Joey Ortiz had a three-run homer, and Andrew Vaughn and Cooper Pratt added solo shots to pace the Milwaukee Brewers to an 8-3 victory over the visiting New York Mets and former teammate Freddy Peralta on Monday in the opener of the three-game series.

Brewers starter Jacob Misiorowski, who skipped his last start before the All-Star break due to arm fatigue, allowed one unearned run before exiting after four innings and 65 pitches. Two of the four hits allowed by the hard-throwing right-hander were infield singles. He struck out six and walked one.

The National League Central-leading Brewers, who have opened the second half with four consecutive victories, scored five runs in the first three innings off Peralta (5-9), traded to the Mets in the offseason after eight seasons in Milwaukee.

Jackson Chourio drew a one-out walk in the first and Brice Turang followed with an RBI double. Garrett Mitchell’s two-out single scored Chourio for a 2-0 lead.

Pratt made it 3-0 in the second with his first career home run, sending an 0-1 pitch 393 feet to left-center.

The Mets responded with an unearned run in the third. Francisco Alvarez singled to open, advanced to third on an error by Vaughn at first base, and came home on a double-play grounder by Juan Soto.

Vaughn answered in the bottom half with his third homer following a two-out double by Mitchell to extend the lead to 5-1.

Ortiz made it 8-1 in the sixth with his fifth home run. Jake Bauers walked with one out and Pratt singled, chasing Peralta. Xzavion Curry relieved and Ortiz sent an 0-1 curveball 373 feet to left.

Peralta, facing his former team for the first time, was tagged for seven runs on eights hits in 5 1/3 innings, striking out six and walking two in a 107-pitch outing.

Craig Yoho (2-0) followed Misiorowski with one scoreless inning. Veteran right-hander Lance McCullers Jr., acquired in a trade with Houston last week to bolster the Brewers injury-riddled staff, relieved and retired seven straight before allowing two runs in the eighth.

–Field Level Media

After losing by 34 points in their previous game, the Las Vegas Aces returned to form in a 109-83 road win over the Toronto Tempo on Monday.

Veteran stars A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young scored 26 and 24 points, respectively, to power the Aces’ highest-scoring game of the season on a 45-of-78 shooting night (57.7%).

Wilson shot 11-for-14 from the field, and the four-time MVP added six rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots. Young was 10-for-17 shooting and contributed 12 assists to make it a double-double.

Las Vegas (18-7) never trailed after a 12-4 run to end the first period. The Aces shot 61% in the first half and built a 60-44 halftime edge before pushing the advantage as far as 28 points after intermission.

Wilson scored 19 of her points before halftime, and her bucket and foul shot with 24.7 seconds left in the second quarter gave Las Vegas its 16-point cushion.

NaLyssa Smith shot 9-for-10 en route to 18 points and five boards and Chelsea Gray tallied 14 points and seven assists. Jewell Loyd added 11 more points off the bench.

The Tempo struggled without head coach Sandy Brondello, who was suspended by the WNBA for the game due to inappropriate comments made about Atlanta forward Angel Reese. Brondello apologized for her remark and the Tempo were led for the evening by associate head coach Olaf Lange.

Toronto (10-16) has now lost seven of its last eight games. Isabelle Harrison matched Wilson with 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting and added 11 rebounds.

High-scoring guard Marina Mabrey had averaged 21.3 points per game coming in, good for third in the league among qualified players, but shot 5-for-21 Monday for 14 points. Maria Conde added 15 points and eight boards for the Tempo.

Reserve Nyara Sabally missed the game with a rib injury after scoring 16 points in Toronto’s previous game.

–Field Level Media

Salvador Perez clubbed a two-run shot to move within one of tying the Royals’ all-time home run record, but Kansas City needed Nick Loftin’s walk-off, squeeze bunt in the ninth inning to win 4-3 over the visiting San Francisco Giants on Monday night.

San Francisco trailed 3-1 and was down to its final out in the top of the ninth, when Kansas City’s Alex Lange (1-5) allowed a single to Jung Hoo Lee. Then Willy Adames sent a low-and-away pitch the opposite way and just over the right-field fence to tie the game.

However, with runners on first and third and one out against Caleb Kilian (2-6) in the bottom of the frame, Loftin, who replaced All-Star Bobby Witt Jr. after he exited with lingering low back tightness earlier in the contest, bounced a bunt toward charging first baseman Bryce Eldridge, who could not make a clean play to get Josh Rojas at the plate.

With the Royals down 1-0 in the fourth and a man on, Perez cleared the center-field wall for career homer No. 316, leaving him one back of George Brett’s franchise record.

Meanwhile, All-Star Michael Wacha yielded only Heliot Ramos’ homer in the fourth, two other hits, two walks and struck out five over six innings to record his 13th quality start of the season as Kansas City improved to 3-1 on a six-game homestand.

Wacha didn’t yield a hit until Ramos found the fountain deck over the right-field wall.

However, the Royals scored three times in the bottom of the fourth. After Giants starter Trevor McDonald hit Vinnie Pasquantino, Perez moved closer to team history. Michael Massey then doubled to right and eventually scored on Isaac Collins’ two-out single that made it 3-1.

McDonald came out for the bottom of the fifth, but exited before throwing a pitch in the inning due to right elbow discomfort. In addition to the three runs, McDonald allowed four hits and walked two with three strikeouts on 67 pitches.

Daniel Susac had two hits for the Giants, who have lost three straight.

–Field Level Media