Tempers flare in Cardinals' loss to Arizona.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Torey Lovullo claimed his Arizona Diamondbacks were being framed.
The manager set off a benches-clearing incident in his team's 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday by maintaining eight-time All-Star catcher Yadier Molina was earning unwarranted strike calls.
"I don't want to say he is getting more than anyone else, because it's part of the game," Lovullo said. "I have the upmost respect for Yadier Molina. He 's one of the best catchers the game has ever seen. It was more of me saying, I respect him on that level, that he's getting special things because he's that good. That's where I was coming from."
Lovullo was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the second inning. Lovullo was arguing a called third strike on A.J. Pollock and got into a shouting match with Molina. The catcher appeared to lunge at Luvollo and made contact as players ran onto the field.
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny stepped between Molina and Lovullo.
Lovullo had shown displeasure on a strike three call to David Peralta in the first inning, then went to the umpire after the call against Pollock.
"I used a poor choice of words and he (Molina) took offense to it," Lovuollo said. "I wish I could take back what I said. It really wasn't directed at him. I was just frustrated over what I was watching."
Molina remained upset after the game
"He said a bad word to me and I reacted that way," Molina said. "He called me (it) twice. You can't allow that."
Timmons explained what he saw and heard to media.
"So when Lovullo got to me after I had ejected him, he made a comment that was aggressive that Yadi overheard, so that's why Yadi reacted the way that he did," the umpire said. "I think at that point Yadi became agitated, which was understandable. (The contact) was just incidental."
Pollock was walking back to the dugout at the time.
"I never thought someone arguing a third strike call was going to create a benches-clearing brawl," Pollock said. "But we stuck together as a team. We all have Torey's back."
Peralta hit a tiebreaking, tworun homer off Dominic Leone in the eighth, and Pollock went deep later in the inning. In his second year in charge, Lovullo got his 100th win and was given a post-game beer shower by his coaches.
Arizona opened the season with three straight series wins for the first time, and its 7-2 start match the franchise best also accomplished in 2000, 2007, 2008 and 2017.
With three losses in its last five games, St. Louis dropped to 4-5.
Yoshihisa Hirano (1-0), a 34-year-old Japanese righthander who agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract in December, pitched a perfect seventh for his first major league win.
Archie Bradley pitched around Kolten Wong's leadoff single in the eighth, and Brad Boxberger finished for his fourth save in as many chances, retiring Jose Martinez on a game-ending, double-play grounder
"Every time you hit a home run it feels good," Peralta said. "It was a situation where you have to take advantage of a mistake."
St. Louis starter Luke Weaver allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, leaving with a 1-0 lead created by Wong's RBI single in the fifth.
Nick Ahmed hit a tying RBI single off Matt Bowman in the seventh.
Chris Owings singled off Leone (0-2) starting the eighth and Peralta hit his second home run this season. Pollock followed two batters later with his first.
Braves 4, Rockies 0.
DENVER (AP) — The surprising Atlanta Braves surged behind their bats through the first week of the season. Now, they're getting some nice starting pitching, too.
Sean Newcomb pitched into the seventh inning, Nick Markakis and Dansby Swanson hit back-to-back homers and the Braves beat the Colorado Rockies 4-0 on Sunday.
"Every day it's someone new that's contributing," Newcomb said.
It was his turn in Denver. Newcomb (1-1) allowed three hits in the first inning before retiring the next 16 batters to help the Braves take two of three in Colorado's home-opening series. The left-hander followed strong starts from Brandon McCarthy and Anibal Sanchez, tying his career high with nine strikeouts while not issuing a walk.
"He was locating the fastball and he had a devastating changeup and he mixed in his curveball," Colorado manager Bud Black said. "So, when you're throwing 93, 94 mph, and you come from a high arm slot at 6-foot-5, he's got a great angle. The changeup is coming in there at 85, 86 mph, with some action to it, it's tough to solve. And we just didn't do it today."
Newcomb left after allowing consecutive hits to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story to begin the seventh. Shane Carle, Sam Freeman and Arodys Vizcaino pitched in relief to preserve the shutout.
Kyle Freeland (0-2) allowed three runs, stuck out five and walked two in six innings for the Rockies. The Denver native had one out in the sixth before giving up deep balls to Markakis and Swanson that made it 3-0.
Dodgers 2, Giants 1, 10 innings.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A bad plate of sushi or room service left Cody Bellinger weakened enough that he was held out of the starting lineup. Bellinger managed to summon enough strength to spark a key rally when the slumping Los Angeles Dodgers needed him most.
Bellinger overcame a bout of food poisoning to score the go-ahead run on Kyle Farmer's pinch-hit double in the 10th inning, and the Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on Sunday to snap a four-game losing streak.
"I tried to use him sparingly," manager Dave Roberts said. "It was the right time for him and he mustered up enough energy to leg that double. That was good to see."
Bellinger entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth and started the winning rally with an opposite-field double to lead off the 10th against Pierce Johnson (0-1).
With two outs and runners on first and second, Farmer hit a drive over right fielder Andrew McCutchen's head to score Bellinger with the go-ahead run that gave the Dodgers a split of a rain-shortened two-game series. Farmer has three RBIs in 31 career at-bats, with the other two coming on an 11th inning double last July to beat the Giants.
"I just keep finding myself in these situations," Farmer said. "I sit on the bench all day just watching and saw how the guys were fighting all game."
Josh Fields (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for the win and Kenley Jansen struck out three batters in the 10th for his first save of the season. Jansen got pinch-hitter Brandon Belt looking to end the game with Hunter Pence on second base.
"Tough call at the end, it's a ball, but that's the way the game goes sometimes," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The call goes against you, the ball doesn't bounce your way. But it certainly was not a strike."