The Latest | Israel kills a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon; group retaliates with rocket attacks

Israel killed a senior commander in the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah on Wednesday, the second top field leader killed in less than a month, and the group said it retaliated by firing scores of rockets at Israeli military positions near the border.

The Israeli military estimated that around 100 rockets were fired, and said there were no reports of casualties.

International diplomats are scrambling to prevent the near-daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah from spiraling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran, which is Hezbollah's main backer. Hezbollah says it will stop its attacks once Israel agrees to a cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Some Israeli officials have said they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff and hope to avoid war. At the same time, they have warned that the scenes of destruction seen in Gaza will be repeated in Lebanon if war breaks out. Hezbollah, meanwhile, is far more powerful than Hamas and believed to have a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

The nearly nine-month war in Gaza has caused massive devastation across the besieged territory and displaced most of its 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Israel’s military estimated Tuesday that around 1.9 million people are now clustered into the territory’s central region.

Evacuees have been told by Israel to seek refuge in an overcrowded coastal area filled with sprawling tent camps where there are few basic services. Israeli restrictions, the ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have curtailed humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.

Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.

Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 37,900 people in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.

Currently:

— Israel turbocharges West Bank settlement expansion with largest land grab in decades.

— Israeli strike kills another senior Hezbollah commander as diplomats scramble for calm in Lebanon.

— A strike kills a family in Gaza as an Israeli evacuation order sparks panicked flight from Khan Younis.

— Hezbollah’s deputy leader says the group would stop fighting with Israel after a Gaza cease-fire.

— Lebanese authorities charge U.S. Embassy shooter with affiliation to militant Islamic State group.

— Iran’s presidential candidates talk economic sanctions and nuclear deal ahead of their runoff election.

— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here’s the latest:

UNITED NATIONS – Many of the 250,000 Palestinians that Israel ordered to evacuate from the Gaza Strip’s second-largest city Khan Younis are heading toward already overcrowded areas near the sea where there is not enough water and no toilets, a senior U.N. official says.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the U.N. humanitarian office for the Palestinian territories, told reporters on Wednesday that it is “a major challenge” to even bring food to the two main places Palestinians are going: Muwasi, the coastal area designated by the Israeli army as a safe zone, and the nearby city of Deir al-Balah.

He stressed that Gaza is unique – “the only place in the world where people cannot find a safe refuge, and can’t leave the frontline.” Even in so-called safe areas there are bombings, he said in a news conference from Jerusalem.

De Domenico said Monday’s Israeli evacuation order from much of Khan Younis also included the locations the U.N. was planning for new warehouses, which are desperately needed since the main U.N. warehouses in the southern city of Rafah are off-limits because of ongoing Israeli military operations in that area and the closing of Rafah’s border crossing to Egypt.

De Domenico said the U.N. is hoping to reach an agreement with Israeli authorities that the area for the new warehouses will be protected and not hit “by the military operation that could unfold in the coming hours.”

Then, he said, the U.N. could possibly restart humanitarian operations in the area.

De Domenico said the U.N. is now able to meet basic needs in northern Gaza but getting aid into the south has been “very problematic” for the last four weeks, partially due to “the internal criminality linked to the smuggling of cigarettes.”

“That has become … the biggest challenge we have,” he said.

De Domenico explained that the U.N. has tried to find logistical solutions to deliver aid, but “there is no logistical solution to a political problem which resonates with the lack of law and order.”

Beirut — Hamas political official Bassem Naim confirmed Wednesday that the Palestinian militant group had responded to the most recent cease-fire proposal submitted to the mediators.

He said Hamas had not outrightly rejected or accepted a deal, which was recently amended by the United States, but “responded with some ideas to bridge the gap” between the two sides. He declined to say what amendments Hamas had proposed.

Israel’s Mossad intelligence service said it received Hamas’s response to the ceasefire and was examining it.

The latest proposal has new language the U.S. proposed to other intermediaries Egypt and Qatar last week, according to a senior Biden administration official who requested anonymity to discuss an effort the White House has yet to publicly unveil.

The new language addresses negotiations that are to start between Israel and Hamas during the first phase of a three-phase deal that U.S. President Joe Biden laid out nearly a month ago.

