PHILADELPHIA — Matheus Cunha rewarded manager Carlo Ancelotti’s confidence with his first two World Cup goals as Brazil cruised to a 3-0 victory over Haiti on Friday, a result that was tempered only by Raphinha’s early injury exit.

Vinicius Junior also scored and was the creator on both of Cunha’s tallies.

An apparent leg injury forced Raphinha out in the 40th minute.

Overall, it was a much-improved effort from the Selecao’s 1-1 draw against Morocco to open the tournament and a result that puts Brazil (1-0-1, 4 points) above the Atlas Lions in Group C on goal differential.

Haiti (0-2-0, 0 points) became the first team eliminated from the World Cup with the loss and Morocco’s 1-0 win over Scotland earlier Friday.

Even so, they clearly enjoyed their second appearance at the tournament and first since 1974, and despite a lineup that suggested a low block, showed admirable endeavor before a vocal red-and-blue-clad minority.

Center back Ricardo Ade came closest to scoring for the Caribbeans after halftime when his flashing, near-post header from a corner forced Alisson into a strong reaction save.

Cunha was one of two changes by Ancelotti, slotted in for Igor Thiago at center forward. With the Manchester United man involved, the Brazilian attack looked much more connected than six days prior, albeit against a lesser opponent.

Eventually, they punished the Haitians’ enthusiasm after a bright first 15 minutes from the underdogs.

On Brazil’s first goal, Vinicius cut inside from the left and snapped a shot that Haitian goalkeeper Johny Placide could only parry with a strong palm.

Center back Hannes Delcroix attempted to clear the danger, but Cunha pressured and ultimately forced the ball across the line in the 23rd minute for just his second career goal for the Selecao.

That connection again surfaced in the 36th minute on a counterattack stemming from a Haitian turnover.

Vinicius slipped a ball into the path of Cunha’s well-timed diagonal run, and while Cunha appeared to stumble, he still struck a strong finish into the top corner as Placide leaned in the wrong direction.

It wasn’t clear what led to Raphinha dropping to his haunches moments after the second goal, on a night when he had one apparent early goal ruled offside and another glaring miss nullified by a raised flag.

Vinicius’ tally came just before the halftime whistle when he ran onto Lucas Paqueta’s ball over the top and finished low past the charging Placide.

–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media

Jose Altuve slugged a game-altering three-run homer and Jeremy Pena delivered a multi-homer game as the Houston Astros topped the visiting Cleveland Guardians 9-3 on Friday.

The Astros improved to 16-10 since May 22 and moved within five games of .500 for the first time since April 17. Altuve and Pena went a combined 5-for-9 with seven RBIs.

Guardians starter Tanner Bibee (2-8) allowed an unearned run in the first inning and a solo homer to Pena in the third that enabled the Astros to close within 3-2. He departed with one out and two runners on base in the sixth, and Altuve immediately took advantage.

Altuve launched a first-pitch fastball from Cleveland reliever Matt Festa into the left field seats for his eighth homer and a 5-3 lead.

Pena homered again leading off the seventh, and Altuve added an RBI double later in that frame. Guardians right-hander Daniel Espino surrendered both of those runs.

Pena smacked his fifth and sixth home runs for his third career multi-homer game.

Astros right-hander Tatsuya Imai (4-3) produced a quality start despite a lamentable third inning.

Imai struck out three batters in the top of the first but also surrendered singles to Travis Bazzana and Brayan Rocchio, foreshadowing his troubles with those hitters two innings later. Imai struck out three batters again in the second while working around a two-out single from Patrick Bailey.

Bazzana keyed a three-run third with a leadoff double. Rocchio drove in Bazzana with a one-out double, tying the score at 1-1. Rhys Hoskins then drilled a 1-1 slider from Imai out to left, his seventh home run covering 376 feet and spotting the Guardians a 3-1 lead.

Imai buckled down following Hoskins’ blast. He retired the final two batters of the third to ignite a string of 11 consecutive batters retired through the completion of his outing. Imai matched his season high by working six innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts.

Bibee wound up charged with four runs, three earned, on four hits in 5 1/3 innings. He fanned seven and walked two.

–Field Level Media

Seth Lugo returned from a scary injury and allowed an earned run over six innings, and Jac Caglianone homered with two RBIs, as the Kansas City Royals held on for their third straight win, 6-5 over the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

Isaac Collins drove home two with one of his two doubles for the Royals, who doubled five more times after posting eight in their 14-6 win over St. Louis on Thursday. Lugo (3-4), meanwhile, gave up five hits and three walks, but just two runs (one earned) in his first start since taking a line drive to the forehead June 10 versus Texas.

Despite playing without injured All-Stars Maikel Garcia (hand) and Bobby Witt Jr. (MCL sprain), Kansas City secured its first winning home series over the Cardinals since 2020.

St. Louis’ Michael McGreevy (3-6) allowed five runs and eight hits over five innings. Blaze Jordan’s two-RBI single highlighted a three-run ninth for the Cardinals, but Alex Lange got Jose Fermin to ground into a game-ending fielder’s choice to earn his fifth save.

Losers of six of nine, St. Louis wasted no time getting to Lugo in the first. Ivan Herrera walked, went to third on Alec Burleson’s double into the right-field corner and scored via a sacrifice fly from Jordan Walker (two hits).

A lead-off walk again doomed Lugo in the third. Nathan Church drew the base on balls, moved up on a passed ball and came home when Herrera chopped a single into right field.

Kansas City, though, broke out for four runs in the fourth.

Lane Thomas led off with a double down the left-field line and scored via Caglianone’s single. After Caglianone advanced on Salvador Perez’s groundout, he came home on Michael Massey’s looper into center field. John Rave then walked and both he and Massey scored when Collins one-hopped the left-field wall for a 4-2 Royals lead.

Caglianone extended Kansas City’s edge in the fifth with his opposite-field solo shot to left off McGreevy. The Royals made it 6-2 in the sixth on Tyler Tolbert’s sacrifice fly.

The Cardinals and Royals are off Saturday due to the Ecuador-Curacao World Cup match at neighboring Arrowhead Stadium. The series finale is Sunday.

–Field Level Media