Daylen Lile finished a triple short of the cycle, Zack Littell pitched five scoreless innings and the Nationals beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 on Friday night in Washington to open a three-game series.

Lile has four homers in his past four games, including two on Tuesday in Cincinnati.

Littell, signed as a free agent in March, allowed two hits while striking out three with two walks in his best start of the season. He improved to 2-4 and lowered his ERA from 6.94 to 6.10.

Andrew Alvarez, recalled from Triple-A Rochester on Friday, relieved Littell and pitched into the ninth, then left after the first two runners reached base. Gus Varland walked pinch hitter Leody Taveras to load the bases, but struck out Colby Mayo and retired Jeremiah Jackson on a sacrifice fly.

Richard Lovelady came on and gave up an RBI single to Gunnar Henderson and walked Taylor Ward before striking out Adley Rutschman for his second save.

Baltimore starter Shane Baz (1-5) went seven solid innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He struck out four and walked three while throwing a season-high 108 pitches.

In the second inning, a two-out walk by Colton Cowser gave the Orioles runners on first and second, but Littell struck out Mayo.

Lile doubled leading off the bottom half and Jorbit Vivas drew a one-out walk, but Baz retired Drew Millas and Jacob Young.

In the fourth, CJ Abrams singled, went to third on Lile’s single and scored on Brady House’s sacrifice fly to short right.

Henderson’s double off the right field wall put runners on second and third with two outs in the fifth, but Littell got Ward to ground out.

In the sixth, Curtis Mead walked, then with one out, Lile homered to right on an 0-1 pitch to make it 3-0.

Mayo singled with two outs in the seventh and Jackson doubled him to third. Alvarez struck out Henderson to end the threat.

James Wood lined a single off shortstop Henderson’s foot with one out in the seventh, but Baz ended his night by retiring Luis Garcia and Mead on fly balls.

–Field Level Media

Cedric Mullins homered among his four hits and scored three times, fueling the Tampa Bay Rays to a 7-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Yandy Diaz belted a two-run homer and Taylor Walls drove in three runs to lift the Rays to their 11th straight win at home and 17th in their last 20 games overall.

Jesse Scholtens (4-2) relieved opener Ian Seymour and allowed one run on five hits in five innings.

Connor Norby launched a solo homer in the second inning and Jakob Marsee did the same in the sixth for the Marlins, who have lost three of their last four games.

Jonathan Aranda worked a two-out walk in the first inning before Diaz deposited a first-pitch sweeper from Janson Junk (2-4) over the wall in left field. Diaz’s homer was his sixth of the season and first since May 1.

Norby halved the deficit in the second after sending a 1-1 fastball from Seymour over the wall in left-center field.

Tampa Bay tacked on two more runs in its half of the second, courtesy of Hunter Feduccia’s sacrifice fly to deep left field and Mullins’ head-first slide to beat the throw from first baseman Christopher Morel.

Walls’ grounder set up that play and his double to right field in the fourth inning plated a pair of runs to extend the Rays’ lead to 6-1.

Marsee chipped into the deficit by sending a 2-1 fastball from Scholtens over the wall in right field before Mullins responded in the bottom of the sixth. He deposited a 1-1 slider from Junk over the wall in right field for his third homer of the season.

Junk fell to 0-2 in his last three outings after permitting seven runs on 10 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — There’s a bottleneck on the PGA Championship leaderboard after two rounds.

Fifteen players are within two shots of the lead, including co-leaders Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley at 4 under par. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it’s just the third major championship in history with 15 or more players that close to the lead after 36 holes.

Sportsbooks didn’t have to think hard to sort out their favorite. It’s World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, and it isn’t particularly close.

As of Friday night, Scheffler was the +340 favorite to win the PGA at DraftKings Sportsbook and the +375 favorite at BetMGM, head and shoulders above the field despite posting a 1-over 71 Friday and sitting two back of the lead.

Scheffler is the defending champion, his 2025 victory at Quail Hollow Club serving as the third of his four career major titles. He is a known quantity to sportsbooks and golf fans alike, having won 20 times on the PGA Tour since 2022.

Second on the board at both sportsbooks was Cameron Young, the third-ranked player in the world, who also sits at 2 under with Scheffler and five others.

Young was a trendy pick entering the week and had the third-shortest odds at most books. He’s now +900 to win at BetMGM and a more distant +970 behind Scheffler at DraftKings.

Sportsbooks also have more faith in Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg before finally coming to one of the co-leaders, McNealy, as the fourth favorite.

It likely has something to do with both their form and their career resumes. While Aberg has yet to win a major, the 26-year-old does own two PGA Tour wins and is widely seen as one of the sport’s top prospects. Aberg came on strong late in the second round with birdies at Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 16 to leave him at 2 under.

McNealy, whose only win on tour came at the 2024 RSM Classic, reached 6 under par Friday afternoon before a pair of poor bogeys over his final four holes set him back.

DraftKings has Aberg at +1175 to win and McNealy at +1250. At BetMGM, McNealy made a late move to tie Aberg for third-shortest odds at +1200.

Smalley, who has no professional wins on his resume, is at +1400 on BetMGM, tied with Chris Gotterup, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Min Woo Lee of Australia (each of whom are 3 under). Smalley is even further back on DraftKings’ board, which installed Spaniard Jon Rahm as the fifth favorite at +1275 despite a late stumble putting him three back at 1 under.

Smalley has +1550 odds to win at DraftKings, No. 9 on the board.

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media