Ramirez makes it happy home opener
Red Sox rally to defeat Rays, Bruce blasts a grand slam for Mets in Nationals thrashing
>> BOSTON: Hanley Ramirez delivered a walk-off RBI single to right field with one out in the 12th inning as the Boston Red Sox came back to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 in their home opener on Thursday.
Jackie Bradley Jr doubled off Rays reliever Andrew Kittredge (0-2) to lead off the bottom of the 12th inning. Christian Vazquez’s sacrifice bunt moved Bradley to third and both Mookie Betts and Andrew Benintendi walked to set up Ramirez’s heroics.
Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts each drove in a run in the ninth for Boston, who won their sixth straight game after opening the season with a 6-4 loss at Tampa Bay. The Red Sox then won three in a row over the Rays to cap the season-opening series.
Matt Duffy hit a two-run blast for his first homer of the season for Tampa Bay, who dropped their sixth straight after coming from four runs down to beat Boston in the opener. The Rays have been outscored 27-11 during their skid.
In Washington, Jay Bruce hit a grand slam for visiting New York, who also got homers from Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto, as they defeated Washington 8-2.
The three home runs gave the Mets seven consecutive runs in Washington’s home opener. Conforto was playing in his first game of the season after recovering from shoulder surgery, and the home run his first hit of 2018.
All of that power helped Jacob deGrom (2-0) win for the second time in two starts. He allowed two runs on four hits in six innings. Washington starter Stephen Strasburg (1-1) gave up four runs on five hits, including two of the homers, in six innings.
Detroit center fielder Leonys Martin and third baseman Jeimer Candelario had RBIs in the 10th inning and the Tigers scored five runs in their last two at-bats to spoil Chicago’s home opener. Tigers won 9-7.
Niko Goodrum hit a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning and Victor Martinez doubled in Nicholas Castellanos to cap a threerun rally that tied the game at 7 off White Sox closer Joakim Soria. Goodrum’s homer was the first of his career.
Mikie Mahtook singled to open the 10th inning off Gregory Infante (0-1) before Jose Iglesias walked. Mahtook took third on Dixon Machado’s groundout and scored on Martin’s grounder to second base for an 8-7 lead, the Tigers’ first of the game.
In New York, Adam Jones sparked a five-run rally in the top of the seventh inning with a two-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka as visiting Baltimore opened a four-game series in New York with a 5-2 win.
Jones gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead by lifting a 1-1 slider off the top of the leftcentre field wall, just out of the reach of Giancarlo Stanton, who attempted a leaping catch.
After singles from Tim Beckham and Colby Rasmus, Anthony Santander followed with an RBI double off Chad Green and Trey Mancini highlighted a three-hit night by capping the inning with a two-run single.
In Milwaukee, Jon Lester threw six scoreless innings and Chicago Cubs feasted on some sloppy defence by hosts Brewers, who committed three errors. The Cubs won 8-0.
Lester (1-0), who lasted just 3-1/3 innings on Opening Day in Miami, was much crisper in this one. The veteran left-hander allowed only three hits and walked one in an 89-pitch outing. Three Cubs pitchers polished off the shutout.
Brent Suter (1-1) was torched for eight hits and five runs, four earned, in five innings. He walked three and struck out five, and didn’t get much help from a defence that coughed up three errors for a second straight game.
In San Diego, Ryan McMahon drew a four-pitch, bases-loaded walk from Padres closer Brad Hand to break up a scoreless tie in the top of the ninth inning and DJ LeMahieu followed with a two-run, two-out single to lead visiting Colorado over the Padres 3-0.
The Rockies won three of four games from the Padres and were to open their home season later yesterday Coors Field against Atlanta. The Padres concluded a 1-6 homestand.
Hand opened the ninth by issuing consecutive walks to Trevor Story and Chris Iannetta. The Rockies loaded the bases with no one out when second baseman Carlos Asuaje dropped the throw from third baseman Christian Villanueva on a sacrifice bunt.
In Philadelphia, Maikel Franco had three hits and four RBIs, Nick Pivetta pitched 5-2/3 scoreless innings and the Phillies won their home opener over Miami Marlins 5-0.
Franco was 3-for-4 with a single, triple and home run while Pivetta recorded nine strikeouts for his first win of the season as the Phillies were victorious after dropping four of their first five games on the road.
Odubel Herrera also had a pair of hits for the Phillies, who received an early boost when Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Gregory Polanco continued his strong start with his second multiRBI game of the season, and Steven Brault allowed one run in five innings to lead Pittsburgh over Cincinnati 5-2.
Polanco went 1-for-4 with a tiebreaking two-run home run and three RBIs, giving him nine RBIs on the year as the Pirates improved to 5-1. Josh Harrison and Corey Dickerson each had two hits for Pittsburgh, and both scored, while Dickerson added an RBI.
Brault (2-0) allowed just three hits in his first start of the season, with the only run he surrendered scoring on a wild pitch. He struck out four and issued four walks, throwing 46 of his 80 pitches for strikes.