ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Francisco Mejía homered and drove in three runs, helping the Tampa Bay Rays beat Baltimore 5-3 on Saturday for their 14th straight win over the Orioles.

The two-time defending AL East champions improved to 20-1 against the Orioles since the start of 2021, and the 14-game winning streak that began last July is the longest against a single opponent in Rays history.

Mejía’s pinch-hit, eighth-inning sacrifice fly drove in the go-ahead run in Tampa Bay’s 2-1 season-opening victory over the Orioles on Friday. He started at catcher Saturday, delivering a RBI single in the second and a two-run homer off Jordan Lyles in the third.

Wander Franco, hitless after singling three times in the opener, finished a three-run second inning with a hard-hit sacrifice fly for Tampa Bay, which has outscored Baltimore 157-75 in the last 21 games between the teams.

Reliever Josh Fleming inherited a three-run lead and worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing three hits and striking out five. Andrew Kittredge yielded a run-scoring double to Jorge Mateo in the ninth before getting the save.

Meanwhile, Lyles allowed five runs and seven hits over five innings. The Rays hit him hard from the start, with nine batted balls registering exit velocities of over 100 miles per hour in the first four innings, including Franco’s line-drive sacrifice fly and another ball the 21-year-old launched to the wall in center field.

WHITE SOX 5, TIGERS 2: Dylan Cease remained unbeaten in 10 career starts against Detroit and Yasmani Grandal hit a two-run homer that led Chicago to a win on the road.

Cease allowed one run and two hits in five-plus innings with eight strikeouts and three walks. He is 9-0 against the Tigers.

Aaron Bummer gave up singles to Miguel Cabrera and Jonathan Schoop starting the ninth, then struck out Eric Haase, Spencer Torkelson and pinch-hitter Dustin Garneau for his first save.

Chicago’s A.J. Pollock left because of right hamstring tightness after he singled leading off the third and took a wide turn at first. Pollock is off to a 4-for-7 start since he was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 1 for closer Craig Kimbrel.

Eloy Jiménez hit a two-run single with two outs in the first. José Abreu had two hits and scored twice for the White Sox, who rebounded from a 5-3 defeat on Opening Day.

MARINERS 4, TWINS 3: Ty France had three hits and drove in two runs, including a go-ahead single in the ninth inning that lifted Seattle to a win in Minneapolis.

Byron Buxton gave the Twins a 3-2 lead with a two-run homer in the eighth against Andrés Muñoz, who got his first big league decision since 2019 with San Diego.

Julio Rodríguez, a 21-year-old rookie, doubled opening the ninth off Tyler Duffey for his first major league hit. He scored on a double by Adam Frazier, who came around on France’s single.

Diego Castillo struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save, and the Mariners opened the season with back-to-back wins for the first time since 2019.

BLUE JAYS 4, RANGERS 3: Pinch-hitter Santiago Espinal doubled home the go-ahead run in the sixth inning, Bo Bichette hit a solo home run and Toronto won its second straight at home.

George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. each had two hits, and Bichette scored twice as the Blue Jays improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2016.

Facing left-hander Brett Martin, Espinal hit for Cavan Biggio with a runner at first and two out. Speedy Raimel Tapia scored without a play at the plate on Espinal’s double to left-center.

Blue Jays right-hander Trevor Richards worked one inning for the win. Yimi García pitched the seventh, Tim Mayza worked the eighth, and Jordan Romano finished for his second save.

Romano has converted 25 consecutive save chances, matching Tom Henke’s team record.

ROYALS 1, GUARDIANS 0: Prized rookie Bobby Witt Jr. made an eye-popping play at third base to nail a runner at the plate in the top of the 10th inning, then Adalberto Mondesi’s RBI single in the bottom half lifted Kansas City to a win at home.

With a runner at third and one out in the Cleveland 10th, Oscar Mercado hit a hard grounder down the line that looked like it might break the scoreless tie.

But the 21-year-old Witt, the top-rated prospect in the majors, skidded to his knees to the snare the ball. All in one motion, he made an off-balance throw home to catcher Salvador Perez, who tagged out Owen Miller.

Kyle Isabel began the bottom half as the automatic runner at second base and moved to third on a single by Hunter Dozier. Mondesi followed with his single to center off Emmanuel Clase.

