Tyler Mahle limited the Milwaukee Brewers to three hits over six-plus innings, Grant McCray smacked a two-run homer and the San Francisco Giants defeated the visiting National League Central leaders 3-0 on Monday.

Mahle (3-9) never allowed a runner past second base, aided by three double plays in the opener of a three-game series.

Milwaukee’s only baserunners against the veteran right-hander came via singles by Jake Bauers, Andrew Vaughn and Jackson Chourio plus walks drawn by Vaughn and Cooper Pratt.

Bauers’ hit and Vaughn’s walk came consecutively with one out in the second inning in a scoreless game. Mahle then got Garrett Mitchell to bounce into an inning-ending double play.

En route to their third win in four games on their current homestand, the Giants took the lead for good in the third against Brewers starter Brandon Sproat (3-6). Jesus Rodriguez led off with a double and Luis Arraez followed with an RBI single.

McCray belted his first homer of the season and the sixth of his three-year career in the fourth after Willy Adames stroked a two-out single.

Mahle was pulled with a 3-0 lead after allowing a leadoff single to Chourio in the seventh. Sam Hentges came on to retire the next three Brewers to complete the inning. Dylan Smith threw a 1-2-3 eighth and Erik Miller struck out two of the three men he faced in a perfect ninth for his third save.

Winning for the second time in his past three starts, Mahle struck out three.

Sproat went six innings and was charged with all three Giants runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out five.

Garrett Stallings kept the visitors within arm’s length with two shutout innings in relief. Milwaukee, nonetheless, was beaten for just the third time in its past 10 games.

The Giants logged their third in five games against the Brewers this season.

–Field Level Media

Ceddanne Rafaela smacked his first career grand slam and the scorching Boston Red Sox won for the 18th time in 20 games, beating the Athletics 4-2 on Monday in West Sacramento, Calif.

Payton Tolle (6-6) struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings for the Red Sox. He gave up two runs and five hits and one walk.

Boston’s Aroldis Chapman worked out of a ninth-inning jam for his 25th save in 27 opportunities.

Chapman gave up a single to Colby Thomas to start the ninth before striking out Tommy White. Chapman then engaged in a 10-pitch battle with pinch hitter Nick Kurtz and appeared to have won it with a potential game-ending double-play grounder. However, Boston second baseman Anthony Seigler booted the ball and both runners were safe.

Chapman then fanned Henry Bolte and Alika Williams to close it out.

Tyler Soderstrom and Jonah Heim homered for the Athletics, who lost for the 24th time in their past 30 games. Thomas had two hits.

Boston’s Justin Slaten recorded the final two outs of the sixth, Jovani Moran struck out two in a perfect seventh, and Garrett Whitlock worked a flawless eighth.

A’s starter Jack Perkins (2-6) was charged with two runs and one hit over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked three.

Perkins didn’t give up a hit before Connor Wong began the sixth inning with a double into the left field corner. Perkins retired the next two batters before walking Willson Contreras.

Jose Suarez entered and walked Wilyer Abreu to load the bases. Rafaela then swatted a 2-0 slider high in the air to left. Thomas leaped and the ball went off his glove and hit the netting behind the fence for a homer as Boston took a 4-1 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, Heim drilled a leadoff homer to center off Tolle.

The A’s got on the board in the bottom of the first when Soderstrom hit a one-out homer to left.

Boston’s Curtis Mead made his team debut but left prior to the bottom of the fifth due to a left wrist contusion. He was hit by a pitch from Perkins in the top of the fourth. Mead was acquired from the Washington Nationals for left-hander Connelly Early on Sunday.

Athletics All-Star catcher Shea Langeliers will undergo surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee on Tuesday. He could be done for the season.

–Field Level Media

Alex Bregman and Nico Hoerner each homered and had four hits apiece as the visiting Chicago Cubs opened a four-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals with a 7-3 win on Monday.

Bregman doubled twice and drove in two runs and Hoerner had four RBIs for Chicago, which tallied 14 hits and won for the third time in its last four games. Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya added two hits apiece.

David Peterson (6-7) allowed two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings.

Jose Fermin hit a solo homer and Masyn Winn had two hits for St. Louis, which has lost eight of its 11 games coming out of the All-Star break.

After the start of the game was delayed 1 hour and 46 minutes due to rain, the Cubs took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back doubles by Seiya Suzuki and Bregman against Matthew Liberatore (5-8).

With two runners on and one out in the second inning, Amaya added to Chicago’s lead with a run-scoring single to right field.

Fermin put the Cardinals on the board with a two-out solo homer in the bottom of the second. The 407-foot blast was Fermin’s fifth homer of the season.

Bregman began the third inning by depositing Liberatore’s first offering into the right-field seats for his 11th homer of the season.

Liberatore allowed three runs on eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five.

The Cubs extended their lead to 5-1 in the fifth inning. Bregman and Kelly hit consecutive singles and both scored on Hoerner’s one-out single.

Gavin Hollowell replaced Peterson with a runner on second and two outs in the sixth. Winn greeted Hollowell with a run-scoring single, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Bryan Torres’ ground-rule double.

The Cubs added to their lead in the ninth when Hoerner hit a two-run blast for his fifth homer of the season and first since April 21.

–Field Level Media