Chicago’s Christopher Morel hits a home run in the third inning of the Cubs’ 10-3 win over the Orioles on Friday in Chicago. Erin Hooley/Associated Press

CHICAGO — Christopher Morel homered and drove in three runs, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 on Friday for their fourth straight win.

Dansby Swanson and Miguel Amaya also connected for Chicago, which broke open a close game with six runs in the sixth inning. Nico Hoerner had two hits and two RBIs, and Kyle Hendricks (2-2) pitched five effective innings for his second straight victory.

Chicago (32-37) has won six of seven, and the four-game win streak matched its season high.

Baltimore (43-26) had won six of seven. But Cole Irvin (1-3) was pulled in the fifth, and the bullpen faltered in a three-game series opener.

Mike Baumann issued consecutive walks beginning the sixth, and runners advanced on Cionel Pérez’s balk ahead of pinch-hitter Ian Happ’s two-run single. Morel made it 8-2 with a two-run double off Reed Garrett with two outs, and Seiya Suzuki added an RBI single.

Chicago, in all-blue uniforms with “Wrigleyville” across the chest, finished with 12 hits for its fourth straight game in double digits.

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Ryan O’Hearn had three hits for Baltimore, and Austin Hays collected two hits and two RBI. O’Hearn is batting .396 (21 for 53) in his last 16 games.

Chicago jumped in front on Amaya’s first homer at Wrigley Field, a leadoff drive to left in the third. The catching prospect made his big league debut in May and connected for his first homer June 4 at San Diego.

Irvin retired the next two batters before Swanson and Morel combined for the sixth set of back-to-back homers for Chicago this season. It was the seventh homer for Swanson, and No. 12 for Morel.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 6, NATIONALS 5:  Luis Arraez broke out of an 0-for-15 slide with a 5-for-5 night that included three RBI, raising his major league-leading batting from .378 to .390 and helping Miami win in Washington.

Arraez singled in the first off Trevor Williams and hit a two-run homer in the second for a 4-2 lead, ending a 52-game homerless streak dating to April 11. He had an RBI single in the fourth, then singled in the seventh against Mason Thompson and singled in the ninth against Chad Kuhl to match his career high with five hits, set June 3 against Oakland.

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Garrett Cooper hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning off Carl Edwards Jr. (1-3), and the Marlins won for the 10th time in 13 games. Miami improved to 18-5 in one-run games, including 3-0 against the Nats, the most one-run wins in the major leagues.

METS 6, CARDINALS 1: Tylor Megill won for the first time in almost a month, slumping Daniel Vogelbach homered in his return to the lineup and host New York Mets beat skidding in a series opener between two of baseball’s most disappointing teams.

Brett Baty hit a two-run double off Miles Mikolas in a three-run first inning, and Tommy Pham added a pair of two-out RBI singles against his former team as the fourth-place Mets (33-36) won their second straight after losing nine of 10.

BRAVES 8, ROCKIES 1: Travis d’Arnaud hit two massive homers and Atlanta won for the 11th time in 13 games, beating visiting Colorado.

D’Arnaud hit a 474-foot, two-run shot in the first inning for the 100th homer of his career to stake Jared Shuster to a 3-0 lead. He added another two-run homer in the third off Dinelson Lamet, this one a 433-foot drive that put the Braves up 5-0.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

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TIGERS 7, TWINS 1: Matt Vierling hit two solo homers, Javier Báez had a three-run shot to cap a five-run third inning and Detroit cruised to a victory in Minneapolis.

Báez added a highlight-worthy play at shortstop, throwing out a runner from his knees after a backhand stop.

NOTES

YANKEES: Manager Aaron Boone said that Aaron Judge received another platelet-rich plasma injection on his sprained right toe but continues to make progress on and injury that has him sidelined for the second time this season.

“They hit the other ligament that was still giving him some of the soreness,” Boone said prior to New York opening a three-game series at Boston. “So, he had that yesterday and is doing a lot better today. So, nothing in the way of baseball stuff the next probably 48 hours. But he’s doing better.”

Judge banged his right toe while making a running catch and crashing into the outfield fence during the eighth inning of New York’s 6-3 win over the Dodgers on June 3.

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Boone didn’t rule out that Judge could return before the All-Star break

LONDON SERIES: St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs hitters will have to work a little harder to match the Yankees-Red Sox slugfests from 2019 when they play in London because the fences are being pushed back.

The center field wall will be 392 feet from home plate, seven feet deeper than four years ago, as part of changes that Major League Baseball said came about because of some seat restructuring at London Stadium and not because of the high scores in New York’s two wins over Boston.

The Yankees and Red Sox combined for 10 homers over two games playing on artificial turf at the home of Premier League club West Ham. New York won 17-13 and 12-8.

In other changes, the power alleys are increasing five feet to 387 feet, the dugouts will be repositioned, and the foul territory will be greatly reduced to make the whole thing feel more authentic.

“When you’re out at home plate, and you’re looking (out) it looks like you’re in a totally different ballpark than you were in 2019,” Murray Cook, MLB’s official field consultant, told The Associated Press.

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Even with the increase, the center field fence would be among the shortest in the majors. The 16-foot wall in center field is back — Michael Chavis’ first inning three-run homer for the Red Sox in the first game barely cleared it. It slopes down on both sides to eight feet around the rest of the outfield.

Down each line will be 330 feet – same as last time – but the seating adjustments will bring fans closer to the field.

“The new dugouts and the new seating configuration kind of pitch out like they would typically down the foul line, whereas in 2019 they were more a straight line behind home plate,” Cook said.

The artificial turf is from Montreal – the 2019 turf was donated to the Farnham Park national baseball and softball complex outside London — and the clay is again from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

“All these things that we’ve implemented this year we can re-use again,” Cook said.

MLB plans to stage games in London in 2024 and 2026 — with Paris being eyed as a host city in 2025. The Cardinals and Cubs were scheduled to play in London in 2020, but the games were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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GUARDIANS: Cleveland traded utilityman Richie Palacios to the St. Louis Cardinals for $100,000.

Palacios, who played in 54 games for the defending AL Central champions last season, had been designated for assignment Sunday when the club activated right-hander Cody Morris from the 60-day injured list.

• Cleveland Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie was scratched from his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks night because of right elbow discomfort.

Right-hander Touki Toussaint started Friday night’s game after his contract was selected from Triple-A Columbus.

Cleveland also designated catcher Mike Zunino for assignment and optioned right-hander Cody Morris to Columbus.

McKenzie’s elbow issue is the latest injury setback for the right-hander, who missed the first two months with a shoulder strain. The Guardians have high hopes for the hard-throwing McKenzie, who went 11-11 with a 2.96 ERA in 30 starts last season.

DODGERS: Infielder Max Muncy went on the 10-day injured list with a strained hamstring.

The team had been hoping to avoid making the move, but Muncy needed more time to recover after getting hurt in last weekend’s game at Philadelphia.

Muncy has struggled offensively this season, hitting .191 with 18 home runs and 45 RBI in 60 games. It’s his first time on the IL this season and fourth time in his career.


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