The first phase calls for a “full and complete cease-fire,” a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older people and the wounded. In exchange, Israel would release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The proposal called for the parties to negotiate the terms of the second phase during the 42 days of phase one. Under the current proposal, Hamas could release all of the remaining men, both civilians and soldiers, during that phase. In return, Israel could free an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. The releases would not occur until “sustainable calm” takes effect and all Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. humanitarian community in Gaza is lowering its estimate of the population in the territory from roughly 2.3 million people to about 2.1 million.

Andrea De Domenico, who heads the U.N. humanitarian office for the Palestinian territories, said that nine months into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the U.N. “for the sole purpose of humanitarian planning” lowered the pre-war population estimate of a little less than 2.3 million, based on two numbers it has.

He said that 110,000 people have left Gaza and crossed into Egypt since October, according to the border authority, and more than 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza health authority.

This doesn’t preclude that some people who left might come back, De Domenico told a U.N. press conference from Jerusalem. “But just for our programming purposes, as the humanitarian community, we estimate that the population present in Gaza comprises about 2.1 million people.”

JERUSALEM — A group of Israeli settlers returned to the Palestinian village of Umm al-Khair in the southern West Bank on Wednesday, cutting the village’s water pipes and leaving some 200 Palestinians there without access to water.

It was the fourth settler assault on the village — some violent — in the past week and comes days after a quarter of the village was left homeless when Israeli authorities demolished their homes.

One video obtained by The Associated Press from a local resident showed a group of about five settlers tampering with the village’s water pipe, the water spilling out onto the ground. In another video, two Israeli soldiers look on as the settlers cluster around the pipe.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

Residents of the village see the actions of Israeli forces and settlers over the past week as an overt attempt to push them from the land they've called home since they were expelled from the Negev desert in what is now Israel during the 1948 war around the country's creation. The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule.

Since Wednesday, international and Israeli activists have flocked to the village in an attempt to protect the Palestinians there, but it has not stopped near-daily settler onslaughts. A confrontation Monday turned violent, with settlers wielding tear gas and sticks sent six Palestinians to the hospital, residents said.

Rights groups say settler violence has mounted in the West Bank during the Israel-Hamas war.

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military said masked Israeli settlers attacked its forces who were attempting to evacuate an illegal outpost in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday.

Settlers hurled an explosive at a vehicle belonging to the military body in charge of civilian affairs in the West Bank, leaving its dashboard cracked, the army said.

The military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said the episode was “a severe, violent incident, that must be denounced and condemned,” calling for the “rioters” to face legal repercussions.

Israeli media reported that the settlers had clashed with Israeli forces late into the night Tuesday, burning tires and hurling stones at the officers.

The military and border police were trying to evacuate the Oz Zion outpost in the northern West Bank, which was established illegally in 2021. Outposts are small structures built without authorization from the Israeli government, and rights groups say they’re some of the largest drivers of violence toward Palestinians in the occupied territory.

Israel has built well over 100 settlements across the West Bank, some of which resemble fully developed suburbs or small towns. They are home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship.

The settlement tracking group Peace Now said Wednesday that Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades.

The international community largely views all settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ reaction to the latest land seizure, said: “Frankly, it’s a step in the wrong direction – and the direction we want to be heading is to find a negotiated two-state solution.”

UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations says it’s talking to Israel about its communications needs in Gaza and is looking for a system that doesn’t rely on cellular networks.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told The Associated Press on Wednesday that communications “are vital to the safety of our operations” in Gaza, where war between Israel and Hamas has raged for nearly nine months.

Dujarric would not confirm a report in Axios that the U.N. and Israel are negotiating the deployment of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service in Gaza.

“We are agnostic on the platform, we are looking to have some communications system that does not rely on cell towers,” Dujarric said.

Andrea De Domenico, head of the U.N. humanitarian office in Gaza and the West Bank, also didn’t confirm the Axios report during a press conference with U.N. journalists earlier Wednesday from Jerusalem.

But he said: “Communication equipment has been a longstanding request of the humanitarian community as a whole.”

“It is very simple,” De Domenic said. “Every time there is a military operation, we lose completely communication with our teams.”

He said the internet and simple phone connections are “fundamental to the way we operaate and function in these days.”

De Domenico said the U.N. needs ways to communicate with its teams to plan and conduct humanitarian operations, as well as to communicate with U.N. partners on the ground and the Israeli military to make sure the operations can be carried out safely. He said he didn’t care about the service — as long as it works.

BEIRUT — The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said it fired scores of rockets at Israeli military positions near the border on Wednesday in retaliation for Israel's killing a senior commander in a airstrike hours earlier.

