Franco homers twice, Phils top Yankees
At Clearwater, Florida, Maikel Franco connected twice for Philadelphia, including an inside-the-park homer. Adam Morgan pitched two scoreless innings, and Brock Stassi hit a gameending single in a 6-5 win over the Yankees.
Yankees starter Adam Warren pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts, and Chris Carter, the NL home run co-leader last season, went 1 for 3. PIRATES (SS) 6, ORIOLES 2 >> At Bradenton, Florida, Gregory Polanco went 3 for 3, drove in two runs and swiped two bases, leading Pittsburgh to the splitsquad win.
Pirates star Andrew McCutchen, who was shopped all winter long, went 1 for 2 with a double and scored a run. Daniel Hudson, trying to make the club in the bullpen, gave up a run and two hits in one inning.
For the Orioles, Adam Jones went 1 for 3 and scored a run, and Jonathan Schoop also had a hit. PIRATES (SS) 7, RAYS 2 >> At Port Charlotte, Florida, Jacob Stallings hit a solo homer in Pittsburgh’s sixrun fifth inning, and Joey Terdoslavich had three hits and two RBIs.
Terdoslavich and Phil Gosselin each had a tworun double in the fifth.
For Tampa Bay, Corey Dickerson went 2 for 4 with a solo home run and starter David Carpenter pitched one perfect inning with a strikeout. MARLINS 8, CARDINALS 7 >> At Jupiter, Florida, Christian Yelich and Justin Bour homered off closer Seung Hwan Oh in the third inning, and Matt den Dekker added a two-run single in the fifth.
Marlins starter Edinson Volquez gave up a run without a hit in his one inning of work.
New Cardinals center fielder Dexter Fowler walked twice and scored twice, and Matt Carpenter hit a three-run homer. BRAVES 7, BLUE JAYS 4 >> At Kissimmee, Florida, Bartolo Colon gave up one run and three hits in two innings in his Braves debut. John Danks followed Colon and was charged with two runs and three hits in 1 1/3 innings.
Toronto utility player Jake Elmore went 3 for 3 with an RBI and catching prospect Reese McGuire drove in a run and went 1 for 3. TIGERS 11, ASTROS 4 >> At Lakeland, Florida, Andrew Romine, Ian Kinsler and Victor Martinez homered in consecutive at-bats in the third inning against minor leaguer Edison Frias. Frias hit the next batter, Miguel Cabrera, and was ejected.
Cabrera went 2 for 2 and James McCann went 2 for 3 with an RBI. Detroit’s Justin Verlander pitched two innings of one-hit ball.
Houston starter Brad Peacock pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out one. RED SOX 8, TWINS 7 >> At Fort Myers, Florida, Hanley Ramirez and Chris Young each hit an RBI double for Boston, and Mookie Betts went 2 for 3 and scored two runs.
Byungho Park and Drew Stubbs homered for Minnesota. Phil Hughes allowed two runs and four hits in two innings.
Welcome, Bryce
Bryce Harper hit a long solo homer and a single, helping the Washington Nationals to an 8-6 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday.
Andrew Stevenson and Matt Skole also connected for Washington, and Gio Gonzalez struck out one in a scoreless first inning. Joe Nathan, bidding to fill the Nationals’ closer spot, gave up one hit in a scoreless third inning.
Mets catcher Kevin Plawecki injured his left leg in a collision at the plate with Washington prospect Rafael Bautista and had to be helped off the field. New York’s Gavin Cecchini went 1 for 1 with two walks and scored twice.
Harper led off the second inning with a drive to right-center against Sean Gilmartin in his first at-bat of spring training, then singled in the fourth.
The 24-year-old Harper won the NL MVP award in 2015, when he hit .330 with 42 homers and 99 RBIs in 153 games. He hopes to after slumping to a .243 batting average, 24 homers and 86 RBIs last year.
Hello There
Cuban outfielder Adolis Garcia could make it up to the St. Louis Cardinals at some point this season, according to general manager John Mozeliak.
“In terms of skillset, I just feel like I would describe him more as a fivetool player, so from a defensive standpoint, above average, from an offensive standpoint, I think there could be some power,” Mozeliak said Saturday.
Garcia, who turns 24 next Thursday, agreed Friday to a minor league contract with a $2.5 million signing bonus and was in camp Saturday ahead of the Cardinals’ exhibition opener against Miami.
Garcia earned MVP honors in Serie Nacional, Cuba’s highest league, in 2016 after hitting .319, with 14 homers and 71 RBIs in 81 games with 15 outfield assists. He then had a brief stint with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan’s Central League.
“Obviously there were other offers and there were other teams, but I picked St. Louis because of the tradition and because it is such a wonderful organization and I knew that I was going to identify with the team and fit in,” Garcia said through an interpreter.
While Garcia worked out with the Cardinals on Saturday, he won’t play in games until after he returns to his current residence in Haiti and obtains a U.S. work visa, a process expected to take a few weeks.