Former World Series champion Chase Utley has promised a “fantastic experience” when Major League Baseball returns to London this summer.

The 2024 MLB season officially gets under way on Wednesday with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in Seoul before the regular season begins on March 28.

This summer, on the weekend of June 8-9, the latest MLB London series will take place when the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies go head-to-head in England’s capital.

London Stadium will host two matches between the sides in what will be the third time the sport has been taken to Britain after previous series in 2019 and last year.

Utley, who helped Philadelphia claim 2008 World Series success, said: “You’ll have the Phillies and Mets, two fantastic teams, two rivals in the same division.

“They’ve been rivals for around like 70 years and you’ll see some of the best players in the world.

“You’ll see fireworks, activities on the field in between innings, live music, you’ll have American-standard baseball food, which consists of hotdogs, nachos and burgers!

“Overall, it’s just a fantastic experience.”

Utley was in Brent Cross last week at The 108, a state-of-the-art dedicated indoor baseball facility, and put England white-ball captain Jos Buttler through his paces before he learned some of the key principles of cricket.

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The sporting crossover occurred due to cricket heading across the pond this summer when the T20 World Cup is hosted in America and West Indies during the same time of the latest MLB London series.

Former second baseman Utley retired in 2018 and splits his time between the United States and his new London home as part of his ambassador role for MLB Europe.

The 45-year-old feels cricket is slowly starting to break through in the USA, adding: “It’s probably as much as baseball penetrates here in the UK, so a bit, yes.

“Here, obviously football, from what I’ve seen in a short amount of time, is the sport that for sure everyone watches and then cricket is second place to that.

“In America, you have American Football and then you have basketball or you have baseball that are kind of bounced back and forth.

“It’s exciting to see that cricket is going to the United States to play because I’ve seen some amateurs playing in the park. You’re starting to see it more and more over the last few years that I was there.”

The next goal for Utley is to actually watch a cricket match live after brushing up his knowledge with Buttler last Wednesday when the meaning of ‘Bazball’ alongside the difference between Test and white-ball cricket was discussed.

“I’ve watched a fair share but I still haven’t seen it in person,” Utley said.

“At some point I need to see it in person. I’ve watched it on TV and it took me a little while, but I imagine it’s the same for watching baseball.

“It takes you a while to understand the nuances, the terminology and actually what is going on in the moment, but once you can wrap your head around it and make some sense, it’s very entertaining.”

New York Mets will play Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB World Tour: London Series 2024 on June 8-9 at London Stadium. Tickets are on sale now at ticketmaster.co.uk/MLB

Starting pitcher Aaron Nola has agreed to a seven-year contract to remain with the Philadelphia Phillies, multiple media outlets reported Sunday.

The deal is worth a reported $172million, as the Phillies keep a cornerstone piece in their rotation.

Nola, 30, is the first major free agent to come off the board in a class that is headlined by two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and includes fellow hurlers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery.

Nola has spent his entire MLB career in Philadelphia and has finished in the top five of Cy Young award voting twice.

The right-hander saw his numbers slip a bit in 2023 with a 4.46 ERA but rebounded in the post-season with three quality starts and an ERA of 2.35 over 23 innings.

Nola and Zack Wheeler make up one of the best and most reliable rotation duos in baseball.

Since 2018, Nola has thrown 1,065 1/3 innings, the second most in the majors over that span. Wheeler is fourth on that list with 1,007 innings pitched.

Nola is one of five pitchers with at least 200 strikeouts in each of the last three seasons.

Nola was the priority in a vital offseason for the Phillies after making it to the World Series in 2022 and the NLCS last season but falling short of a title.

In 235 career starts, Nola has a 3.72 ERA and has 1,582 strikeouts in 1,422 innings pitched.

The Arizona Diamondbacks completed a stunning run to the World Series with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.