The Israeli military estimated that around 100 rockets were fired, and said there were no reports of casualties.

Hezbollah said it launched Falaq rockets with heavy warheads targeting the headquarters of the Israeli military’s 769th Brigade in Kiryat Shmona, as well as 100 salvos of Katyusha rockets targeting the headquarters of Israel’s 210th division and the Kilaa air base in the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Later, the group said it attacked the Zaarit barracks near the border with Burkan rockets, another type of rocket with heavy warheads like the Falaq.

A Hezbollah statement identified the commander killed Wednesday as Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who went by the name “Abu Naameh,” his nom de guerre. He is the most senior leader from the group killed since Taleb Sami Abdullah, who was killed in an airstrike June 11.

The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, saying that Nasser alongside Abdullah are “two of the most significant Hezbollah” militants in southern Lebanon. It said Nasser led attacks from southwestern Lebanon.

International diplomats are scrambling to prevent the near-daily clashes between Israel and Hezbollah from spiraling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran, which is Hezbollah’s main backer. Hezbollah says it will stop its attacks once Israel agrees to a cease-fire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Some Israeli officials have said they are seeking a diplomatic solution to the standoff and hope to avoid war. At the same time, they have warned that the scenes of destruction seen in Gaza will be repeated in Lebanon if war breaks out. Hezbollah, meanwhile, is far more powerful than Hamas and believed to have a vast arsenal of rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel.

Tens of thousands of people on both sides of the tense frontier have been displaced in the monthslong war.

Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon since October have killed over 450 people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, but the dead also include more than 80 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians have been killed.

BEIRUT — An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed a senior Hezbollah commander on Wednesday as tensions between the two sides boil, a Hezbollah official told The Associated Press.

The strike near the southern coastal city of Tyre took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent weeks to prevent escalating clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military from spiraling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran.

A Hezbollah statement identified the commander as Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who went by the name “Abu Naameh,” his nom de guerre. A Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Nasser was the head of the group’s Aziz Unit, one of three regional divisions in southern Lebanon.

Nasser was the most senior official from the Iran-backed group killed since Taleb Sami Abdullah, who was killed in an airstrike June 11.

In a video circulated by local media, residents rushed toward a charred vehicle with a large plume of smoke. Civil Defense said its first responders transported an unnamed wounded person to a hospital.

The Israeli military acknowledged the attack, saying that Nasser alongside Abdullah are “two of the most significant Hezbollah” militants in southern Lebanon. It said Nasser led attacks from southwestern Lebanon.

Hezbollah has launched rockets into northern Israel since a day after the Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which sparked the war in Gaza. There have been limited clashes along the tense Israel-Lebanon border almost every day that have gradually escalated, with Hezbollah introducing new weapons in their attacks and Israel striking deeper into Lebanon.

Hezbollah maintains that it will stop its attacks once there is a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Until then, it says it will keep up the attacks to exert pressure on Israel and the international community. Israeli officials have threatened to launch a larger military operation if Hezbollah doesn't halt its attacks.

Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report.

An anti-settlement watchdog says Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades.

The Israeli group Peace Now said Wednesday that authorities recently approved the appropriation of 12.7 square kilometers (nearly 5 square miles) of land in the Jordan Valley. The group’s data indicate it was the largest single appropriation approved since the 1993 Oslo accords at the start of the peace process.

The land seizure, which was approved late last month but only publicized on Wednesday, comes after the seizure of 8 square kilometers (roughly 3 square miles) of land in the West Bank in March and 2.6 square kilometers (1 square mile) in February.

That makes 2024 by far the peak year for Israeli land seizure in the West Bank, Peace Now said.

The Palestinians view the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank as the main barrier to any lasting peace agreement and most of the international community considers them illegal or illegitimate. Israel’s government considers the West Bank to be the historical and religious heartland of the Jewish people and is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli soldier was killed and a second soldier was wounded in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in northern Israel on Wednesday, the military said, in what Israeli police say was a terrorist attack.

Gal Zeid, the spokesperson for Israel’s Galilee Medical Center, said doctors pronounced one man dead after failing to resuscitate him. He said another man was admitted to a hospital intensive care unit. The attack took place in the Israeli town of Karmiel.

The police say the assailant was killed. They did not immediately provide details about the suspect.

Later, the military identified the soldier who was killed as Sgt. Aleksandr Iakiminskyi, a 19-year-old from Nahariya.

Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks in Israel in recent years, while Israeli forces have launched frequent, deadly military raids in the occupied West Bank. Tensions have soared since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza.

