Alvarez fires Orioles, Keuchel on form in Astros win

Jake Arrieta was back to his best for the Chicago Cubs as he shut out the Oakland Athletics in a 4-0 win for the visiting side in MLB on Saturday.

The reigning Cy Young Award winner was winless in July but started August with a bang as he returned to the winners' list, while Ben Zobrist hit a two-run single to get the ball rolling in the third inning.

The Cubs boast the best record in the major leagues and top the National League (NL), while things are much closer in the American League (AL) where the Baltimore Orioles remain top of the East Division despite their 4-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox, after the Toronto Blue Jays lost by the same scoreline against the Kansas City Royals.

The Boston Red Sox had a rare bad day with the bat as they were shutout 3-0 by Ross Stripling and the Los Angeles Dodgers, who allowed just two hits and one walk.

Elsewhere, the San Francisco Giants were a class above the Washington Nationals as they went down 7-1 as Stephen Strasburg pitched his shortest start of the year for Washington, conceding eight hits in just 4.2 innings.

The Tampa Bay Rays were 7-3 winners over the Minnesota Twins, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 and the Detroit Tigers edged the New York Mets in a 6-5 thriller.

The Houston Astros went down 3-2 against the Texas Rangers, the New York Yankees also suffered a defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Indians' 5-2 effort and the San Diego Padres knocked off the Philadelphia Phillies 9-7.

Elsewhere, there were runs galore as the Atlanta Braves put in one of their best performances of the season in their 13-5 rout of the St Louis Cardinals, while the Colorado Rockies doubled the Miami Marlins' score in their 12-6 win and the Milwaukee Brewers went even better than that as they drubbed the Arizona Diamondbacks 15-6.

In Saturday's late game, the Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners 8-6.

ARRIETA ARRESTS SLUMP

Cubs ace Arrieta tossed eight scoreless innings with four strikeouts to beat the Athletics and improve to 13-5 for the season. It was Arrieta's first win since June 27. Arrieta now has seven scoreless starts of eight-plus innings pitched in the past two seasons. Only Clayton Kershaw has more with 10.

BIG PAPI GLOVES

David Ortiz did not have the best day with the bat, but he can still get it done with his glove, too.