Corbin Carroll went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, two runs and two stolen bases as Arizona – the lowest seed in the NL - advanced to the World Series for the first time in 22 years.

They will face the AL champion Texas Rangers, with Game 1 set for Friday in Arlington.

The Diamondbacks rallied from an 0-2 deficit in the NLCS, winning Games 6 and 7 in Philadelphia, where the defending NL champions had been 12-2 over the past two postseasons – including 11-0 in NL playoff games.

After Brandon Pfaadt allowed two runs and struck out seven in four innings, five Arizona relievers combined to pitch one-hit ball over five scoreless innings.

Kevin Ginkel retired Trea Turner and Bryce Harper on flyouts in the seventh after entering with runners on first and second and one out.

Ginkel then struck out the side in the eighth and Paul Seward pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save this postseason.

Arizona took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the fifth as Carroll singled home a run before stealing second and scoring on Gabriel Moreno’s base hit.

Carroll added a sacrifice fly in the seventh to close the scoring.

Alec Bohm hit a solo home run in the second and the Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when he scored on Bryson Stott’s double.

The Arizona Diamondbacks will face the Texas Rangers in the World Series after completing a comeback series win against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Corbin Carroll had three hits as the unheralded young Diamondbacks side, who scraped into the play-offs by clinching the final wildcard spot, won 4-2 in game seven of the National League Championship Series (NLCS).

The Phillies had won the first two games of the NLCS and were 3-2 ahead going into the final two games at home, but the Diamondbacks took early leads in both matches and hung on.

It will be only the second World Series for the Diamondbacks, who won in their only previous appearance in 2001.

The Rangers, who are searching for their first World Series triumph, reached their first Fall Classic since 2011 with a seven-game American League Championship Series win over the Houston Astros.

Both teams finished last in their divisions with more than 100 losses just two seasons ago.

The World Series gets underway on Friday with game one in Arlington, Texas.

Merrill Kelly and four relievers shut down the Philadelphia Phillies' powerful lineup as the Arizona Diamondbacks forced a deciding Game 7 of the National League Championship Series with Monday's 5-1 win.

With the Diamondbacks facing elimination at a hostile Citizens Bank Park, Kelly rose to the occasion by striking out eight over five innings and holding the potent Phillies to one run on three hits. The veteran right-hander ended his stellar Game 6 performance by retiring Philadelphia sluggers Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper in order, with two of the outs via strikeout.

Ryan Thompson, Andrew Saalfrank, Kevin Ginkel and Paul Sewald limited the Phillies to three singles the rest of the way to send the series to Tuesday's winner-take-all game in Philadelphia, where the defending NL champion Phillies outscored Arizona by a 15-3 margin in winning the first two matchups.

The underdog Diamondbacks, the NL's sixth and final playoff seed, will send rookie Brandon Pfaadt to the mound opposite Ranger Suarez in a rematch of Game 3 starters. Arizona won that contest, 2-1, with Pfaadt throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

Tommy Pham and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit back-to-back solo homers in the second inning to back Kelly's strong outing, while Ketel Marte had two hits and two RBIs.

Pham and Gurriel's consecutive blasts of Aaron Nola gave Arizona a 2-0 lead, and the Diamondbacks tacked on another run in the second when Alek Thomas followed with a walk and scored on Evan Longoria's double.

The Phillies got a run back in their half of the second when J.T. Realmuto doubled and scored on Brandon Marsh's single, but provided few offensive threats the rest of the way to lose for the first time in seven home games this post-season.

Philadelphia has homered three times in each of its three wins in this series, but has just one combined in the three losses.

Nola didn't make it out of the fifth inning, as Marte ended his night with a one-out RBI triple that extended Arizona's advantage to 4-1. The right-hander, who went 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA over his first three starts of this year's playoffs, was tagged for four runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Marte also drove in the Diamondbacks' final run with a seventh-innng single that brought in Geraldo Perdomo, who reached on a single and stole second.

