Baltimore Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph breaks his bat over his knee after striking out with two runners on against the Houston Astros in the ninth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Baltimore. The Astros won 12-2. (AP Photo/Gail Burton)
Baltimore Orioles catcher Caleb Joseph breaks his bat over his knee after striking out with two runners on against the Houston Astros in the ninth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Baltimore. The Astros won 12-2. (AP Photo/Gail Burton) Credit: ap — Gail Burton

San Francisco — Yoenis Cespedes hit two long home runs and an RBI double in his second game back from the disabled list, and Bartolo Colon and the New York Mets beat the San Francisco Giants, 9-5, on Saturday.

The Mets had lost five of six before topping the team that began the day leading the NL West. The Giants dropped to 11-22 since the All-Star break.

Cespedes, who’d been out since Aug. 4 with a strained right quadriceps, drove in three runs. He has 24 homers this season. The slugger’s shot off Matt Moore (7-10) in the third inning went 457 feet, according to Statcast.com. Cespedes added a 418-footer off reliever Jake Peavy in the seventh.

Alejandro De Aza hit a three-run homer in a four-run sixth that stretched the Mets’ lead to 7-2.

Colon (11-7) allowed two runs, scattering nine hits and a walk in 6 innings.

White Sox 6, Athletics 2

Chicago — Chris Sale pitched eight scoreless innings for his first victory in 49 days, Jose Abreu homered and Chicago beat Oakland.

Sale (15-6) was the majors’ first 14-game winner and the AL starter in the All-Star Game, but the lefty had gone 0-4 in six starts, interrupted by a five-day suspension for slicing up throwback uniforms he didn’t want to wear. Sale allowed three hits and retired the last seven batters, five by strikeout, while throwing a season-high 120 pitches.

The White Sox scored four runs with two outs, including Abreu’s solo shot that just cleared the eight-foot wall in right in the first inning. Melky Cabrera added an RBI double in the second and a run-scoring single in the fourth off Ross Detwiler (1-2). Oakland’s Danny Valencia homered in Oakland’s two-run ninth off Nate Jones before David Robertson earned his 31st save.

Astros 12, Orioles 2

Baltimore — Jason Castro homered and drove in four runs in Houston’s second straight blowout victory over struggling Baltimore.

Alex Bregman and George Springer also homered for the Astros. They beat Baltimore 15-8 on Friday night to snap a five-game losing streak.

Bregman got this rout started with a two-run homer in the first inning off Chris Tillman (15-5). Houston increased its lead to 6-0 in the third and went up 10-1 in the sixth.

Chris Davis homered in a fourth straight game and Steve Pearce also went deep for the Orioles. But Baltimore has dropped eight of 12 overall to fall into the third place in the AL East.

Baltimore pitchers combined to allow a season-high 10 walks. Utility infielder Ryan Flaherty worked the ninth inning, giving up two runs and three hits.

Mike Fiers (9-6) had little trouble in his first career appearance against the Orioles. The right-hander went seven innings, allowing one run and five hits.

Marlins 3, Pirates 1

Pittsburgh — Xavier Scruggs hit his first major league home run and David Phelps pitched six scoreless innings to help Miami beat Pittsburgh.

Miguel Rojas scored on an error in the third, and Ichiro Suzuki doubled down the right field line in the fourth — for his 3,008th hit in the majors to move into 28th place on the career list — ahead of Scruggs’ shot into the bleachers in left field.

Phelps (7-6) allowed two hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in his fourth start of the season. Fernando Rodney got the last three outs for his sixth save with the Marlins and 23rd save overall.

Chad Kuhl (3-1) gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.

Royals 10, Twins 0

Kansas City, Mo. — Alex Gordon homered twice and had a double, Ian Kennedy pitched eight sharp innings and Kansas City beat Minnesota to extend its winning streak to seven games.

The Royals’ string is their best since they won seven straight in April 2015. The World Series champions have won 12 of 14 to move back into the AL wild-card race.

Gordon has homered five times in five games. He connected in the fourth inning and again in the fifth for his fourth career multihomer game.

Kennedy (8-9) gave up four hits, walked none and struck out six. Salvador Perez and Gordon hit back-to-back home runs in a four-run fifth, chasing Hector Santiago (10-8).

Phillies 4, Cardinals 2

Philadelphia — Cesar Hernandez homered, doubled and singled, and Jeremy Hellickson pitched seven strong innings in Philadelphia’s victory over St. Louis.

Maikel Franco had two hits, including a double and the winning RBI, and Aaron Altherr homered for the Phillies. They have hit home runs in 14 straight games.

Jeremy Hazelbaker homered and Jhonny Peralta had three hits for St. Louis, which had won five in a row. The Cardinals are 1½ games head of Miami for the second wild-card spot in the National League.

St. Louis fell short of setting a major league record of 10 straight games with multiple home runs. The Cardinals tied the mark with a pair of homers Friday night.

Hellickson (10-7) skipped his last start because of back tightness.

Nationals 11, Braves 9

Atlanta — Ryan Zimmerman homered and had three hits in his return from the disabled list, and Washington used an eight-run fourth inning to take control before holding off Atlanta.

Daniel Murphy and Trea Turner hit homers in Washington’s big fourth inning against Tyrell Jenkins (2-4). The Nationals trailed 3-1 before setting a season high for runs in an inning and taking a 9-3 lead.

Washington set a Nationals record with nine hits in the inning, including eight straight, and had 17 hits in the game.

Blue Jays 6, Indians 5

Cleveland — Edwin Encarnacion homered, Roberto Osuna bounced back from a nightmarish outing to record the save and Toronto beat Cleveland.

Toronto was stunned Friday night on Tyler Naquin’s game-ending inside-the-park home run off Osuna that gave the Indians a 3-2 victory.

The latest matchup between division leaders also had plenty of drama, with Osuna getting his 28th save by retiring Naquin on a groundout to end it.

Rays 8, Rangers 2

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Evan Longoria and Luke Maile homered, Jake Odorizzi won his fifth game since the All-Star break and Tampa Bay ended Texas’ four-game winning streak.

Odorizzi (8-5) is 5-0 with a 1.64 ERA in seven starts since the All-Star break.

Adrian Beltre and Elvis Andrus had two hits each for the AL West-leading Rangers.

The Rays scored in each of the first two innings off starter A.J. Griffin (5-3). Matt Duffy drove in a run with a two-out single in the first, and Maile made it 2-0 with his first career home run in the second. Longoria’s 28th homer made it 3-0 in the sixth.