Mourners take the last look at the bodies, wrapped with Islamic Jihad flags of four Palestinians, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel's military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip queue for water at a makeshift tent camp in the southern town of Khan Younis, Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

Hezbollah's deputy leader Sheik Naim Kassem, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Kassem said that the only definite path to a cease-fire on the Lebanon-Israel border is a full cease-fire in Gaza. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Israeli police arrest a woman outside a shopping mall following a stabbing attack in Karmiel, northern Israel, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. One person was killed and one person wounded in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in what Israeli police say was a terrorist attack. The police say the assailant was killed. They did not provide the name or nationality of the attacker. (AP Photo/Rami Shlush)

Israeli police arrest a man outside a shopping mall following a stabbing attack in Karmiel, northern Israel, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. One person was killed and one person wounded in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in what Israeli police say was a terrorist attack. The police say the assailant was killed. They did not provide the name or nationality of the attacker. (AP Photo/Rami Shlush)

Mourners carry the bodies of four Palestinians, killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel's military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

This picture released by Hezbollah media relations office, shows a portrait of Hezbollah commander Mohammad Naameh Nasser, who was killed by an Israeli airstrike that hit his car, in the southern costal town of Tyre, Lebanon, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. The strike took place as global diplomatic efforts have intensified in recent weeks to prevent escalating clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli military from spiralling into an all-out war that could possibly lead to a direct confrontation between Israel and Iran. (Hezbollah Media Relations Office via AP)

Freed Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, left, attends the funeral for wife and mother Liora Argamani, in Beersheba, Israel, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Liora Argamani, 61, who had stage four brain cancer, had pleaded for the release of her daughter, Noa, saying she wanted to see her only child before she died. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Relatives of Muhammad Sarhan,15, mourn around his body, draped in the Palestinian flag, during his funeral in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Palestinian health officials say Sarhan and another woman were shot and killed, and four people were wounded by Israeli forces during a raid in the northern West Bank on Monday. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from parts of Khan Younis following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave the eastern part of Gaza Strip's second largest city on Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Saher Alghorra)

Liora Argamani, mother of a well-known Israeli hostage who was freed from captivity in Gaza in a rescue operation last month, is buried in Beersheba, Israel, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Liora Argamani, 61, who had stage four brain cancer, had pleaded for the release of her daughter, Noa, saying she wanted to see her only child before she died. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

Mourners take a last look at the body of Yazeed Shafea, 22, wrapped with an Islamic Jihad flag, who was one of four Palestinians killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel's military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Mourners take the last look at the bodies of four Palestinians, wrapped with Islamic Jihad flags, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel's military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Mourners pray over the bodies of four Palestinians, wrapped with Islamic Jihad flags, who were killed by an Israeli airstrike late Tuesday, during their funeral in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, near Tulkarem, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. Palestinian health officials say four Palestinians were killed by an Israeli airstrike in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank late Tuesday. Israel's military said an aircraft struck a group of militants who were planting explosives in Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarem. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Justin Steele pitched a two-hitter for his first career complete game, Seiya Suzuki homered and the Chicago Cubs beat the Los Angeles Angeles 5-1 on Friday.

Steele (1-3) dazzled in his first victory in 13 starts this season. The left-hander threw 95 pitches, striking out seven and walking two, while lowering his ERA from 3.20 to 2.95.

The crowd of 36,948 cheered when he came out for the ninth inning and roared when Brandon Drury grounded out to end the game.

The Cubs won their second straight after losing eight of 10. The Angels dropped their fifth in a row since a season-high six-game win streak.

Steele won 16 games last season and made his first All-Star team. He missed six weeks this year after straining his left hamstring in the opener at Texas and hadn’t received much run support since his return. He got enough this time.

PIRATES 14, METS 2

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Paul Skenes threw seven strong innings and Pittsburgh tied a franchise record by smashing seven home runs in a demolition of the New York Mets.

Bryan Reynolds homered from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam, and Rowdy Tellez had a grand slam among his two homers.

Skenes (5-0), a 22-year-old rookie, allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts while his ERA ticked up slightly to 2.12.

The mustachioed right-hander has struck out seven or more batters in nine of his first 10 starts, the most ever by a pitcher over the first 10 games of his career. Skenes has thrown 74 pitches of at least 100 mph this season, more than double anyone else in the majors.