The Philadelphia Phillies are one win away from returning to the World Series.

Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and J.T. Realmuto each hit home runs, Zack Wheeler pitched seven strong innings and the Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-1 Saturday to take a 3-2 NLCS lead.

Philadelphia bounced back from losses in Games 3 and 4 with their sixth multi-homer game of this postseason, and Wheeler won a battle of aces against Arizona’s Zac Gallen.

The Phillies jumped on Gallen for two runs in the first, courtesy of a Bryson Stott RBI single and Harper swiping home on a double-steal call.

Harper and Schwarber stayed red hot with solo shots off Gallen in the sixth to expand the lead to 4-0.

Schwarber’s home run was his fifth of the series and was the 20th of his postseason career, pulling him into a tie for fourth all-time with Derek Jeter.

Harper reached base three times and scored three runs, and last year’s NLCS MVP is batting .343 with a 1.282 OPS this postseason.

Arizona cut the lead to 4-1 in the seventh when Game 4 hero Alek Thomas took Wheeler deep, but Realmuto added insurance with his two-run blast off Luis Frias in the eighth.

Wheeler allowed one run and six hits in seven innings while striking out eight and lowering his career postseason ERA to 2.48.

With a healthy cushion late, the Phillies were able to rest key relievers Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel.

After a travel day Sunday, Aaron Nola is slated to start Monday at home as the Phillies look to repeat as National League champions. Merrill Kelly will take the bump for Arizona, hoping to extend the Diamondbacks’ season.

For a second straight night, the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied late to stun the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Championship Series.

Arizona scored three times in the eighth inning, highlighted by Alek Thomas' pinch-hit, game-tying two-run homer, to earn a critical 6-5 win over the defending NL champions in Friday's Game 4 that evened the best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

After losing Games 1 and 2 in Philadelphia by a combined score of 15-3, the Diamondbacks got back into the series with Thursday's 2-1 comeback victory in Game 3, in which they trailed 1-0 in the seventh inning and won it on Ketel Marte's run-scoring single off Phillies closer Craig Kimbrel in the ninth.

Kimbrel came on in the eighth of Game 4 to protect a 5-3 Phillies' lead and again faltered. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. led off Arizona's half of the inning with a double and two batters later, Thomas drove a pitch into Chase Field's swimming pool in right-centre field to tie the contest.

Marte later singled with two out and Kimbrel hit Corbin Carroll with a pitch to set the stage for Gabriel Moreno, who greeted reliever Jose Alvarado with a single to center that drove in Marte for a 6-5 Arizona edge.

Philadelphia got the tying run in scoring position in the ninth when Kyle Schwarber doubled with two out, but Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald struck out Trea Turner to end the game and keep the momentum in Arizona's favour.

In a series where the home team has won every time thus far, the Diamondbacks will host Game 5 on Saturday.

Arizona took a 2-0 lead on Emmanuel Rivera's RBI single in the second inning and Moreno's base hit in the third that also plated Marte, but the battle-tested Phillies responded with five runs over the next four innings to forge ahead.

Schwarber got them on the board in the fourth with his fourth home run of the series and Brandon Marsh doubled home J.T. Realmuto in the fifth to create a 2-2 tie. The Phillies then took advantage of wildness and a defensive miscue by the young Diamondbacks to score twice more in the sixth.

Andrew Saalfrank, one of eight Arizona pitchers used on the night, walked Schwarber, Turner and Bryce Harper in succession to load the bases for Alec Bohm, who delivered an infield single to send home Schwarber with the go-ahead run. Third baseman Rivera threw errantly to home plate on the play, allowing Turner to score as well and put Philadelphia ahead 4-2.

The Phillies tacked on another run when Johan Rojas tripled in the seventh and scored on Turner's sacrifice fly.

Both Schwarber and Bohm had two hits and an RBI for the Phillies. Moreno finished 2 for 3 with two RBIs for Arizona, while Marte had two hits and scored twice.

