Braves take battle of two best teams
ATLANTA >> Chris Sale shook off a homer on the seventh pitch of the game and Marcell Ozuna kept up his torrid start with two more RBIs, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Cleveland Guardians 6-2 Friday night in the opener of a series matching MLB's two best teams.
The reigning NL East champion Braves won for the 10th time in 11 games to improve to 18-6, pushing them a game ahead of the AL-leading Guardians (18-8).
Sale (3-1) surrendered a homer to the very first hitter, Steven Kwan, whose 389-foot shot down the right-field line bounced around in the Chop House restaurant. Braves right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. barely moved as Kwan circled the bases with the third leadoff homer of his career.
That was pretty much it against Sale, who gave up only one more hit while going seven innings for his third straight start. He walked one, struck out six and threw 67 of 95 pitches for strikes.
CUBS 7, RED SOX 1 >> Shota Imanaga continued an impressive start to his major league career by pitching one-run ball into the seventh inning to lead Chicago over Boston.
Signed to a $53 million, four-year deal during the offseason after spending his eight-year, professional career in Japan, the 30-year-old Imanaga (4-0) beat Boston righthander Kutter Crawford in a matchup of two pitchers with impressive ERAs.
Coming off a threegame sweep at Wrigley Field over the Astros, the Cubs rode a two-hit, twoRBI night by rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong for their fifth win in six games. Patrick Wisdom added a pinch-hit, two-run double.
Tyler O'Neill hit his eighth homer for the Red Sox, who fell to 3-8 in Fenway Park.
DODGERS 12, BLUE JAYS 2 >> Shohei Ohtani responded to boos from the Toronto crowd by hitting his seventh home run, Max Muncy and Will Smith also went deep and Los Angeles extended its winning streak to five games with a rout of the Blue Jays.
Smith had four hits and three RBIs as the Dodgers won in their first trip to Canada since 2016.
Muncy's fifth homer of the season was a three-run shot off Blue Jays righthander Chris Bassitt (2-4) that highlighted the Dodgers' six-run third inning.
Smith hit a solo homer off righty Trevor Richards in the fourth, his second of the season.
Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone (2-1) allowed one and two hits over a career-high seven innings, earning his second win in three starts.
ROYALS 8, TIGERS 0 >> Seth Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings and Kansas City won its fourth straight game, beating Detroit.
Lugo allowed three singles and matched a career high with nine strikeouts in a game played at 1:10 pm due to the NFL draft festivities in downtown Detroit on Friday evening.
Tigers starter Reese Olson allowed one run on three hits and three walks in seven innings, striking out eight.
Kansas City led 1-0 before scoring seven runs in the ninth inning. The teams plays the second game of the series on Saturday evening.
NATIONALS 3, MARLINS 1 >> Joey Meneses hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning and Washington beat Miami.
Jacob Young and Trey Lipscomb had two hits each while Derek Law (11) struck out five over two scoreless innings of relief for the Nationals.
The Marlins lost their fourth straight and dropped to an NL-worst 6-21. They remain winless this season in series openers.
Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher (1-1) allowed a leadoff single to Lipscomb and walked CJ Abrams with one out. Jesse Winker reached on an infield single before Meneses hit a line drive to center.
Kyle Finnegan pitched the ninth for his eighth save.
CARDINALS 4, METS 2 >> Alec Burleson hit his first homer in almost nine months, a three-run blast that powered St. Louis to a win over New York.
Burleson's second-inning round-tripper off José Buttó was his first since he homered against the Minnesota Twins last Aug. 3.
WHITE SOX 9, RAYS 4 >> Lighthitting Martín Maldonado hit a three-run homer, Eloy Jiménez added a two-runshot and the MLB-worst Chicago snapped a sevengame losing streak with its fourth win of the season, a victory over Tampa Bay.
The nine runs were a season-high for Chicago, which at 4-22 is off to the worst start in franchise history through 26 games. Baltimore began 2-24 in 1988.
RANGERS 2, REDS 1 >> Marcus Semien homered to break an eighth-inning tie, helping Texas beat Cincinnati.
Semien pulled a 1-1 fastball from Lucas Sims (1-1) down the line in left.
Kirby Yates got his fourth save in four chances, pitching a scoreless ninth after José Leclerc (2-2) retired all three batters in the eighth in his fifth consecutive scoreless appearance.