Guardians Manager Terry Francona looks out from the dugout after pulling starting pitcher Cal Quantrill in the fourth inning against the Chicago Cubs Friday in Chicago. Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press
CHICAGO — Justin Steele tossed a three-hit shutout into the seventh inning and won his third straight start, and the Chicago Cubs snapped a four-game skid with a 10-1 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Friday.
Christoper Morel hit a two-run homer and finished with three RBI, and Nick Madrigal added a solo homer in Chicago’s 13-hit attack.
Nico Hoerner had three hits, two RBI and reached base four times while extending his hitting streak to nine games. Jared Young drove in two runs with his second triple in two games and finished with two hits and two runs scored.
Terry Francona was back managing the Guardians following a health scare that led to him being hospitalized in Kansas City and missing three games.
Before the game, Francona said: “I actually feel OK today.”
The manager said his heart rate accelerated and his blood pressure was high during his spell in Kansas City He was sweating, even when just sitting.
Francona will get follow-up tests in Cleveland on Monday.
ASTROS 5, RANGERS 3: Mauricio Dubón lined a go-ahead, two-run double in the sixth inning, and visiting Houston beat Texas Rangers.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 2, PHILLIES 1: Stone Garrett hit a two-run homer and Josiah Gray forced two pop-ups and struck out a batter that left the potential go-ahead run stranded in the pivotal sixth inning to lead Washington to a win at Philadelphia.
Staked to a 2-1 lead, Gray (6-6) shut down the meat of Philadelphia’s order after he let the first two runners reach in the sixth. The right-hander retired Bryce Harper on a pop up to third, got J.T. Realmuto to pop to second and struck out Bryson Stott swinging on a 95 mph fastball.
REDS 7, PADRES 5: Spencer Steer hit a winning two-run home run in the 11th inning and Cincinnati overcame Alexis Díaz’s first blown save of the season in a wild win over visiting San Diego.
Elly De La Cruz doubled to drive in Jonathan India with the tying run and De La Cruz tried to score from third on Nick Senzel’s grounder to third off Drew Carlton, but was called out because he touched catcher Gary Sánchez’s left foot — a call that survived video review. Steer followed with his homer off Drew Carlton (2-1).
Sánchez drove in Xander Bogaerts from second base in the top of the 11th inning to put the Padres up 5-4, but they couldn’t avoid their sixth straight loss.
BRAVES 16, MARLINS 4: Michael Soroka won his first home start in nearly three years, Matt Olson homered twice and drove in five runs and National League-leading Atlanta won its sixth straight game by beating visiting Miami.
Ronald Acuña Jr., Eddie Rosario, Austin Riley and Sean Murphy also went deep to give the Braves 153 homers, by far the most in the majors. They hit 61 in June to set a franchise record for a single month, breaking the mark of 56 from June 2019.
GIANTS 5, METS 4: Patrick Bailey hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning to help visiting San Francisco beat reeling New Yor.
The Mets opened June by completing a three-game sweep of Philadelphia, then went 6-19 the rest of the way, losing 15 games in the NL East standings to first-place Atlanta and falling nine games behind the Giants in the race for the final wild card.
PIRATES 8, BREWERS 7: Carlos Santana hit his first career walk-off home run, a two-run shot to cap a three-run ninth inning and rally Pittsburgh past visiting Milwaukee.
NOTES
RANGERS-ROYALS: The Texas Rangers acquired Aroldis Chapman in a trade with the Kansas City Royals, adding a once-dominant closer to their bullpen as the AL West leaders chase their first division title in seven years.
The 35-year-old Chapman wasn’t of much use to the last-place Royals, where the left-hander landed this season after a six-year stint with the New York Yankees. Just before that, he split 2016 between the Yankees and Cubs, helping Chicago win its first World Series championship in 108 years.
Kansas City gets left-hander Cole Ragans, who had been called up from Triple-A Round Rock earlier in the day, and minor league outfielder Roni Cabrera.
Chapman had two saves in 31 appearances for Kansas City, which is buried in last in the AL Central, more than 10 games behind the fourth-place Chicago White Sox.
HOME RUN DERBY: The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts will compete in the All-Star Home Run Derby at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 10, joining Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez and Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero in the eight-man competition.
Betts, who will be making his first Derby appearance, leads the Dodgers with 20 home runs.
Juan Soto won last year’s derby at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, edging Rodríguez 19-18 in the final round.
ROCKIES: Colorado activated Kris Bryant before the Rockies’ game against the Detroit Tigers on Friday, a month after the outfielder was placed on the injured list with a left heel bruise.
Bryant was scheduled to start in right field and hit second.
“I’m really excited,” Bryant said. “It’s never fun when you’re not playing, but I feel like we did some good work. All things considered, I feel like I’m in a better place than what I expected.”
Bryant, 32, is hitting .263 with five homers and 17 RBI in 50 games this season. He was 1 for 4 with a walk in his one rehab game at Albuquerque on Wednesday.
“It’s good to have ‘KB’ back in there,” Colorado Manager Bud Black said. “He’s a presence. He gives you a really good at-bat. He takes a lot of pressure off the guys. Hopefully he can jump right in and contribute.”
Bryant will have no initial restrictions, Black said.
“We’ll see how he’s going, but as long as he feels good and it makes sense to keep him going, we’re going to keep him going,” Black said.
Bryant played only 42 games in his first season with Colorado in 2022, after signing a seven-year, $182 million free agent contract. He missed most of last season with plantar fasciitis.
The Rockies designated catcher Jorge Alfaro for assignment and also promoted Ty Black from Albuquerque to replace Matt Carasiti, who was placed open the injured list with right shoulder inflammation.
CARDINALS: The St. Louis Cardinals placed pitcher Jake Woodford on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain.
Woodford (2-2) worked 2 1/3 innings against Houston on Thursday, giving up four runs on four hits, including a home run, and walked two. He has a 5.67 ERA.
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