Kyle Schwarber hit a pair of home runs to back Aaron Nola’s stellar start and the Philadelphia Phillies rolled to a 10-0 rout of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday for a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.

Trea Turner also went deep and J. T. Realmuto drove in three runs to help the Phillies improve to 7-1 in these playoffs, including 6-0 at home.

Philadelphia will try to move closer to a second straight World Series appearance when the series shifts to Arizona for Game 3 on Thursday.

Nola gave up three hits over six innings without a walk and struck out seven. He is 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA in three playoff starts this season.

Turner’s one-out home run in the first off Merrill Kelly got Philadelphia started and Schwarber extended the lead in the third with his first blast of the night.

The Phillies tacked on four runs in the sixth and knocked out Kelly.

Schwarber led off with another home run and Turner walked before Kelly got the next two outs. Joe Mantiply relieved and surrendered Bryson Stott’s single and Realmuto followed with a two-run double into the gap in left-centre.

Brandon Marsh then doubled home Realmuto for a 6-0 advantage.

Alec Bohm had a two-run double, Realmuto singled home another run and Nick Castellanos added a sacrifice fly in Philadelphia’s four-run seventh.

The Phillies have hit .315 with 28 runs and 15 homers in the past four games.

Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos all homered to stake the Philadelphia Phillies to an early lead, and the defending National League champions held on for a 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Monday's Game 1 of the NL Championship Series.

The three solo homers helped back a solid six-inning start from Zack Wheeler as the Phillies handed the surprising Diamondbacks their first loss of this year's post-season. Arizona began the playoffs with five straight wins, including a three-game sweep of the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the previous round.

Harper added an RBI single on his 31st birthday to help provide Philadelphia a 5-0 lead as Wheeler held Arizona to just one hit through the first five innings.

Schwarber started the power surge by leading off the bottom of the first inning with his first homer of this postseason, and Harper made it 2-0 two batters later with his fourth homer in his last five games.

Castellanos, who homered twice in each of the final two games of Philadelphia's division series win over the Atlanta Braves, went deep again an inning afterward to pad the lead.

All three long balls came off Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen, who surrendered all five Philadelphia runs and eight hits over five innings.

The Phillies increased the margin when Trea Turner doubled in the third and scored on Harper's single, and the lead grew to 5-0 when Harper walked in the fifth and later came home on J.T. Realmuto's two-out single.

Wheeler, meanwhile, retired 15 straight Arizona hitters after permitting a single to Corbin Carroll to open the game. That streak ended when Evan Longoria led off the sixth with a single and Geraldo Perdomo followed with a two-run homer to get the Diamondbacks on the board.

The Phillies ace finished with eight strikeouts and yielded just three hits along with the two runs.

Seranthony Dominguez relieved Wheeler in the seventh and committed an error that led to an unearned run which brought Arizona within 5-3, but Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel held the Diamondbacks scoreless over the final 2 1/3 innings.

Game 2 will take place Tuesday in Philadelphia, with the Phillies sending out Aaron Nola and Merrill Kelly getting the call for the Diamondbacks.

Nick Castellanos hit a pair of home runs for the second straight game and Trea Turner also went deep as the Philadelphia Phillies held off the 104-win Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Thursday to book a return trip to the NL Championship Series.

The Phillies eliminated the Braves for the second straight season and will next face surprising Arizona, which is 5-0 in these playoffs after sweeping the Dodgers.

Castellanos continued his power stroke after he hit two of the Phillies’ six home runs in Wednesday’s win, belting solo shots off 20-game winner Spencer Strider in the fourth and sixth innings.

He became the first player to hit multiple homers in consecutive playoff games.

Turner went 4 for 4 and fell a triple shy of the cycle, with his blast in the fifth giving Philadelphia a 2-1 lead.

The teams with the five best regular-season records – Atlanta, Baltimore, Dodgers, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee – all failed to reach the LCS.

