Baseball-Highlights of Monday's MLB games

May 2 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Monday's Major League Baseball games. Cubs 7, Pirates 2 Jason Hammel raised his record to 4-0 and Anthony Rizzo hit a pair of doubles as the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 7-2 on Monday night. Hammel's ERA rose to 1.24 after entering the game with a National League-leading 0.75 mark as he gave up two runs and five hits in five-plus innings with three strikeouts and one walk. His streak of five straight starts of allowing one run or fewer ended. The Cubs improved to 18-6, tops in the major leagues, and avoided losing consecutive games for the first time this season while winning for the fifth time in six games. Mets 4, Braves 1 Bartolo Colon threw eight shutout innings Monday night to earn his 220th career victory -- second all-time among pitchers born in the Dominican Republic -- and the New York Mets hit three homers during a four-run first inning before cruising to a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field. Colon allowed seven hits and walked none while striking out seven in breaking a second-place tie with Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez. The all-time leader in wins by Dominican-born pitchers is Hall of Famer Juan Marichal, who earned 243 victories. Rangers 2, Blue Jays 1 Nomar Mazara and Brett Nicholas hit solo home runs as Texas defeated Toronto. Mazara, whose home run in the eighth inning broke a 1-1 tie, also threw out a runner at the plate from right field in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the lead. Giants 9, Reds 6 Brandon Crawford hit a go-ahead, three-run home run in the seventh inning as the San Francisco Giants rallied for a 9-6 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a three-game series Monday night at Great American Ball Park. Reliever Vin Mazzaro (1-0) earned the victory in his debut for the Giants, and Santiago Casilla recorded his fifth save. Brewers 8, Angels 5 Ryan Braun had three hits and Jimmy Nelson struck out six as the Milwaukee Brewers posted consecutive victories for the first time in two weeks, defeating the Los Angeles Angels, 8-5, Monday night at Miller Park. Braun continued his early-season tear, posting his second consecutive three-hit game to raise his average to .372 on the year, while the Brewers combined for 14 hits in all. Cardinals 10, Phillies 3 Shut down over the weekend by Washington pitching, the St. Louis Cardinals bounced back in a big way on Monday to snap the Philadelphia Phillies' longest winning streak in four years. Belting five homers in a game for the second time this year at Busch Stadium, St. Louis broke open a tie game in the sixth inning and routed Philadelphia 10-3. Twins 6, Astros 2 Jose Berrios recorded his first career victory and was backed by the slugging of Brian Dozier and Byung Ho Park as the Minnesota Twins took the opener of their three-game series with the Houston Astros 6-2 on Monday night at Minute Maid Park. Dozier finished 3-for-5 with a double and two runs while Park went 2-for-3 with a walk and his first career triple to carry the Twins (8-18) offensively. Minnesota won on the road for the second time this season. Nationals 2, Royals 0 Gio Gonzalez kept the Royals off balance through six innings to lead the Washington Nationals to a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals Monday in the opener of an inter-league series. Gonzalez scattered four hits and outdueled Kansas City starter Edinson Volquez in front of 32,394 at Kauffman Stadium. The Nationals got all the runs they'd need in the first inning, then watched the Royals flail against Gonzalez (2-1) and the Washington bullpen. The Nationals never allowed a runner to reach third base. Four Nationals relievers threw three scoreless innings. Jonathan Papelbon pitched the ninth for his ninth save. Mariners 4, A's 3 Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz each had three hits, and the Seattle Mariners withstood a two-homer game by Khris Davis to defeat the Oakland A's 4-3 at the Oakland Coliseum on Monday night. Davis hit a solo home run in the second inning and a two-run shot in the seventh. After an ice-cold start for his new team this season, the former Milwaukee Brewers outfielder now has five home runs, all in the past 13 games. Padres 2, Rockies 1 The Padres scored two first-inning runs before making an out, and James Shields and three relievers pitched San Diego to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in the opener of a three-game series at Petco Park. Shields (1-4) held the Rockies to one run on nine hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out five. His 3.23 ERA is offset by the second-lowest run support average in the major leagues. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)