Yet Skenes didn’t just beat the Mets with his heat. The last of his 107 pitches was an 87 mph slider that Harrison Bader whiffed at, bringing just the second sellout crowd of the season at PNC Park to its feet as the 6-foot-6 top overall pick in the 2023 draft made his way to the dugout.

WHITE SOX 3, MARLINS 2

MIAMI (AP) — Drew Thorpe threw 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Nicky López doubled twice and drove in two runs and the Chicago White Sox beat Miami.

Luis Robert Jr. had two hits, two walks and two stolen bases for the White Sox, who won their first opening game of a road series this season. They were 0-14 before Friday.

The Marlins lost their fifth straight and dropped to an NL worst 30-58.

CARDINALS 7, NATIONALS 6, 11 INNINGS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Willson Contreras hit a tying homer in the ninth inning, Masyn Winn scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball in the 11th, and St. Louis rallied from an early 5-0 deficit to beat the Washington.

Contreras struck out with one out in the 11th and Winn on third against Dylan Floro (3-2), but the ball got past catcher Riley Adams, who was working his first inning behind the plate after Keibert Ruiz was lifted for a pinch-runner in the 10th.

In the ninth, Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan left a 2-2 fastball over the middle of the plate to Contreras, who sent it 407 feet over the wall in right-center to make it 5-all.

Ryan Helsley (3-3) worked two innings and retired the side in the 11th on two popups and a grounder. Keibert Ruiz’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the 10th scored the automatic runner to make it 6-6, Helsley’s third blown save of the season.

PHILLIES 8, BRAVES 6

ATLANTA (AP) — Trea Turner hit a pair of two-run home runs off Max Fried, Aaron Nola earned his 100th career victory and Philadelphia beat Atlanta.

The NL East-leading Phillies extended their lead over second-place Atlanta to 10 games by winning the opener of the weekend series.

Nola (10-4) retired Atlanta’s first 10 batters before giving up a one-out single to Ozzie Albies in the fourth inning. Austin Riley followed with a two-run homer to center field. Albies had three hits, including a homer, and Marcell Ozuna added a three-run shot in the eighth off José Alvarado.

TIGERS 5, REDS 4

CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Colt Keith homered twice, Parker Meadows and Riley Greene also went deep and Detroit held off Cincinnati.

Meadows led off the third with a 410-foot homer to right field. After Reds center fielder Stuart Fairchild’s catch robbed Matt Vierling of an extra-base hit, Keith hit one out to almost the same spot as Meadows in the right-field seats.

Keith then had a two-run shot in the fifth, and Greene led off the seventh with his team-leading 17th homer, another deep shot to right field.

The Tigers got an outstanding start from right-hander Reese Olson, who pitched no-hit ball through four innings. He left after 5 2/3, allowing just two runs and three hits and striking out eight.

RED SOX 5, YANKEES 3, 10 INNINGS

NEW YORK (AP) — Masataka Yoshida hit a tying, two-run homer off Clay Holmes with two outs in the ninth inning, Ceddane Rafaela homered against Tommy Kahnle leading off the 10th and Boston stunned New York and sent the Yankees to their 14th loss in 18 games.

Boston overcame a 3-0 deficit, starting the comeback when Romy Gonzalez hit his first home run of the season leading off the fifth.

Holmes, without a save since June 9, allowed pinch-hitter Dominic Smith’s two-out single in the ninth. Yoshida fell behind 0-2, then drove a full-count pitch — Holmes’ sixth straight sinker — into the right-field seats for his third homer.

With an automatic runner on second, Rafaela homered on a 1-0 fastball over the heart of the plate from Kahnle (0-1), the rookie’s 10th home run this season.

GIANTS 4, GUARDIANS 2

CLEVELAND (AP) — Michael Conforto hit a two-run double as San Francisco won for the eighth time in their last 11 games, beating Cleveland.

Patrick Bailey added a sacrifice fly and Nick Ahmed had an RBI single for the Giants, who built a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning against Guardians ace Tanner Bibee (7-3).

Cleveland, which has the best home record in the majors at 28-11, got a solo homer from Josh Naylor and a sacrifice fly from Andrés Giménez.

RANGERS 3, RAYS 0

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Corey Seager extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a two-run double and Michael Lorenzen combined with four relievers on a three-hitter as Texas blanked the Tampa Bay.

Seager went the opposite way with a double into the left-center field gap after consecutive two-out singles in the third inning by No. 9 batter Jonathan Ornelas and leadoff hitter Marcus Semien. Nathaniel Lowe drove in Seager with a single for the only other Texas run.

