Smoak’s homers send Jays to win
TORONTO — Justin Smoak hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning and a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth to rally the Toronto Blue Jays past the New York Yankees 7-4 on Sunday.
After connecting off reliever Tommy Kahnle in the seventh, Smoak brought the crowd of 29,091 to its feet with his second career slam, a drive against David Robertson.
Smoak went 3-for-4 with a walk and six RBIs as Toronto gained a series split, winning the final two games.
Shohei Ohtani won his major league pitching debut, throwing three-hit ball over six innings and leading Los Angeles past host Oakland. The two-way star from Japan took the mound three days after he was the designated hitter in the opener. Reaching the upper-90s mph with his fastball and showing a nifty splitter, Ohtani struck out six and retired 14 of his final 15 batters.
Jose Berrios pitched a threehitter for his first career complete game, and Minnesota got two home runs from Brian Dozier in a rout of host Baltimore. Only one batter reached against Berrios over the first eight innings — No. 9 hitter Chance Sisco, whose third-inning double whisked by the raised glove of left fielder Eddie Rosario at the wall.
Hector Velazquez continued a season-opening stretch of strong starting pitching by Boston, working into the sixth and leading the Red Sox to a win at Tampa Bay. The first four Red Sox starters — Chris Sale, David Price, Rick Porcello and Velazquez — combined to give up two runs over 24 innings. The defending AL East champs won three of four at Tropicana Field under new manager Alex Cora.
Josh Harrison, Starling Marte and David Freese homered for Pittsburgh, and the Pirates completed a doubleheader sweep at Detroit with an 8-6 victory. Pittsburgh won the opener 1-0 behind six no-hit innings from Trevor Williams.
Dillon Peters threw six scoreless innings, Brian Anderson hit a three-run double to highlight a five-run fifth, and host Miami beat Chicago to split the teams’ opening four-game series.
Rich Hill and three relievers combined on a six-hitter, Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer, and host Los Angeles blanked San Francisco to earn a split of the teams’ opening four-game series.
Paul DeJong had the first multihomer game of his big league career, Luke Weaver held New York to one run in five innings, and St. Louis beat the host Mets to avoid a three-game sweep.
Dee Gordon and Mitch Haniger homered, Mike Leake pitched seven strong innings, and Seattle defeated visiting Cleveland.
Bryce Harper hit two home runs as Washington beat host Cincinnati for a threegame sweep under new manager Dave Martinez.