PITTSBURGH (AP) — Albert Pujols hit two homers to boost his career total to 683, then caught the warmup tosses when catcher Yadier Molina made his first pitching appearance to close out the St. Louis Cardinals’ 18-4 romp over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday.

Molina gave up homers to Yoshi Tsutsugo and Jack Suwinski and four runs while working the ninth inning, eventually completing the Cardinals’ three-game sweep. But it was not all fun and games for St. Louis. Starter Steven Matz lasted only four pitches before being pulled with stiffness in his left shoulder.

After Matz exited, Angel Rondón (1-0) entered to strike out Ke’Bryan Hayes with his first pitch. Rondón allowed just one hit in five innings for his first win in the majors, striking out four and walking three.

Exactly a week after Pujols took the mound for the first time in his big league career, Molina got his turn with St. Louis ahead 18-0. Pujols was behind the plate to warm up his longtime teammate in-between innings.

Harrison Bader also homered for the Cardinals, who had a six-run second against Bryse Wilson (0-3).

Angels 4, Athletics 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a 443-foot leadoff home run and Mike Trout added a solo shot while getting three hits and two RBIs in Los Angeles’ victory over Oakland.

Patrick Sandoval (3-1) struck out seven as he pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning for the Angels, who won the final two games of the weekend series after a four-game skid. Raisel Iglesias pitched the ninth for his 10th save.

Ohtani hit his ninth home run on Cole Irvin’s second pitch, and Trout added an RBI single in the second and his 12th homer in the seventh. Trout, who also doubled in the first, struck out in the eighth to fall a triple short of the cycle for the second time in six days.

Irvin (2-2) yielded three runs on eight hits over six innings for Oakland, which has lost six of eight. The graduate of Anaheim’s Servite High School struck out four with two walks.

Phillies 4, Dodgers 3

(10 innings)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Max Muncy’s two-run fielding error in the 10th capped a wild late-inning sequence and allowed Philadelphia to beat Los Angeles.

With two outs and men on second and third in the 10th, Alec Bohm hit a little dribbler off Evan Phillips (1-2) to Muncy at second for what appeared to be the final out of the inning. But Muncy didn’t field it cleanly, allowing Garrett Stubbs to score the tying run and Roman Quinn to bring in the winning run just ahead of the throw home.

Stubbs had hit his first major league homer to get Philadelphia on the board in the sixth. The Phillies had tied it with two outs in the ninth on Jean Segura’s single to left that scored Nick Castellanos, whose two-out double started the rally.

Corey Knebel (1-3) pitched an inning to get the win.

Mookie Betts and Edwin Rios hit solo home runs for the Dodgers.

Red Sox 8, Mariners 4 (10 innings)

BOSTON (AP) — Franchy Cordero hit a grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the 10th, lifting surging Boston past Seattle.

Trevor Story continued his recent power surge with his fifth homer over the Green Monster in four days and Christian Arroyo added a solo shot for Boston, which posted its season-high fifth straight victory and completed a four-game sweep over Seattle.

Jake Diekman (1-0) earned the win for the Red Sox, who trailed 4-3 when pinch-hitter Christian Vázquez singled against Andrés Muñoz (1-2) in the 10th to advance automatic runner Bobby Dalbec. After Kiké Hernández hit a tying single, Vázquez was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Dylan Moore on Rafael Devers’ single, a play upheld by review.

Following an intentional walk and Story’s flyout, Cordero won it with his drive to right on 0-2 pitch.

Adam Frazier had a go-ahead single in the 10th inning for Seattle after Eugenio Suárez’s homer tied it with two outs in the ninth. Frazier also had a two-run homer for the Mariners, who have lost six of seven and 19 of 25.

Mets 2, Rockies 0

DENVER (AP) — Francisco Lindor broke a scoreless tie with a single in the sixth inning, Taijuan Walker and three relievers combined on a six-hitter and New York extended its streak of rebounding from losses by beating Colorado.

