Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Starling Marte hit a solo home run in the 18th inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 Sunday in a marathon game that lasted almost six hours.

Pinch-hitter Daniel Murphy homered with two outs in the ninth inning for Washington, and it took a long while until anyone scored again.

Marte’s seventh home run of the season helped end the series finale and the Pirates avoid getting swept by the NL East leaders. The only longer game in the majors this season came July 1 when Cleveland beat Toronto in 19 innings.

Marte hit the first pitch from Oliver Perez (2-3) into the seats in left field.

Jonathon Niese (8-6) survived a couple of singles to get the victory.

It was the longest regular-season game for the Nationals since the franchise moved from Montreal to Washington after the 2004 season. The Nationals lost an 18-inning game to San Francisco in the 2014 playoffs.

Mets 5, Phillies 0

PHILADELPHIA — Jacob deGrom tossed a one-hitter, Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera homered and New York beat Philadelphia.

DeGrom (6-4) allowed only a third-inning single to pitcher Zach Eflin and retired 27 of 29 batters. The lanky right-hander struck out seven, walked one and went the distance for the first time in 68 career starts.

Eflin (2-3) allowed five hits and three runs in six innings.

Granderson drove his 16th homer way out to right-center for a 2-0 lead in the third.

Marlins 6, Cardinals 3

ST. LOUIS — Ichiro Suzuki doubled, singled twice and had another hit taken away on a replay challenge, leaving him six shy of 3,000, after Miami’s win over St. Louis.

The 42-year-old Suzuki made just his second start this month with All-Star Marcell Ozuna getting a day off. He’s been largely reduced to pinch hitting behind a set outfield, and singled in that role on Friday.

Suzuki also walked, scored a run and came up just short on his bid to beat out an infield hit. All of that in wilting, 93-degree heat for a player who’d been 3 for 11 in July.

Giancarlo Stanton’s second double of the game drove in the go-ahead run in a two-run seventh against Jonathan Broxton (1-2).

Rangers 4, Cubs 1

CHICAGO — Cole Hamels pitched eight dominant innings in his first game at Wrigley Field since throwing a no-hitter at the famed ballpark a year ago, and Texas stopped a four-game slide.

Hamels (10-2) struck out his first six batters. He fanned seven overall and gave up just an unearned run and four hits.

Last summer, the lefty threw a no-hitter and struck out 13 at Wrigley in his final start for Philadelphia. He was then traded to the Rangers.

Sam Dyson struck out three in the ninth for his 19th save in 21 chances.

Ian Desmond homered and Robinson Chirinos drove in two runs as Texas avoided a three-game sweep in the matchup of division leaders.

Reds 1, Brewers 0

CINCINNATI — Billy Hamilton dashed home on All-Star Jonathan Lucroy’s passed ball with two outs in the ninth inning, giving Cincinnati the win.

The speedy Hamilton drew a two-out walk from Tyler Thornburgh (3-3). Left-hander Will Smith relieved and walked Joey Votto. Hamilton stole third with Jay Bruce hitting, setting up the game-winning play.

Tony Cingrani (2-2) pitched a perfect ninth for the win.

Tigers 4, Royals 2

DETROIT — Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Detroit past Kansas City.

After Tyler Collins hit a leadoff single in the ninth, Saltalamacchia won it with a drive off Joakim Soria (3-4) that easily cleared the wall in right field. The Detroit catcher raised his right arm in celebration almost immediately as he trotted toward first base.

Those were the only two RBIs of the day for Detroit. The Tigers scored their first two runs of the game on a balk and a wild pitch.

Francisco Rodriguez (1-0) pitched a perfect top of the ninth for the win.

Rays 5, Orioles 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Evan Longoria homered twice, Jake Odorizzi picked up his first home victory this season and Tampa Bay won for just the fourth time in 28 games.

Longoria had solo shots in both the first and eighth innings. He has 21 homers this season after his 17th career multihomer game.

Odorizzi (4-5), who was 0-3 in 10 previous starts at Tropicana Field, gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings. Overall, he had been 0-2 in six starts since winning June 8 at Arizona.

Oswaldo Arcia had a two-run shot during the second and Brad Miller added a third-inning solo driver as the Rays took a 4-1 lead against Dylan Bundy (2-2), who allowed four runs and five hits over 3 1/3 innings in his first major league start.

Braves 1, Rockies 0

ATLANTA — Chase d’Arnaud singled with two outs in the ninth inning off Gonzalez Germen and Atlanta avoided a three-game sweep.

It was a rare home victory for the Braves, who are 14-36 at Turner Field and have baseball’s worst overall record. Atlanta had lost four straight to Colorado.

Following dominant outings through the seventh by Braves ace Julio Teheran and Rockies starter Jon Gray, the Braves used four relievers and the Rockies one before Germen (2-1) gave up Ender Inciarte’s leadoff single in the ninth.

Indians 6, Twins 1

MINNEAPOLIS — Josh Tomlin pitched 7 2/3 strong innings, Mike Napoli hit one of three Cleveland homers in a win over Minnesota.

Chris Gimenez had two RBIs off the bench as the division-leading Indians won for just the third time in eight games.

Max Kepler homered for Minnesota.

Tomlin (10-2), who gave up eight runs — including a season-high five earned — in 4 2/3 innings against Detroit in his previous outing July 6, looked more like the pitcher that had six straight quality starts before that outing.

Angels 8, White Sox 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Albert Pujols hit a pair of two-run homers, Jered Weaver pitched seven strong innings and Los Angeles completed an emphatic three-game sweep of Chicago.

Pujols connected in the first and fourth innings of his 53rd multi-homer game. He has 577 career homers as he pursues Mark McGwire (583) for 10th place on baseball’s career list.

Five Angels drove in a run while lighting up Jacob Turner (0-1) over the first five innings. He yielded seven hits and eight runs in his debut for the White Sox, who have lost four straight.

Astros 8, Mariners 1

SEATTLE — Jose Altuve homered among his four hits and drove in three runs, Collin McHugh escaped a pair of bases-loaded jams to pitch six scoreless innings, and Houston beat Seattle.

Altuve had a two-run homer and three singles in five at-bats to raise his American League-leading average to .346. McHugh (6-6) allowed four hits and walked four, striking out 10 to win for the first time in eight starts since his last victory on May 30.

Carlos Gomez added his second career grand slam in the seventh inning off Nathan Karns to put the Astros up 8-0.

Kyle Seager singled home Seattle’s only run in the eighth off Chris Devenski.

Blue Jays 5, Athletics 3

OAKLAND, Calif. — Josh Donaldson hit a tiebreaking two-run double with two outs in the ninth against his former team and Toronto avoided a three-game sweep.

Troy Tulowitzki homered while Russell Martin and Justin Smoak added two hits apiece for the Blue Jays.

Donaldson, traded from Oakland to Toronto prior to the 2015 season, also singled and scored in the first inning.

Marcus Semien homered for the A’s.

D’backs 6, Dodgers 5

PHOENIX — Robbie Ray pitched seven scoreless innings, Jake Lamb hit his 21st home run and Arizona held on to beat Los Angeles.

The Dodgers had runners at first and third with one out in the ninth when rookie Jake Barrett struck out Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor to earn his second save.

Ray (5-8) gave up four hits, struck out seven, walked two and hit two batters. The left-hander worked out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second inning and left with a 6-0 lead.