Aug 18, 2023 4 min read

CHICAGO (AP) – Bobby Witt Jr. hit a go-ahead home run and Cole Ragans pitched six effective innings to help the Kansas City Royals end a three-game skid with a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Ragans (4-4) struck out nine while allowing eight hits and all three Chicago runs. He struck out three straight batters to end his final inning.

The Cubs started the day 2 1/2 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central standings and missed a chance to creep closer after striking out 13 times. Carlos Hernández, the last of four Royals relievers, pitched the ninth for his second save in five chances.

Jameson Taillon (7-8) was charged with two earned runs after allowing six hits and striking out three in the first six innings.

Kansas City’s Matt Duffy reached on an error to start the sixth before Witt knocked his 24th homer of the season into center field.

The Royals took the lead in the third on Kyle Isbel’s RBI single and got another run an inning later on Salvador Perez’s sacrifice fly.

The Cubs answered with a three-run, five-hit fourth that included RBI singles from Jeimer Candelario and Christopher Morel.

Cincinnati 1, Toronto 0: Christian Encarnacion-Strand homered in the ninth inning, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Toronto Blue Jays 1-0 on Friday night in the opener of an interleague series between playoff contenders.

Encarnacion-Strand drove a 2-2 pitch from Jordan Hicks (2-8) deep to left for his fourth homer. It was Cincinnati’s fourth hit of the game.

Fighting for positioning in the NL playoff standings, the Reds (64-59) won for the third time in four games.

Toronto wasted a terrific performance by José Berríos, who struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed one hit – Matt McLain’s one-out single in the sixth – and walked four.

The Blue Jays (67-56), who are in the mix for an AL wild card, finished with three hits in their second straight loss.

Cincinnati got a big lift from Brett Kennedy, who pitched five effective innings in his first major league start since July 4. The right-hander struck out two and walked one.

After Kennedy departed, Buck Farmer, Ian Gibaut, Lucas Sims and Alexis Díaz (5-4) each pitched a hitless inning. Díaz worked a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out two.

National League

Atlanta 4, San Francisco 0:

Spencer Strider struck out 10 and allowed one hit in seven innings, three relievers finished and the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-0 on Friday night for their third straight shutout.

It marked the first time since the final three games of 2015 against St. Louis that the Braves blanked an opponent in three straight games. Atlanta has five shutouts in its last eight games.

Matt Olson, Eddie Rosario, Austin Riley and Michael Harris II each drove in a run as the major league-leading Braves improved to 79-42. Harris, last season’s NL Rookie of the Year, went 4 for 5 with a double and a triple, raising his average eight points to .291.

Strider (14-4), a first-time All-Star and last season’s Rookie of the Year runner-up, broke a tie with three other starters to take the major league lead in victories. He was coming off a 6-0 victory in which gave up three hits in seven innings at the New York Mets last Saturday.

Strider also added to his MLB-leading strikeout total of 227, which is 40 more than the second-place Kevin Gausman of Toronto. Routinely touching 98 and 99 mph with his four-seam fastball, Strider retired his first nine batters with six strikeouts before walking LaMonte Wade Jr. to begin the fourth. Wilmer Flores got the first hit with a single two batters later.

Washington 8, Philadelphia 7: CJ Abrams hit a three-run homer to cap a six-run fourth inning, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7 Friday night to spoil Michael Lorenzen’s first start since throwing a no-hitter nine days earlier.

Jake Alu also drove in two runs for Washington, which has won 11 of 15 overall and 15 of 18 at home since July 8.

Kyle Schwarber homered twice for the Phillies, who entered the day two games ahead of San Francisco for the NL’s top wild-card spot. Philadelphia has lost four of its last five.

Lorenzen (7-8) didn’t make it out of the fourth inning in his first outing since no-hitting Washington on Aug. 9. The right-hander’s bid for back-to-back no-hitters was dashed when Lane Thomas beat out an infield single in the first. But Lorenzen didn’t face serious trouble until the fourth.