Ranger Suarez allowed one run and three hits over five innings before five Philadelphia relievers limited the Braves to two hits over the final four innings.

Seranthony Dominguez got the first two outs in the sixth and Jose Alvarado worked around two walks to pitch a scoreless inning.

He got help from center fielder Johan Rojas, who tracked down Ronald Acuna Jr.’s drive to the wall in left centre with the bases loaded to end the seventh.

Gregory Soto got the final out of the eighth but walked Marcell Ozuna to open the ninth and gave up Sean Murphy’s single to put runners on the corners.

But Matt Strahm retired the next three batters, including a game-ending strikeout on pinch-hitter Vaughn Grissom.

Sonny Gray and five relievers combined on a shutout and the Minnesota Twins advanced in the postseason for the first time in 21 years with a 2-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday.

Minnesota, which ended an 18-game playoff losing streak with a 3-1 win in Game 1, completed the sweep and moved on to face the defending World Series champion Astros in the best-of-five AL Division Series, starting Saturday in Houston.

The Twins snapped a nine-round losing streak that started with an ALCS defeat to the Angels in 2002. The Atlanta Braves (2001-2019) and Chicago Cubs (1910-1998) share the all-time mark with 10 consecutive series lost.

The Blue Jays lost their seventh straight playoff game, leaving nine runners on base in each game.

All the game’s offense came in the bottom of the fourth.

Royce Lewis drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Max Kepler’s infield single against reliever Yusei Kikuchi.

After pinch-hitter Donovan Solano walked to load the bases, Carlos Correa singled home a run. Willi Castro then hit into a double play to make it 2-0.

Gray allowed five hits over five innings with two walks and six strikeouts.

Brock Stewart and Griffin Jax each worked one inning and Jhoan Duran struck out the side in the ninth to trigger the celebration.

Gallen, Diamondbacks complete sweep of Brewers

Ketel Marte highlighted a four-run sixth with a two-run single and the Arizona Diamondbacks finished a sweep of the NL Central champion Milwaukee Brewers with a 5-2 victory.

Two years after losing 110 games, the Diamondbacks advanced to the NL Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Zac Gallen allowed two first-inning runs but settled down to toss six solid innings before Arizona’s bullpen finished with three scoreless frames, the final three outs coming from Paul Sewald.

Milwaukee has lost nine of its last 10 playoff games, a stretch that started with a Game 7 home loss to the Dodgers in the 2018 NLCS.

Freddy Peralta held Arizona hitless for 4 2/3 innings before Alek Thomas homered to make it 2-1.

The Diamondbacks knocked out Peralta and grabbed a 5-2 lead with four runs in the sixth.

After Marte singled home a pair of runs, the Diamondbacks got another run on Abner Uribe’s wild pitch and extended the advantage on Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s RBI single.

Stott hits slam as Phillies sweep

Bryson Stott hit the second grand slam in Phillies postseason history and Aaron Nola was masterful on the mound as Philadelphia rolled to a 7-1 win over the Miami Marlins for a two-game sweep.

J.T. Realmuto also went deep, and the Phillies will face the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS for the second straight season after last year’s series win in four games.

Nola limited Miami to three hits over seven scoreless innings, getting an inning-ending double play in the fifth.

Already leading 3-0, Stott’s blast off Andrew Nardi in the sixth all but assured the Phillies of advancing.

Rangers finish sweep of punchless Rays

Adolis Garcia and rookie Evan Carter homered to back Nathan Eovaldi’s stellar start as the Texas Rangers secured a spot in the AL Division Series with a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rangers outscored the Rays 11-1 in a pair of wins and won a postseason series for the first time since 2011, when they reached the World Series.

Texas will open the ALDS on Saturday against the Baltimore Orioles.

Eovaldi gave up six hits over 6 2/3 innings while walking none with eight strikeouts to beat Tampa Bay for the third time this season.

