Twins ravage Royals’ bullpen; sweep series
Jason Castro and Jorge Polanco hit RBI doubles in the seventh inning, as the Minnesota Twins dented Kansas City’s bullpen again and beat the Royals, 5-3, yesterday in Minneapolis, to sweep the season-opening series.
The Twins are 3-0 for the first time since 2007, handing the Royals their first 0-3 start since 2001. This was Minnesota’s first sweep of Kansas City in 18 series between them since April 2014.
Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas homered off Twins starter Kyle Gibson to take Jason Hammel off the hook in his Royals debut, but reliever Mike Minor (0-1) let the Twins take the lead again.
Taylor Rogers (1-0) worked the seventh for the victory, and Brandon Kint-zler pitched a perfect ninth for his first save.
Blue Jays 5, Rays 2 —
Kendrys Morales hit his fourth career grand slam, Marcus Stroman pitched 61⁄ effective 3 innings and Toronto topped Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Morales homered off Blake Snell in the third. Stroman, the MVP of last month’s World Baseball Classic, allowed one run and six hits in his 2017 debut.
White Sox 11, Tigers 2 —
Matt Davidson had his first career triple and first home run with Chicago as the Sox hammered visiting Detroit.
Geovany Soto, the catcher who joined the White Sox as a free agent this offseason, added his first two home runs for Chicago to help give Rick Renteria his first victory as the team’s manager.
Athletics 5, Angels 1 —
Andrew Triggs pitched into the sixth inning for his second major league win, Ryon Healy homered to cap a four-run third and host Oakland topped Los Angeles for an opening fourgame split.
Mariners 4, Astros 2 —
Jarrod Dyson hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the ninth inning and Jean Segura drove in a run later in the inning to lift visiting Seattle past Houston.
National League Cubs 6, Cardinals 4 —
In a most sticky situation, St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina couldn’t find a ball that clung to his chest protector and visiting Chicago turned the bizarre play into a late rally, beating the Cards.
With St. Louis up 4-2 in the seventh, pinch-hitter Matt Szczur led off by striking out on a pitch from Brett Cecil that skipped in the dirt. The ball bounced into Molina’s protector and appeared to get trapped by a sticky substance and Szczur reached first.
The Cubs capitalized when a walk set up Kyle Schwarber’s go-ahead home run.
Mets 6, Braves 2 —
Matt Harvey dominated with a fastball in the mid-90 mph range and uncommon efficiency in his return from major surgery as New York handled visiting Atlanta.
The Braves signed free agent slugger Ryan Howard, 37, to a minor league deal. He will join Triple-A Gwinnett when he’s ready.
Rockies 2, Brewers 1 —
Nolan Arenado and Mark Reynolds homered and Antonio Senzatela pitched five strong innings in his major league debut to help visiting Colorado edge Milwaukee.
Dodgers 10, Padres 2 —
Yasiel Puig homered twice to help host Los Angeles rout San Diego.
Puig was 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs, four RBI and a stolen base.
Reds 7, Phillies 4 —
Relief pitcher Michael Lorenzen connected for a go-ahead pinch-hit homer and host Cincinnati overcame a rough major league debut by Rookie Davis to drop Philadelphia.
Adam Duvall also homered for the Reds.
Marlins 4, Nationals 3 —
Justin Bour doubled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning after visiting Miami erased two leads against a shaky Washington bullpen, and earned its first win of the season.
Diamondbacks 9, Giants 3—
In Phoenix, Jake Lamb hit a three-run homer and Arizona won a four-game series over San Francisco at Chase Field for the first time in nine years.