The Atlanta Braves had dropped the first two contests of their four-game series at the Cincinnati Reds before entering Thursday afternoon’s series finale looking for a split after getting a boost from several of their talented young prospects. Outfielder Ronald Acuna, Jr. made his major-league debut in Wednesday’s 5-4 victory, contributing an eighth-inning single and scoring the game-tying run before third baseman Johan Camargo doubled home Ozzie Albies with the decisive run in the ninth.

After splitting a doubleheader, the visiting Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburgh Pirates play the rubber match of a three-game interleague series Thursday at PNC Park. The Pirates are trying to avoid their third straight series loss.

The New York Yankees continue to feast on the Minnesota Twins and can finish off a four-game sweep when the teams meet Thursday in Yankee Stadium. With Wednesday's 7-4 win, the Yankees improved to 17-4 against the Twins since July 2015, 53-21 since 2008 and 81-31 since 2002.

The Philadelphia Phillies aim to hand Arizona its first series loss of 2018 on Thursday afternoon, one day removed from snapping an eight-game home losing streak to the Diamondbacks. Arizona (16-7) put itself in the equation to win its eighth straight series by doubling up Philadelphia (15-8) in Tuesday's opener before Aaron Altherr helped level the set with a go-ahead three-run homer the following night.

St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Carlos Martinez has flourished since struggling out of the blocks in his Opening Day start against the New York Mets. After permitting five runs in that contest, Martinez has yielded a total of one over his last 27 1/3 innings heading into Thursday afternoon's rubber match of the three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Mike Clevinger looks to follow up the best performance of his career when the Cleveland Indians open a four-game series against the visiting Seattle Mariners on Thursday. The right-hander allowed just two hits while recording his first career shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles last Saturday.

The surging Tampa Bay Rays hope to make more history and sweep a two-game rain-shortened series when they visit the struggling Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night. The Rays have scored at least eight runs in four straight games for the first time in franchise history and are riding a five-game winning streak after recording 14 hits while rolling to an 8-4 victory on Wednesday.

Mookie Betts gave the Boston Red Sox a much-needed offensive boost and a chance to claim a series win when they take on the host Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday in the finale of a three-game series. Betts slugged a leadoff homer and later added a go-ahead two-run shot to lift the Red Sox - who scored a total of four runs during a three-game losing streak - to a 4-3 victory Wednesday.

The Milwaukee Brewers take an eight-game winning streak into a big four-game road series against the Chicago Cubs starting Thursday. The Cubs took three of four at Milwaukee earlier this month, and the Brewers would love to return the favor to their National League Central rivals.

The two worst teams in the American League begin a stretch of five games in four days against one another when the Chicago White Sox visit the Kansas City Royals on Thursday. The White Sox are just 5-16 for their worst start since 1950 while the Royals have an even worse record at 5-17.