Veronica Burton scored a season-high 25 points and dished out eight assists, Gabby Williams also had 25 points, and the Golden State Valkyries held off the Phoenix Mercury 87-81 in a Commissioner’s Cup game in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Kayla Thornton scored 12 points and Janelle Salaun added 11 for the Valkyries, who had their 17-point halftime lead trimmed to one before recovering in the final minutes to break a season-worst two-game losing streak.

Alyssa Thomas scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half for the Mercury, who had a two-game winning streak broken in the third game of a four-game road trip. Monique Akoa Makani put up a season-high 19 points.

Thomas, who missed the previous game with a calf injury, had nine assists and eight rebounds.

Akoa Makani’s 3-pointer brought the Mercury (4-9, 2-2 Commissioner’s Cup) within 76-75 with 3:09 left before Williams’ three-point play gave the Valkyries an 84-78 lead with 1:39 remaining.

Thomas’ three-point play closed the deficit to 84-81 on the next possession, but Williams intercepted Thomas’ pass and made 1 of 2 free throws with 11 seconds left. Thornton later sank two to ice it.

Williams finished with three 3-pointers for the Valkyries, who wound up 10 of 29 (34.5%) from long distance. Golden State (7-5, 2-2) made 6 of 12 from beyond the arc in the first half, when it built a 49-32 lead. The Valkyries lead the WNBA with 12.1 treys per game and a 37.9% success rate from long range.

Williams sank three 3-pointers while Burton, Thornton and Salaun had two apiece. Burton went 9-for-11 at the free-throw line.

The Valkyries have won the first two in the season series, including a 95-79 home victory on May 10.

Akoa Makani, playing her sixth game after finishing her season in France, had six points and Thomas had four assists in a 13-0 run for a 16-10 Mercury lead in the first quarter. The Valkyries responded with a 12-2 run for a 22-18 edge.

The Valkyries closed the second quarter on an 18-5 run to take a 49-32 halftime lead, their largest advantage to that point. Burton had 10 points in the period as Golden State outscored Phoenix 27-14. Thomas and Mercury teammate Kahleah Copper were given technical fouls during the half-ending stretch.

Thomas scored 13 points in the third quarter, when the Mercury outscored the Valkyries 29-17. Golden State led 66-61 entering the fourth.

–Field Level Media

LAS VEGAS — Tyler Soderstrom and Nick Kurtz each homered for the third time in two games to power the Athletics to a 7-5 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night, evening the series in Las Vegas.

After homering seven times in the wild series opener, won by the Brewers 15-14 in 12 innings, the Athletics pounded out another five homers Tuesday at the hitter-friendly home of the A’s Triple-A affiliate.

The A’s scored three runs in the fifth off starter Robert Gasser (0-3) on homers by Soderstrom and Jonah Heim to go in front 6-3.

Shea Langeliers singled with one out and Soderstrom, who homered twice in the series opener, followed with his 11th homer. Heim added a two-out solo shot, his fifth.

The Brewers pulled within 6-5 in the sixth on two walks, two singles and an error, chasing starter J.T. Ginn. Elvis Alvarado relieved with two outs and fanned Jackson Chourio, stranding runners on second and third.

Zack Gelof opened the bottom half with his eighth homer off reliever Joel Kuhnel, acquired from the A’s on Saturday.

Ginn (4-3) allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking three. Mason Barnett tossed two scoreless for his first career save.

Henry Bolte put the A’s up 3-2 in the second with his first career homer, a 446-foot two-run shot to center after Heim’s leadoff single.

The Brewers tied it 3-all in the fourth on Sal Frelick’s RBI single.

Chourio staked the Brewers to a quick 2-0 lead, following Christian Yelich’s game-opening single with his fifth home run.

Kurtz, who also homered twice in the opener, answered in the bottom half with a one-out solo homer, his 15th.

The series with the Brewers will be followed by three games against Colorado. The A’s are currently playing home games in Sacramento until their new climate-controlled stadium opens in Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 season.

–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media

Luis Garcia Jr. hit the 11th pitch of the game for a two-run homer, James Wood had three hits and scored twice, and the visiting Washington Nationals made it two straight wins over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday with a front-running 6-3 victory.

Andrew Alvarez and four relievers overcame nine hits and seven walks to limit the Giants to three runs, helping the Nationals improve to 4-1 on a six-game Western swing.

Garcia’s homer, his eighth, came off Adrian Houser (2-6) following a game-opening single by Wood. The blast gave the Nationals a lead they never relinquished.

Washington tacked on a run in the fifth when Jacob Young tripled and scored on a single by Wood. The Nationals benefitted from the Giants’ generosity to create a three-run margin in the seventh on a run-scoring wild pitch thrown by Erik Miller and a bases-loaded walk drawn by Daylen Lile.

Alvarez labored through four-plus innings in which he allowed five hits and five walks, throwing 90 pitches. He was pulled with a shutout but with two runners on base, and Jung Hoo Lee lashed a two-run double off reliever Brad Lord to get the hosts within 3-2.

The runs were charged to Alvarez, who struck out four.

Lord (4-0) pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam to end the fifth and retain the one-run lead. He then teamed with Richard Lovelady, Clayton Beeter and Orlando Ribalta to shut out the Giants the rest of the way until Bryce Eldridge launched his third home run of the season, a solo shot, with two outs in the ninth.

The Nationals completed their scoring in the top of the ninth when Lile smacked the game’s fourth triple to score CJ Abrams, who had reached base on a two-out error.

Houser worked 4 1/3 innings and gave up three runs and four hits. He struck out six without issuing a walk.

Young finished with two hits and two runs while Lile drove in a pair of runs for the Nationals, who began their trip by taking two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lee, Eldridge and Luis Arraez each had a pair of hits for the Giants, who dropped their fifth straight home game. Eldridge added a double and two walks to his homer.

The Giants out-hit the visitors 9-8 but stranded 13 baserunners.

–Field Level Media