The Rays’ postseason losing streak reached seven straight, as they were bounced in the Wild Card Series for the second consecutive year.

Garcia led off the fourth with a home run against Zach Eflin, igniting a four-run inning.

Leody Tavares singled with two outs, stole second and scored on Josh Jung’s triple. The 20-year-old Carter followed with a home run to right for a 4-0 lead.

The Philadelphia Phillies clinched a return trip to the postseason in thrilling style, as rookie Johan Rojas delivered an RBI single in the 10th inning for a walk-off 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

The defending National League champion Phillies lost the World Series to the Houston Astros last season and now will have a chance to take it one step further.

After Jeff Hoffman worked a scoreless top of the 10th, Rojas’ single up the middle off David Bednar easily scored pinch-runner Cristian Pache and sent the crowd of more than 30,000 fans into a frenzy.

The Phillies celebrated their first clinch of a postseason spot at Citizens Bank Park since Sept. 18, 2011, when they won their fifth straight NL East title.

Brandon Marsh homered for Philadelphia, which is poised to earn the No. 1 wild card and host all games next week in the second year of the wild-card series.

Bryce Harper’s sacrifice fly in the sixth gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead but Bryan Reynolds homered in the seventh and Henry Davis took Craig Kimbrel deep in the eighth to forge a 2-2 tie.

Aaron Nola limited the Pirates to one run and four hits over 6 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts.

Pittsburgh’s Mitch Keller took a no-hitter into the sixth before Marsh’s 11th home run opened the scoring.

Suzuki commits costly error, Cubs blow 6-run lead in loss

Seiya Suzuki dropped a fly ball in the eighth inning to allow the tying and go-ahead runs to score as the Chicago Cubs squandered a six-run lead in a disheartening 7-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The loss gave Milwaukee the NL Central title and dropped the Cubs a game behind Arizona for the second of three NL wild cards.

Chicago is one-half game ahead of fourth-place Miami, which was rained out at the Mets.

Ronald Acuna Jr hit his 41st home run – a two-run shot - in the seventh to pull Atlanta within 6-5 after the Braves scored three in the sixth on Kevin Pillar’s homer, Matt Olson’s RBI single and Marcell Ozuna’s double.

Pilllar’s drive made the Braves the third team in major league history (2019 Twins, 2019 Yankees) with 300 home runs in a season.

Kirby stifles Astros in Mariners’ win

George Kirby pitched six scoreless innings and the Seattle Mariners took advantage of three Houston errors to snap a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Astros.

Kirby allowed five hits with one walk and four strikeouts to win his second straight start.

Cal Raleigh had two hits and one RBI and Ty France homered to help Seattle pull within one-half game of Houston in the race for the final AL wild card.

Jose Altuve had three hits for the Astros, who tied a season high with three errors and dropped to 9-14 this month.

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.

The Atlanta Braves continued their dominance of the NL East with their sixth straight division title, beating the Philadelphia Phillies 4-1 behind Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 17th win on Wednesday.

Atlanta leads the majors with 96 wins and locked up another NL East crown in its 146th game, the second-quickest clinch in the divisional era.

The division title was the Braves’ record 26th, two more than the Yankees or Dodgers.

Strider limited the Phillies to one run and four hits in seven innings, striking out nine to raise his MLB-best total to 259.

Brad Hand fanned two in the eighth and Kirby Yates pitched the ninth for his fifth save.

Austin Riley gave Strider all the support he needed with a two-run homer – his 35th - in the first inning off Christopher Sanchez.

Riley added a sacrifice fly in the third and Kevin Pillar had an RBI double in the fourth.

Sanchez pitched into the eighth inning and struck out a career-high 10.

Philadelphia remained 1 ½ games ahead of the Cubs in the race for the top wild-card spot in the NL.

