Hammel and Rizzo help Cubs down Pirates

NEW YORK — 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 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, top 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 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 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, 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 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. In other games it was: Twins 6, Astros 2; Nationals 2, Royals 0; Mariners 4, A’s 3; Padres 2, Rockies 1.