The Mets dropped the second game of a doubleheader Saturday, which led to them win their franchise-best 14th straight game following a loss. By taking two of three, New York also captured its 11th series win this season.

This marked the first time Colorado has been shut out at Coors Field since Aug. 31, 2020, against San Diego.

Walker (2-0) was in complete command over seven stellar innings, scattering five hits and striking out six. Adam Ottavino, Joely Rodríguez and Edwin Díaz finished it off. Díaz got Brian Serven to fly out and pick up save No. 10.

Austin Gomber (2-4) turned in his longest outing of the season, throwing seven efficient innings. He allowed two runs, seven hits and struck out two.

Padres 10, Giants 1

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Manny Machado set a career high and matched a franchise record with four extra-base hits, and surging San Diego completed a three-game sweep of San Francisco.

On a day when every San Diego starter had at least one hit and San Francisco used outfielder Luis González to pitch, Machado’s big afternoon included three doubles, a triple and two RBIs. The five-time All-Star was also intentionally walked. He’s the eighth player in Padres history to have four extra-base hits in one game.

MacKenzie Gore (3-1), who pitched in relief Tuesday, worked six innings of three-hit ball and allowed one run. The left-hander had six strikeouts and walked two. González pitched two scoreless innings and allowed one hit.

Alex Wood (3-3) allowed five runs and eight hits in three innings.

Marlins 4, Braves 3

MIAMI (AP) — Sandy Alcantara pitched a six-hitter and Miami beat Atlanta.

The 26-year-old-Alcantara (4-2) limited the Braves to three unearned runs and six hits. He walked two and struck out seven for his fourth career complete game.

Atlanta star outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. had two of the hits against Alcantara, extending his on-base streak to 29 games.

Travis d’Arnaud’s at-bat to lead off the ninth was extended after Miami first baseman Jesús Aguilar dropped a popup. D’Arnaud doubled and scored on Ozzie Albies’ double to make it 4-2. Albies advanced to third on a fly out to right and scored on Austin Riley’s RBI groundout. Alcantara got Dansby Swanson on a pop-up to catcher Jacob Stallings to complete his 115-pitch outing.

Ian Anderson (3-3) allowed four runs, seven hits, walked two and struck out six in six plus innings.

Marlins second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. was removed in the third because of left hamstring tightness.

Astros 5, Rangers 2

HOUSTON (AP) — Jose Altuve hit his fifth leadoff home run of the season and a double, José Urquidy tied a career high with 10 strikeouts and Houston defeated Texas.

Urquidy (4-1) allowed six hits and one run in a season-high 6 2/3 innings as the Astros won for the third time in this four-game series. Urquidy improved to 4-0 in five career starts against the Rangers and has won three straight games overall.

Blake Taylor gave up a single to Kole Calhoun to start the ninth before plunking Mitch Garver, who homered earlier. He was replaced by closer Ryan Pressly with one out and Sam Huff singled to load the bases. Brad Miller lined a single to center field to score Calhoun and cut the lead to 5-2.

But pinch-hitter Jonah Heim grounded into a double play to end the game and give Pressly his sixth save.

Texas starter Taylor Hearn (2-3) yielded six hits and four runs in 4 2/3 innings for the loss.

Nationals 8, Brewers 2

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Lane Thomas hit two RBI doubles and Washington broke out of its hitting slump in a victory over Milwaukee, which lost Freddy Peralta to shoulder tightness in the fourth inning.

Peralta (3-2) left after allowing a run-scoring double to Thomas during the Nationals’ six-run outburst in the fourth inning. That marked the Nationals’ highest-scoring inning of the season and matched the biggest run total the Brewers had allowed in a single inning this year.

The Nationals entered the day having dropped seven of their past nine, and they had scored a total of six runs in the seven losses. But they had an early 8-0 lead Sunday and cruised to the win.

Milwaukee got a solo homer from Tyrone Taylor and an RBI single by Andrew McCutchen in the fifth.

Nationals starter Aaron Sanchez (3-3) struck out one and gave up seven hits, two runs and two walks in five innings.