Montgomery pitches surging Rangers past Blue Jays

Jordan Montgomery and two relievers combined to five-hit the Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers cruised to their fifth straight win with a 10-0 rout.

Montgomery allowed four hits over seven innings before Martin Perez and Ian Kennedy each worked one inning.

Nathaniel Lowe and Mitch Garver hit three-run homers and Robbie Grossman added a two-run shot to help Texas remain one game behind AL West-leading Houston.

The Rangers moved 1 ½ games ahead of the Blue Jays in the wild-card race, sending Toronto to its fourth consecutive loss.

Astros lose combined no-hitter in 9th inning

Hunter Brown and three relievers held the Oakland Athletics hitless for eight innings but the bid for history was broken up with one out in the ninth inning in the Houston Astros’ 6-2 win.

After Ryan Pressly retired Tony Kemp on a groundball to open the ninth, Zach Gelof walked before Ryan Noda grounded a changeup past Pressly and into center field.

Pressly allowed two runs before finishing up the two-hitter as Houston salvaged the series finale against the Athletics, who lost their 100th game.

Yordan Alvarez hit a three-run homer and Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker had solo shots as the Astros remained one game ahead of second-place Texas in the AL West.

Michael Lorenzen made quite the first impression to the Philadelphia Phillies fans.

Lorenzen threw the 14th no-hitter in Phillies' franchise history on Wednesday in Philadelphia's 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals in his first start at Citizens Bank Park in a Phillies' uniform.

Acquired by Philadelphia from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline, Lorenzen struck out five and walked four while throwing a career-high 124 pitches in just his second start for the Phillies (63-52).

He got Dominic Smith to fly out to shallow centre field to record the fourth no-hitter in MLB this season and the first by a Philadelphia pitcher since Cole Hamels in 2015.

Selected to his first All-Star Game this year, the 31-year-old Lorenzen improved to 5-1 with a 1.11 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in six outings since the start of July, which includes his final four appearances for the Tigers.

While Lorenzen shut down Washington (50-65), a couple of Philadelphia batters hit milestone home runs.

Nick Castellanos hit a pair of homers to give him 200 in his career, while Weston Wilson homered in his long-awaited first major league plate appearance.

The 28-year-old rookie had 2,836 plate appearances in the minor leagues before being called up Sunday.

The Phillies have won four of five, scoring seven, eight, eight and nine runs in those victories.

Raleigh's eighth-inning homer powers Mariners to seventh straight win

The Seattle Mariners continued their August surge, extending their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 6-1 win over the visiting San Diego Padres.

The score was tied 1-1 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning before the Mariners (62-52) erupted for five runs, taking the lead on Cal Raleigh's tiebreaking two-run homer with one out.

Mariners top pitching prospect, Emerson Hancock had an impressive major league debut, allowing a run and two hits over five innings.

The 24-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked three, and combined with five Seattle relievers to four-hit the Padres (55-60), who have lost four in a row.

Seattle, meanwhile, has lost just four games since July 20, going a major league-best 15-4 in that span to move a season-high 10 games over .500.

Ohtani earns 10th win as Angels top Giants

Shohei Ohtani picked up his 10th win of the season, yielding one unearned run over six innings of three-hit ball in the Los Angeles Angels' 4-1 victory over the visiting San Francisco Giants.

The major league leader in home runs, Ohtani struck out five and walked three, becoming the first player in MLB history to have multiple seasons with 10 or more homers and 10 or more wins.

The two-way sensation, who won 15 games in 2022, has not allowed a run in 19 innings over his last three starts, lowering his season ERA to 3.17.

Ohtani has been stuck on 40 homers since August 3, and went 0 for 2 with two strikeouts at the plate against the Giants (62-53), though he did walk twice and scored on Mike Moustakas' tiebreaking three-run homer in the sixth inning.

Moustakas had two hits, and has driven in 10 runs in his last seven games for the Angels (58-58), who have won two in a row following a season-high seven-game losing streak.