Collin Snider pitched one inning in his major league debut. The Royals improved to 2-0 with their second win over the Guardians.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

CUBS 9, BREWERS 0: Seiya Suzuki drove in three runs for his first big league RBI and Chicago beat visiting Milwaukee for a testy win during which five batters were hit by pitches and the benches cleared.

The teams exchanged words but no punches in the eighth after Andrew McCutchen was hit by a pitch from Cubs reliever Keegan Thompson, who was ejected for the first time in his career.

As McCutchen slowly headed to first base while looking at Thompson, players from both bullpens ran onto the field.

Three Cubs were hit by pitches. Ian Happ exited for a pinch-runner in the seventh after he was struck on the knee on a pitch by Trevor Gott. Brandon Woodruff hit Willson Contreras in the fourth and Nick Madrigal in the first. Contreras also was hit by a pitch in Thursday’s season opener.

Ethan Roberts made his major league debut in the ninth for Chicago and hit Christian Yelich with a pitch.

CARDINALS 6, PIRATES 2: Nolan Arenado hit three doubles and a single, Paul DeJong homered and St. Louis, minus its rookie manager, won at home.

Oliver Marmol, a winner in his debut Thursday as a major league manager, was at Busch Stadium before the game but was diagnosed with the flu. He tested negative for COVID-19 and left the ballpark, and bench coach Skip Schumaker filled in.

Arenado drove in three runs in his second four-hit game since being traded to St. Louis prior to the 2021 season.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas threw a career-high 41 pitches in the first inning, but gave up just one run in that span. He was pulled in the fourth.

Relievers Kody Whitley, Nick Wittgren, T.J. McFarland and Ryan Helsley and Giovanny Gallegos combined to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

MARLINS 2, GIANTS 1: Jesús Sánchez hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, and Miami held on in San Francisco despite a strong outing from starter Carlos Rodón in his Giants debut.

The All-Star left-hander struck out 12 and allowed one run in five innings. His Ks are the most by a Giants pitcher through five innings since at least 1974.

Rodón, who signed a two-year deal with San Francisco in March after spending the past seven seasons with the Chicago White Sox, also generated 24 swinging strikes – tied for fourth-most by a starting pitcher through five innings in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). He also made a strong defensive play in the fourth when he fielded Miguel Rojas’ slow grounder, spun and threw to first base for the out.

Miami starter Pablo López, winless in six starts against the Giants, retired 14 of the first 15 and allowed one run in five innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.

METS 5, NATIONALS 0: Pete Alonso twirled his bat when his first career grand slam broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning, then put his index fingers to his mouth as if hushing the crowd after celebrating with teammates near the plate, propelling New York to a victory at Washington.

Chris Bassitt cruised through six innings in his Mets debut, and New York won its third straight to open Buck Showalter’s tenure as manager. The Mets have outscored Washington 17-4 and go for a series sweep Sunday.

About 48 hours removed from getting his lower lip bloodied by a pitch – part of a string of Mets who have been plunked during the season’s first three games, leading to a benches-clearing interruption Friday – Alonso sent a 91 mph fastball from Joan Adon over the fence in left on a 2-1 count.

BRAVES 2, REDS 1: Kyle Wright picked up a World Series ring along with many of his Atlanta teammates, then pitched two-hit ball over six scoreless innings to lead the Braves over visiting Cincinnati.

Atlanta won its second straight following a loss on Opening Day.

Wright struck out six and walked one. He retired 10 consecutive batters before walking Tommy Pham to open the seventh.

A.J. Minter got three straight outs, Darren O’Day pitched a perfect eighth and Will Smith got the save, allowing Tommy Pham’s two-out walk and Joey Votto’s RBI single before Aristides Aquino popped out.

INTERLEAGUE

PHILLIES 4, ATHELTICS 2: Kyle Gibson struck out 10 and tossed two-hit ball over seven shutout innings to lead Philadelphia to a win at home.

Nick Castellanos hit his first home run for the Phillies, and Rhys Hoskins and Jean Segura hit back-to-back homers to support Gibson. Gibson threw a tidy 82 pitches and walked none in his fourth-career double-digit strikeout game.

Jose Alvarado gave up Stephen Piscotty’s RBI single in the eighth to make it 4-1. Corey Knebel allowed Jed Lowrie’s RBI single in the ninth and issued the first walk by a Phillies pitcher this season, but still picked up his first save.