ATLANTA — Clayton Kershaw pitched 72/3 strong innings, added a two-run single and reached four times Friday night, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1.

Kershaw (4-5) allowed one run and six hits, striking out eight. He’s 4-0 with a 1.43 ERA in 10 career starts against the Braves.

He surprised the capacity crowd at SunTrust Park by doubling down the left-field line to put Los Angeles up 4-1 in the fourth. The inside-out swing that scored Matt Kemp and Chris Taylor didn’t draw too loud of a reaction from the fans, but they had seen enough in the eighth when Kershaw walked for the third time. Atlanta reliever Jesse Biddle was showered with boos.

Los Angeles has won two straight, improving its NL-best road record to 30-22. The Dodgers are 32-16 overall since June 1, tops in the NL over that span.

The Braves have lost three straight and 12 of 17.

PIRATES 5, METS 4: David Freese drove in five runs, including an RBI single in the ninth inning that lifted Pittsburgh at home.

Freese homered in going 3 for 3 with two walks, helping the Pirates win for the 12th time in 14 games.

The Mets had won three straight. They beat the Pirates 12-6 on Thursday night behind Asdrubal Cabrera’s homer and two doubles – Cabrera was traded to Philadelphia on Friday.

Josh Harrison led off the Pittsburgh ninth with an infield single against rookie reliever Tim Peterson (2-2). A single by Gregory Polanco put runners at the corner and Elias Diaz was intentionally walked to load the bases. Freese hit a drive over center fielder Brandon Nimmo for the win.

REDS 6, PHILLIES 4: Mason Williams hit a three-run homer to snap a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning, and the bullpen made it stand up as Cincinnati won at home.

Eugenio Suarez added a solo shot and right-hander David Hernandez turned in 21/3 innings of scoreless emergency relief as the Reds, the NL Central’s last-place team, snapped East Division-leading Philadelphia’s three-game winning streak.

Williams, in his second game and first start since being promoted from Triple-A Louisville on Thursday, drove Nick Piveta’s 1-2 slider into the right-field seats for his second career homer and first since his major league debut on June 12, 2015, for the Yankees.

NATIONALS 9, MARLINS 1: Max Scherzer allowed one unearned run and struck out 11 in eight innings on his 34th birthday, and Washington won at Miami.

Juan Soto homered, tripled and drove in three runs, Matt Adams had three hits and two RBI and Bryce Harper drove in two for the Nationals.

Scherzer (14-5) allowed three hits and didn’t walk a batter while throwing 74 of his 106 pitches for strikes. He lowered his ERA to 2.30.

Scherzer struck out the side in both the third and the sixth on his way to his 11th double-digit strikeout game of the season – his first since striking out 10 on June 16 at Toronto.

CARDINALS 5, CUBS 2: Paul DeJong had three hits and three RBI, Yadier Molina also had three hits and drove in a run, and St. Louis won at home before a season-high crowd of 47,169 at Busch Stadium.

DeJong’s RBI triple, just the sixth for the Cardinals this season, made it 1-1 in the third and Jose Martinez followed with an RBI single to give St. Louis the lead.

DeJong added a two-run single in the fourth. Molina scored twice.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

INDIANS 8, TIGERS 3: Francisco Lindor hit two of his team’s four home runs, and Cleveland broke through in the final two innings at Detroit.

Yonder Alonso and Brandon Guyer also went deep for the Indians, who improved to 29-13 against division opponents this season. Cleveland scored four runs in the eighth on a tiebreaking single by Alonso and a three-run homer by Guyer.

Victor Martinez hit a solo shot for the Tigers, but Joe Jimenez (4-2) couldn’t hold off the Indians in the eighth.

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