Lorenzen (5-4) gave up one hit and struck out four, but walked five in his five innings. Lorenzen walked the bases loaded in the fifth before striking out Brandon Lowe, the final batter the right-hander faced.

Jose Leclerc worked a scoreless inning after relieving Lorenzen. Jacob Latz got two outs, David Robertson pitched 1 1/3 innings and Kirby Yates worked a perfect ninth for his 12th save in as many chances.

ASTROS 13, TWINS 12

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Bregman had a three-run homer and Houston held off Minnesota after taking an eight-run lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Jeremy Peña had three hits, scored three times and drove in three runs to help the Astros win for the 13th time in 5 games. They are a major league-best 21-9 since June 1.

Down 13-5 after Houston scored three times in the ninth, the Twins fell just short with a seven-run outburst. Josh Hader came on with two outs and gave up a grand slam to Carlos Correa before striking out Manuel Margot for his 15th save.

Twins designated hitter Jose Miranda went 4 for 4, setting a team record with 10 straight hits.

ROCKIES 4, ROYALS 2

DENVER (AP) — Brenton Doyle broke an eighth-inning tie with a two-run double in Colorado's victory over Kansas City.

Doyle finished with three hits, the tiebreaking double coming off reliever John Schreiber (3-3). Michael Toglia had a solo home run for Colorado that weathered a replay review.

Salvador Perez had an RBI single and Freddy Fermin added three hits, including a single off Jalen Beeks leading off the ninth inning. Nick Loftin followed with a single before Beeks retired the next three batters for his eighth save. Victor Vodnik (2-1) worked a scoreless inning in relief for the victory.

MARINERS 2, BLUE JAYS 1

SEATTLE (AP) — Luis Castillo limited Toronto to two hits over a dominant 6 2/3 innings, Luke Raley had a two-run double in the third and Seattle beat Toronto.

Castillo (7-9) was nearly untouchable in his 200th career start, retiring each of the first nine Blue Jays hitters, and not allowing a hit until Kevin Kiermaier hit a solo home run with one out in the sixth.

Castillo’s only blemish before Kiermaier’s homer was a leadoff four-pitch walk to Spencer Horwitz in the fourth inning.

ORIOLES 3, ATHLETICS 2

OAKLAND, Calif (AP) — Albert Suárez struck out six over six sharp innings and won back-to-back outings for the first time this season, pitching Baltimore past Oakland.

The right-hander (5-2) surrendered Miguel Andujar’s first-inning home run but settled in to hold down an A’s lineup coming off consecutive 5-0 shutouts and a series sweep of the Los Angeles Angels.

Coming off his first quality start of the season, Suárez allowed two runs on four hits and walked one as the Orioles won for the seventh time in nine games following a five-game losing streak. Baltimore is now 56-32 and joined four previous Orioles teams to win at least 56 of their initial 88 games and are the first to do so since 1979.

Craig Kimbrel pitched a 1-2-3 ninth with two strikeouts for his 22nd save to finish the 2 hour, 28 minute game in front of an announced crowd of 9,654.

DODGERS 8, BREWERS 5

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Freddie Freeman singled in the go-ahead runs with two outs in the eighth inning, Will Smith homered three times, and Los Angeles rallied past Milwaukee Brewers.

Daniel Hudson (6-1) got the win in relief and Evan Phillips struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 14the save.

Milwaukee’s Rhys Hoskins hit a grand slam in the fourth, but the Dodgers avoided their third loss in a row.

PADRES 10, DIAMONDBACKS 9

SAN DIEGO (AP) — All-Star Jurickson Profar hit a tying home run leading off the ninth inning and Manny Machado walked it off with a two-run shot in San Diego's wild victory over Arizona.

The Diamondbacks had stunned the Padres by rallying from a five-run deficit in the top of the inning to take an 8-7 lead on Alek Thomas’ first career grand slam with one out and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk’s go-ahead, two-run shot with two outs, both off Robert Suarez.

But Profar hit his 13th homer to right-center on a 3-2 pitch from Paul Sewald (0-2). Jake Cronenworth walked and was replaced by pinch runner Tyler Wade. Machado then hit his 12th homer, to left-center to send the crowd of 47,171 — the largest in Petco Park history — into a frenzy

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Chicago Cubs' Justin Steele delivers a pitch during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels, Friday, July 5, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Melissa Tamez)