Benintendi, Moreland carry Red Sox past Braves 8-6

BOSTON - Andrew Benintendi homered and drove in three runs, helping the Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 8-6 on Saturday.

The AL East-leading Red Sox celebrated the return of Dustin Pedroia with their sixth win in seven games. Mitch Moreland had a key two-run double, and knuckleballer Steven Wright (1-0) pitched three innings of scoreless relief for the victory.

The 34-year-old Pedroia went 0 for 4 with a walk and scored in his first game after offseason knee surgery. He got up with the bases loaded and two out in the first, but flied out to right to end the inning.

Dansby Swanson hit a two-run homer for Atlanta, and Ronald Acuna Jr. connected for a solo shot. The Braves have dropped 10 of their last 13 in Fenway Park.

ATHLETICS 3

DIAMONDBACKS 0

OAKLAND, Calif. - Daniel Mengden pitched a two-hitter for his second career shutout, and the Oakland Athletics beat the slumping Arizona Diamondbacks 3-0 on Saturday.

Mengden (5-4) struck out five and walked none. Socrates Brito singled in the second and David Peralta singled in the sixth for Arizona's only hits.

Matt Olson, Matt Joyce and Chad Pinder connected for the Athletics, who began the day ranked last in the majors with 15 home runs at home and tops in baseball with 47 on the road.

The Diamondbacks wasted a solid outing for Clay Buchholz in their 15th loss in 17 games. Buchholz (0-1) permitted one run and two hits in six innings.

PHILLIES 2

BLUE JAYS 1

PHILADELPHIA - Aaron Nola took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, Nick Williams hit his third pinch-hit homer of the year in the eighth and the Philadelphia Phillies moved into first in the NL East Saturday with a 2-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

CARDINALS 4

PIRATES 1

PITTSBURGH - Jack Flaherty allowed four hits over six innings, Matt Carpenter hit his fifth home run of the season and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-1 on Saturday.

Flaherty (2-1) followed up a dominant performance against Philadelphia last Sunday by keeping the Pirates in check. Flaherty gave up Starling Marte's long home run in the first but settled down quickly. The rookie struck out four, walked two and didn't allow a runner to third base over his final five innings. Bud Norris worked a perfect ninth for his 10th save.

RANGERS 4

ROYALS 3

ARLINGTON, Texas - Shin-Soo Choo became the top major league home run hitter born in Asia, connecting for a leadoff drive in the 10th inning that lifted the Texas Rangers over the Kansas City Royals 4-3 Saturday.

Choo's 176th career homer moved him past Hideki Matsui for the most by an Asian player.

Choo hit a 3-1 pitch from Kevin McCarthy (3-2) for his eight home run this year. It was his third career walk-off homer and first in five seasons with the Rangers.

Alex Claudio (3-2) got the win by working the 10th.

WHITE SOX 8

TIGERS 4

DETROIT - Tim Anderson homered twice on his way to a career-high four RBIs, leading Hector Santiago and the Chicago White Sox to an 8-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

Anderson and Jose Abreu each hit a solo drive in the fifth, tying it at 3. Daniel Palka led off the sixth with a tiebreaking shot off Francisco Liriano (3-2), and Anderson's three-run homer against Louis Coleman made it 7-3 White Sox.

NATIONALS 4

MARLINS 1

MIAMI - Mark Reynolds hit a tiebreaking home run leading off the ninth inning Saturday, and the Washington Nationals rallied to beat the Miami Marlins for the 10th consecutive time, 4-1.

Miami's Wei-Yin Chen took a two-hit shutout into the eighth but gave up a one-out homer to Wilmer Difo, who pulled a pitch off the foul pole to make the score 1-all.

Reynolds connected against Brad Ziegler (0-4) for his fifth homer in 27 at-bats since being called up from Triple-A. Pinch-hitter Matt Adams and Trea Turner each added an RBI single, and Ziegler's ERA rose to 7.54.

BREWERS 17

METS 6

MILWAUKEE - Erik Kratz homered in his Brewers debut and Jesus Aguilar also hit a home run to lift surging Milwaukee to a 17-6 rout of the New York Mets on Saturday.

Christian Yelich had three hits, drove in three runs and scored three times for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won eight of their last 10.

Kratz, acquired Friday from the Yankees, homered with two outs in the fifth against reliever A.J. Ramos, who came unraveled during what had been a close game.

RAYS 5

ORIOLES 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Ryne Stanek, Anthony Banda and Chaz Roe combined to give up three hits on a bullpen day as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-1 on Saturday.

With the Rays thin in the rotation, Banda (1-0) entered with two outs in the second. He wound up allowing one run and three hits while striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.

From wire reports