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Alex Freeland and Kyle Tucker homered in support of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who worked six quality innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers won the opener of a three-game interleague series against the host Houston Astros 8-3 on Monday.

The Dodgers won their second game in a row following a season-worst four-game skid. The Astros had won three of their previous four games.

Freeland keyed a two-run second inning with his second home run of the season, while Tucker ignited a four-run third by leading off that frame with his fourth long ball. The Dodgers did that damage against Astros right-hander Ryan Weiss (0-3), who followed opener Steven Okert and stranded the bases loaded in the first before scuffling the rest of his outing.

Freeland tied the score at 2-2 with his opposite-field shot to left-center field with one out in the second. Shohei Ohtani then walked and scored from first when Will Smith (3-for-5) smoked a double to left-center that Astros left fielder Zach Cole tracked at the wall but couldn’t squeeze.

The Dodgers pulled away an inning later. Tucker lined a 1-1 fastball from Weiss 376 feet to right-center, extending the lead to 4-2. After Andy Pages and Hyeseong Kim singled before Freeland walked to load the bases, Ohtani produced a fielder’s-choice grounder that plated Pages.

Freddie Freeman capped the outburst with a single to right that scored Kim, with Ohtani also coming home when Astros right fielder Cam Smith committed a fielding error on the play.

Weiss allowed an RBI single to Freeman in the fifth that drove home Freeland, who finished 3-for-4 with a walk. Weiss allowed seven runs (six earned) on eight hits and four walks with five strikeouts over 4 1/3 innings.

Yamamoto (3-2) surrendered a pair of runs in the bottom of the first before finding his groove. Jose Altuve delivered an RBI single in the first that scored Yordan Alvarez, and Isaac Paredes gave Houston a 2-1 lead when he scored on a Yamamoto wild pitch.

Yamamoto needed only seven pitches to retire the Astros in order in the second, and he faced the minimum in the third and fourth innings. Cole smacked his first home run with one out in the fifth, but Yamamoto closed his outing by allowing three runs on five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Yordan Alvarez finished with two of Houston’s six hits.

Mariners hit 2 home runs, overcome Braves’ 4 homers

Luke Raley and J.P. Crawford homered in a five-run sixth inning as the Seattle Mariners rallied to defeat the visiting Atlanta Braves 5-4 on Monday in the opener of a three-game interleague series.

The Mariners snapped a three-game skid and halted Atlanta’s three-game winning streak on a night all nine runs scored via the long ball. The major-league-leading Braves lost for just the fourth time in the past 19 games.

Mariners starter Logan Gilbert (2-3) got the victory despite allowing four solo home runs. The right-hander gave up four runs on six hits over six innings, with two walks and four strikeouts.

Seattle relievers Jose A. Ferrer and Eduard Bazardo combined for two scoreless innings, and closer Andres Munoz worked the ninth for his seventh save of the season.

Braves reliever Tyler Kinley (3-2) was charged with two runs in his lone inning.

Matt Olson hit his 300th career homer for the Braves, and teammates Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley also went deep.

Baldwin led off the game with a homer to center field.

It remained 1-0 until the sixth, when Albies and Olson began the inning with homers to center. An out later, Riley went deep to left-center for a 4-0 advantage.

Braves rookie right-hander JR Ritchie, who grew up on nearby Bainbridge Island, cruised through the first five innings before walking the first two batters he faced in the sixth. Raley hit a three-run shot to right-center, pulling the Mariners within 4-3 and ending Ritchie’s night.

Kinley issued a one-out walk to Mitch Garver, and with two outs, Crawford homered to right to put Seattle ahead.

Ritchie, making his third major league start, allowed three runs on four hits in five-plus innings. He walked six and struck out two.

Braves catcher Sean Murphy, making his season debut after recovering from hip surgery performed last September, challenged two ball-strike calls in the first inning and lost both, exhausting his team’s limit. He went 0-for-3 at the plate.

Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh sat out his third consecutive game due to discomfort in his right side.

Munetaka Murakami homers again as White Sox top Angels

Munetaka Murakami had three hits, scored three runs and smacked his 14th homer to back Davis Martin as the Chicago White Sox shut out the Los Angeles Angels 6-0 on Monday in Anaheim, Calif.

Miguel Vargas also homered to help the White Sox beat the Angels for the fourth time in eight days. Chicago has won six of its last seven to move one game below .500.

Andrew Benintendi had four hits and one RBI, Jarred Kelenic had three hits, and Vargas and Sam Antonacci each had two hits as the White Sox racked up 16 overall.

Martin (5-1) gave up five hits, struck out a career-high 10 and didn’t walk anybody over seven shutout innings in winning his third straight decision. He has allowed one or no runs in five of his past six starts.

Sean Newcomb struck out four in two perfect innings to complete the shutout.

Los Angeles’ Jose Soriano (5-2) served up two homers while being touched up by Chicago for the second straight outing. He had a microscopic 0.24 ERA over his first six starts before giving up eight runs and 14 hits over nine innings in the two starts, raising his ERA to 1.74.

Soriano permitted five runs and eight hits over four innings on Monday. He struck out five and walked three.

Nolan Schanuel and Travis d’Arnaud had two hits apiece for the Angels, who have lost 13 of their past 15 games.

Soriano walked Antonacci and Murakami to open the game before striking out the next two batters. Chase Meidroth then delivered a run-scoring single to center, and Benintendi followed with a ground single to center to make it 2-0.

In the fourth, Antonacci singled to left with one out and Murakami followed with a 429-foot blast to center to join to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in a tie for the major league home run lead.

Three pitches later, Vargas jumped on Soriano’s fastball and homered to right-center to make it 5-0.

The White Sox added on in the eighth when Murakami, Vargas and Colson Montgomery hit consecutive two-out singles off Mitch Farris.