlie Blackmon followed with a home run. That was all the Rockies managed against Scherzer, who has won the last two NL Cy Young Awards.

Scherzer struck out the next five batters and left after seven innings. He has struck out at least 10 in three of his four starts this year.

Nolan Arenado of Colorado didn’t play. He dropped his appeal of a five-game suspension for a fight earlier this week and began serving the penalty. The Rockies had won three straight.

CARDINALS 6, REDS 1: Cincinnati sunk to its worst start since 1931, losing its seventh straight when Greg Garcia hit two home runs for the first time in his career to lead visiting St. Louis.

The Reds fell to a major league-worst 2-12. Not since the Great Depression when the Reds lost 17 of their first 19 had they begun so poorly.

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CUBS 14, BRAVES 10: Javy Baez had a three-run double as Chicago scored nine times in the eighth inning on just three hits at home.

The Cubs trailed 9-1 in the third inning, were still down 10-2 in the sixth and went into the eighth behind 10-5. Chicago then used five walks, two hit batters, an error and a wild pitch to come back against four Atlanta relievers, as all nine runs scored after there were two outs.

PIRATES 1, MARLINS 0: Corey Dickerson’s bunt single in the ninth inning scored the only run as Pittsburgh won at Miami.

Pirates starter Jameson Taillon and Trevor Richards of Miami kept the game scoreless into the later innings.

BREWERS 5, METS 1: Chase Anderson breezed into the seventh inning, Jonathan Villar sliced a three-run homer inside the foul pole and visiting Milwaukee stopped New York’s nine-game winning streak.

Jett Bandy also went deep against Matt Harvey on a windy night as Milwaukee finally cooled off the Mets and improved to 6-2 away from home. Slumping shortstop Orlando Arcia came off the bench and homered in the ninth.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

RANGERS 6, ASTROS 5: Ronald Guzman’s first career homer tied the game in the eighth inning, then his infield single in the 10th won it as Texas rallied from five runs down at Houston.

The Rangers loaded the bases with one out before Guzman sent a hard grounder up the middle. It ricocheted off pitcher Will Harris’s glove, allowing Jurickson Profar to score.

ANGELS 5, ROYALS 3: Mike Trout, Justin Upton and Luis Valbuena homered as Los Angeles won its seventh straight, with the final innings played under falling snow at Kansas City, Missouri.

INTERLEAGUE

PHILLIES 9, RAYS 4: Jake Arrieta won his first game for Philadelphia, and rookies J.P. Crawford and Scott Kingery drove in two runs each at St. Petersburg, Florida.


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