Lowe breaks tie, drives Rays past Jays
Rays 4, Blue Jays 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Brandon Lowe’s tworun triple snapped an eighth-inning tie and sent Tampa Bay past Toronto on Saturday.
Lowe, a former Nansemond River High star who was a first-time AL AllStar in 2019, hit a drive into the gap in right-center field off reliever Sam Gaviglio (0-1). The righthander later balked, allowing Lowe to score the third run of the inning.
Ji-Man Choi drove in Tampa Bay’s other run with a sixth-inning double off Matt Shoemaker, who made his first start for the Blue Jays since injuring his left knee in April 2019.
Nick Anderson (1-0), the third of four Rays pitchers who followed starter Ryan Yarbrough, a former Old Dominion star, retired four of five batters he faced to get the win.
Brewers 8, Cubs 3
CHICAGO — Christian Yelich and Justin Smoak hit long home runs, umpires intervened before a shouting match between the teams got too serious and Milwaukee powered past Chicago.
Without fans at Wrigley Field, players from both teams could be heard shouting toward each other from their dugouts before the start of the fourth inning. Several players from both sides popped out onto dirt near their benches.
Umpires jumped in and calmed things down quickly before players could cross the foul lines.
White Sox 10, Twins 3
CHICAGO — Leury García homered from both sides of the plate, helping Dallas Keuchel and Chicago pounded Minnesota.
Edwin Encarnación hit a two-run drive as the White Sox bounced back nicely after losing 10-5 to the reigning AL Central champions on Friday night. Eloy Jiménez and James McCann also went deep on the second day of the pandemic-delayed 60-game season.
Nelson Cruz connected for Minnesota, which hit a major league-record 307 homers last year.
Cardinals 9, Pirates 1
ST. LOUIS — Paul Goldschmidt homered, Adam Wainwright pitched six solid innings and St. Louis beat Pittsburgh.
Wainwright pitched out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the second, giving up just one run. He retired 14 of the final 15 batters he faced as the Cardinals beat the Pirates for the 12th time in their last 13 games.
The Pirates managed just three hits. Josh Bell had a single and scored Pittsburgh’s lone run.
Angels 4, Athletics 1
OAKLAND, Calif. — Dylan Bundy pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning in his Angels debut and Justin Upton homered to lead Los Angeles to victory over Oakland.
Bundy allowed one run, three hits, no walks and hit one batter in 62⁄ innings
3 as part of an impressive first start after being acquired from Baltimore in a trade last December.
Sean Manaea looked sharp early for the A’s. He retired the first 11 batters on an efficient 32 pitches, but then ran into trouble and couldn’t even make it out of the fifth inning.
Phillies 7, Marlins 1
PHILADELPHIA — Phil Gosselin hit two home runs, Didi Gregorius went deep again and new dad Zack Wheeler won his Philadelphia debut in a victory over Miami.
Gosselin connected for a two-run shot off Alex
Vesia in the sixth inning to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead and send manager Joe Girardi on his way to his first win with the team. Gosselin homered again in the eighth for his first career multi-homer game and a 7-1 lead.
Gosselin went 3 for 3 while batting eighth as the designated hitter. He had seven career home runs in 647 at-bats over seven years coming into the season.
Astros 7, Mariners 2
HOUSTON — Lance McCullers Jr. was solid in his return from Tommy John surgery, and Yuli Gurriel and George Springer homered to help Houston to a win over Seattle.
McCullers yielded five hits and two runs with six strikeouts in six innings in his first game since the 2018 playoffs. He got double plays from his defense to get out of jams in the first two innings before settling in to get the win.
The Astros have won 15 in a row against Seattle.
Braves 5, Mets 3
NEW YORK — Marcell Ozuna hit a tying homer off shaky closer Edwin Díaz with two outs in the ninth inning, Dansby Swanson scored automatic runner Adam Duvall with a leadoff single in the 10th and Atlanta beat New
York.
New York loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th with no outs against Luke Jackson. Pinch-hitter Dominic Smith managed a sacrifice fly, but Jackson retired Wilson Ramos to end it.
Ozuna, signed to an $18 million, one-year free agent deal in January, energized Atlanta’s struggling offense with his opposite-field drive off Díaz.
Giants 5, Dodgers 4
LOS ANGELES — Wilmer Flores homered and the Giants beat Los Angeles to give Gabe Kapler his first win as San Francisco manager.
After getting outscored 17-2 in the first two games, the Giants took advantage of Dodgers starter Alex Wood’s struggles to avoid their first 0-3 start since 2012. They scored in each of the first four innings.
Wood had trouble finding the plate, throwing 67 pitches, including 29 balls, in three innings. Dodgers pitchers didn’t have a 1-2-3 inning until the seventh, by new reliever Blake Treinen.
LATE FRIDAY
Athletics 7, Angels 3
In the first major league game with the new, unpopular extra-inning rule, automatic runner Marcus Semien began the bottom of the 10th on second base and scored on Matt Olson’s grand slam to lift Oakland.
Astros 8, Mariners 2
HOUSTON — Dusty Baker posted a win in his debut as Houston’s manager and the Astros, playing for the first time since their sign-stealing scandal rocked baseball, opened the season by beating Seattle.
Dodgers 9, Giants 1
LOS ANGELES — Max Muncy homered twice and doubled, Ross Stripling pitched seven neat innings and Los Angeles defeated San Francisco Giants for the second straight game.
Rangers 1, Rockies 0
ARLINGTON, Texas — Lance Lynn struck out nine in six sharp innings and Texas inaugurated its new retractable-roof stadium with a win over Colorado.
Cardinals 5, Pirates 4
ST. LOUIS — Jack Flaherty struck out six and didn’t walk a batter in seven solid innings, Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer and St. Louis opened the season by beating Pittsburgh.
Twins 10, White Sox 5
CHICAGO — Max Kepler homered against ace Lucas Giolito in his first two at-bats and Minnesota beat Chicago.
Padres 7, Diamondbacks 2
SAN DIEGO — Eric Hosmer hit three-run doubles in consecutive innings to ruin Madison Bumgarner’s Arizona debut and give San Diego a victory in Jayce Tingler’s first game as manager.