Polanco powers Twins over Bosox
BOSTON — Jorge Polanco and Kyle Garlick hit early two-run homers over the Green Monster to back Dylan Bundy, carrying the Minnesota Twins past the Red Sox 8-3 in Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day game on Monday.
The game started at 10:11 a.m., played in conjunction with the 126th Boston Marathon, which ended about 1 mile from Fenway Park.
Polanco added a two-run single in a four-run eighth inning, and Gio Urshela had three singles for the Twins, who won the series finale for a four-game split.
Christian Vazquez hit a solo homer, and Xander Bogaerts had three hits with an RBI for the Red Sox.
Bundy (2-0) gave up one run and five hits in 5 1⁄3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. In his Twins’ debut, he pitched five shutout innings after signing a $4 million, one-year deal as a free agent on December 1.
A few minutes after fans were turning on the back of the Monster attempting to get a glimpse at the men’s leaders of the race heading toward nearby Kenmore Square, Polanco hit his drive into the second row of seats off starter Rich Hill (0-1) that made it 4-0 in the third.
Hill was pitching three days after his 94-year-old father, Lloyd Sr., passed away. His dad ran 37 Boston Marathons.
Hill gave up four runs and six hits in 42⁄3 innings. BREWERS 6, PIRATES 1: Christian Yelich belted a grand slam for his first homer of the season, and Milwaukee beat visiting Pittsburgh. Yelich’s two-out slam capped a five-run rally off Pirates starter Zach Thompson (0-1) in the fourth inning. The 429-foot blast was Yelich’s fourth career grand slam. It was an encouraging sign for the 2018 NL MVP, who has struggled the last two seasons after leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS during each of his first two years in Milwaukee. Pittsburgh got its only run in the fourth on rookie Diego Castillo’s first career homer, which came one pitch after Castillo swung at a slider from Lauer that hit him in the knee.
CUBS 4, RAYS 2: Rookie Seiya Suzuki extended his hitting streak to nine games, tying Akinori Iwamura for the longest by a Japanese-born player at the start of a major league career, and Chicago beat Tampa Bay on a cold night at Wrigley Field. Suzuki singled to left leading off the fourth inning, matching the mark that Iwamura set with the Rays in 2007 and tying Andy Pafko’s record for a Cubs player at the start of his career, set in 1943. Suzuki was thrown out by left fielder Randy Arozarena trying to stretch his hit to a double, a call upheld in a video review. Suzuki is batting .429 after a 2-for-3 night.