Kershaw perfect through 7 innings, Dodgers beat Twins
MINNEAPOLIS » Clayton Kershaw took a perfect game through seven innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers in his season debut before being pulled, dominating the Minnesota Twins with 13 strikeouts in 21 batters during a 7-0 victory on Wednesday.
Kershaw was pulled after 80 pitches on a cold afternoon at Target Field. Alex Vesia relieved for the eighth and gave up Minnesota’s only hit, a single by Gary Sánchez. Kershaw, a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner, struck out the side in the sixth and fanned every Twins batter at least once except Gio Urshela.
Cody Bellinger, Gavin Lux and Austin Barnes hit back-to-back-to-back home runs in the eighth against reliever Dereck Rodriguez, who made his Twins debut.
Max Muncy homered and Justin Turner hit a two-run single in the first for the Dodgers.
Twins starter Chris Paddack had a rough debut, less than a week after he was acquired in a trade with the Padres. Paddack lasted four innings, with six hits and three runs allowed.
BLUE JAYS 6, YANKEES 4 » Vladimir Guerrero Jr. shook off a bloody gash on his right ring finger to hit three home runs, including two off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, and Toronto beat New York.
George Springer hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh, and Toronto held off the Yankees despite homers from Anthony Rizzo, Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres — and a fly in the eighth by pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton that was caught on the warning track.
Guerrero homered off Cole in the first inning, had his hand accidentally spiked on a play at first base in the second, then hammered a two-run shot against Cole in the third. He doubled in the sixth and launched a 443-foot leadoff homer in the eighth.
Adam Cimber (1-1) pitched a scoreless inning for the win. Jordan Romano pitched the ninth for his fourth save of the season.
Cole struck out six in 5 2/3 innings, giving up three runs on Guerrero’s homers. Three of the four hits against him were by Guerrero. Chad Green (01) took the loss.
METS 9, PHILLIES 6 » Pete Alonso drove in five runs with a homer and two doubles, Max Scherzer settled in after working out of an early jam and New York beat Philadelphia.
Alonso drilled a threerun homer and Brandon Nimmo hit a solo shot in support of Scherzer (2-0), who allowed one run and five hits with seven strikeouts in five innings. All nine batters who started the game for New York reached base at least once.
NATIONALS 3, BRAVES 1 » Josiah Gray allowed one hit in five scoreless innings, and Washington beat Max Fried and Atlanta, taking two of three games in the series and dropping the World Series champions to 3-4 on their opening homestand.
Gray (1-1) struck out five, walked three and also hit a batter. Tanner Rainey earned his second save.
Atlanta’s Austin Riley had two hits, including a homer off Kyle Finnegan in the sixth.
Fried (0-2) allowed three runs — two earned — and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He was struck on the right leg by a grounder in the sixth, gave up singles to the next two batters and was replaced by Collin McHugh.
PIRATES 6, CUBS 2 » Ben Gamel hit a three-run homer in the first inning, Ke’Bryan Hayes went 4 for 4 a day after getting a $70 million, eight-year contract and Pittsburgh beat Chicago.
Kevin Newman hit a two-run triple in the third for the Pirates, who went 3 for 7 with runners in scoring position, a day after going 0 for 10.
Seiya Suzuki was 1 for 3 with an RBI single in the fourth for the Cubs. Willson Contreras hit a 453foot homer for Chicago.
GUARDIANS 7, REDS 3 » José Ramírez homered, doubled and drove in three runs, Owen Miller hit two home runs and Cleveland beat Cincinnati for its fourth straight win.
Rookie Steven Kwan went 0 for 4, but drew a bases-loaded walk in the second inning that put Cleveland ahead to stay as it completed a two-game sweep. Oscar Mercado also homered for the Guardians and Myles Straw matched a career high with four hits.
Nick Lodolo (0-1) made his major league debut and allowed seven hits and five runs with three walks and four strikeouts in four innings.
RED SOX 9, TIGERS 7 » Jackie Bradley, Kiké Hernández and Rafael Devers hit consecutive RBI doubles in the fourth inning to chase former teammate Eduardo Rodriguez, and Boston held on against Detroit.
Nathan Eovaldi (10) gave up solo homers to Jonathan Schoop and Akil Baddoo and allowed allowed two runs, four hits and a walk over five innings. Hansel Robles earned the save.
DIAMONDBACKS 3, ASTROS 2, 10 INNINGS » Ketel Marte had the game-ending sacrifice fly in the 10th inning after Seth Beer tied it with a single as Arizona rallied to beat Houston and snapped a four-game skid despite leaving 14 runners on base.
The game was full of missed opportunities for both teams — tied at 1-all through nine innings — until each scratched across runs in the 10th.
BREWERS 4, ORIOLES 2 » Kolten Wong tripled in the tiebreaking run in the ninth inning, and Milwaukee squeezed past Baltimore after blowing a tworun lead in the eighth.
The Brewers received a sparkling performance from Corbin Burnes, who flashed the form that earned him last year’s NL Cy Young Award. But he failed to get the win despite throwing seven shutout innings, giving up three hits, striking out eight and walking one. Brad Boxberger (1-0) earned the win and Josh Hader picked up his third save.
WHITE SOX 6, MARINERS 4 » Tim Anderson homered and drove in three runs in the rain, and banged-up Chicago beat Robbie Ray and Seattle.