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• MLB: Acuna hits two home runs, closes in on 40-60 season as Braves snap skid

  Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a pair of home runs to reach 39 and stole his 67th base as the Atlanta Braves ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

  Acuna is one home run shy of becoming the first player with 40 homers and 60 steals in a season, much less 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases.

  The Braves' superstar is batting .386 with 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, 23 runs and eight steals in his last 20 games.

  Acuna’s first home run was his seventh leadoff blast this season and 33rd of his career. Of his 205 hits this season, 51 have come in the first inning.

  His performance overshadowed Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 18th win.

  The right-hander allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings with 11 strikeouts to raise his MLB-best total to 270.

  Marcell Ozuna drove in three runs with three hits, including a two-run double in the fifth, as Atlanta avoided its first five-game skid since September 2017.

  Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run for the Phillies, who hold the top wild-card spot in the NL.

   

  Padres lose combined no-hitter in 9th, walk-off Rockies

  Blake Snell threw seven no-hit innings, and the San Diego Padres lost a combined no-hitter in the 9th before Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off two-run homer in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.

  Snell struck out 10 with four walks over the first seven innings and threw 104 pitches but was replaced by Robert Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth.

  Closer Josh Hader gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers in the ninth before getting three outs.

  Bogaerts homered off Tyler Kinley with two outs in the ninth to give San Diego its season-high sixth straight win.

   

  Hays hits 2 homers as Orioles defeat Astros

  Austin Hays went deep twice and Ryan O’Hearn added a two-run shot to lift the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth straight win, 9-5 over the slumping Houston Astros.

  Hays hit a three-run shot off starter Hunter Brown in the third inning to snap a 2-2 tie and put Baltimore ahead for good.

  O’Hearn’s two-run homer in the first opened the scoring and rookie Heston Kjerstad connected for his second career home run in the seventh, one batter after Hays’ second of the game gave the Orioles an 8-5 lead.

  Baltimore maintained a 2 ½-game lead over Tampa in the race for the AL East title, while Houston’s lead in the West was trimmed to one-half game over Texas and Seattle.

• MLB: Cardinals' Wainwright earns 200th win

  Adam Wainwright recorded his 200th career victory with seven brilliant innings as the St. Louis Cardinals edged the National League Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, 1-0, on a historic Monday night at Busch Stadium.

  Wainwright, pitching in his 18th and final season in a Cardinals' uniform, yielded just four hits and two walks to become the 38th pitcher in NL history to reach the milestone.

  The 42-year-old had gone 0-10 over an 11-start stretch before picking up an elusive career win No. 199 last week, when he allowed two runs over five innings to beat the Baltimore Orioles.

  Willson Contreras accounted for the game's lone run with a solo homer in the fourth off Freddy Peralta, who permitted just four hits and struck out six over six innings in a hard-luck loss.

  The loss kept Milwaukee's magic number to win the NL Central at seven. The Brewers hold a six-game lead on the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds atop the division.

   

  Orioles rally past Astros in clash of division leaders

  Cedric Mullins hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning that lifted the Baltimore Orioles to an 8-7 win over the Houston Astros in Monday's opener of a three-game series between American League division leaders. 

  Astros closer Ryan Pressly entered in the ninth to protect a 7-5 lead and gave up consecutive one-out singles to Ryan O'Hearn and Austin Hays before Mullins launched a 2-1 pitch into the right-field seats to send Baltimore in front.

  Cionel Perez and Yennier Cano kept Houston scoreless in the bottom of the ninth to extend the Orioles' lead over second-place Tampa Bay to 2 1/2 games in the AL East.

  Houston, which is now lost five of seven, maintained a 1 1/2-game edge on Texas and Seattle for first place in the AL West. The Rangers were handed a 4-2 loss by the Boston Red Sox on Monday, while the Mariners posted a 5-0 win over the Oakland Athletics to tie Texas for the AL's third and final wild card berth.

  O'Hearn's hit in the ninth capped a 5-for-5 night in which he drove in two runs. Mullins added an RBI double in the seventh that tied the game at 5-5, while Gunnar Henderson finished 3 for 5 with three runs scored and Adley Rutschman knocked in a pair of runs.

  Houston had taken a 6-5 lead on Jose Abreu's solo homer in the seventh, and Martin Maldonado had a solo shot in the eighth to increase the margin.

   

  Reds top Twins, move into tie for NL's final wild card

  There's also now a tie for the NL's final wild card spot after Cincinnati rookie Connor Phillips pitched the Reds to an important 7-3 victory over the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

  Phillips collected his first major league win by holding Minnesota to two runs and three hits while striking out seven in seven innings. The 22-year-old's performance helped the Reds move into a tie with the Chicago Cubs for the NL's third wild card berth, a half-game in front of Miami after the Marlins were dealt a 2-1 loss by the New York Mets.

  Will Benson homered and drove in three runs to aid Phillips, while Joey Votto had two hits and two RBIs and Spencer Steer finished 3 for 4 with an RBI single.

  Both Minnesota runs off Phillips came via solo homers, one from Royce Lewis in the fourth inning and the other from Alex Kirilloff in the seventh.

  Twins starter Joe Ryan took the loss after surrendering four runs in five innings. 

   

   

   

• Carvalhal 'saw football in a different way' after unsuccessful Premier League stint

  Carlos Carvalhal says he and his coaching staff "changed almost everything" about their approach to football after suffering relegation from the Premier League with Swansea City in 2018.

  Carvalhal made a name for himself in the English game by leading Sheffield Wednesday to the Championship play-off final in 2016, where they were beaten by Hull City.

  Wednesday were then beaten in the semi-finals after finishing fourth under Carvalhal in 2016-17. That remains their highest second-tier finish since 1990-91, when they were promoted in third.

  However, Carvalhal left the Owls for Swansea City in December 2017, only winning eight of 25 games in south Wales and overseeing their relegation from the Premier League the following May.

  Carvalhal has since enjoyed something of a renaissance with the likes of Rio Ave and Braga, before moving to Spain to keep Celta Vigo up with a final-day victory over Barcelona last season. 

  The Portuguese coach is proud of his achievements since leaving English football, claiming his stint at Swansea provoked a change in his approach to the game.

  "After England, we were at Sheffield Wednesday for two and half years and half a year at Swansea, then we stopped for one season," Carvalhal told Stats Perform at the Thinking Football Summit.

  "We decided to stop and reflect on the things that we did and the things that we wanted to do in the future. We changed almost everything. In this moment, we saw football in a different way. 

  "We are not basing it on the system [anymore], we are basing it on spaces and creating spaces. It's the way that we look at football, completely differently, like a chess player looking at the table.

  "The results were fantastic, I can tell you. 

  "We took a big risk to go to Rio Ave. Rio Ave is a medium club in Portugal. We were in the Premier League, and nobody from the Premier League goes to Rio Ave. But we decided to go there because it's a calm club, there were some good players, we could put our ideas on the pitch. 

  "The reality was that we achieved Europa League [qualification]. Braga the same, we continued improving, in Celta Vigo we improved and we have stopped now to refresh a little again.

  "I know €14 million was raised in Rio Ave with the players that we developed, which is very good for the club. Almost €100 million at Braga, and now in Celta Vigo with Gabri Veiga and Javi Galan probably about €50 million. So we are improving players.

  "It's something that of course we are very proud of and something that we want to do in the future in the next challenge."

  Carvalhal oversaw Rio Ave's best points return in their Primeira Liga history in 2019-20 (55 points), before leading Braga to their third – and most recent – Taca de Portugal one year later.

  The 57-year-old has been out of work since leaving Celta in June, but he is ready to get back into the game and believes taking regular breaks is crucial to stay fresh.

  "The gaps, I need to rest for my mental health, which I care about. Usually, you never see me have problems with other coaches, with referees and so on, because of these kinds of things.

  "I decided [to move] because we did very well [at Braga]. We did the best the club has done in its history. In two seasons, we won the cup and we reached three finals. 

  "We achieved the quarter-final of the Europa League, 17 players from the academy played in the first team. At Celta Vigo, we arrived at the club in a very difficult position. We finished in 13th. 

  "There's a lot of pressure. So I spoke with my staff, I said I need to stop for three or four months and after, we go back to the market. So at this moment, we are on the market again. 

  "We are not under pressure, it's not about money. We can't say that we don't ever go for the money because we never know what will happen tomorrow, but I would prefer to go because of passion and football. Let's see what happens."