Quick Hitters
Grace replaces Scherzer, Nats beat Padres
SAN DIEGO — Matt Grace pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in place of injured Max Scherzer and Howie Kendrick hit a leadoff homer and drove in two runs to help the Washington Nationals beat the San Diego Padres 7-1 on Friday night.
Scherzer was scratched from his scheduled start and placed on the 10-day disabled list with a sore neck. Grace and five relievers held San Diego to four hits.
Grace, who grew up in the Los Angeles area and pitched at UCLA, made his first big league start and his first start since 2012 when he was with Single-A Potomac. It was his 61st big league appearance.
The left-hander allowed two hits, struck out one and walked one. He retired Cory Spangenberg on a grounder to open the fifth and manager Dusty Baker came out to get him after 52 pitches.
Shawn Kelley came on and with one out allowed Dusty Coleman’s solo homer into the second deck in left field, his fourth.
Joe Blanton (2-2) pitched a scoreless sixth for the win.
Kendrick homered to left on the third pitch from Luis Perdomo, his sixth leadoff shot this season and seventh homer overall. Kendrick also hit an RBI single with no outs in the seventh to chase Perdomo and give the Nationals a 5-1 lead. Pinch-hitter Alejandro De Aza hit a sacrifice fly one batter earlier.
Adam Lind hit an RBI single in the sixth.
Washington’s Michael A. Taylor robbed Yangervis Solarte of a home run with a perfectly timed leap to catch the ball above the 396 sign in center field leading off the second, and right fielder Andrew Stevenson made a nice running catch of Wil Myers’ fly ball with a runner on third to end the fourth.
Perdomo (6-8) allowed five runs, three earned, and six hits while striking out five and walking three.
Dodgers acquire Mets’ Granderson in trade
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers have acquired outfielder Curtis Granderson and cash from the New York Mets for a player to be named later or cash.
The teams announced the deal after their games Friday night. The 36-year-old Granderson is hitting .228 with 19 home runs and 52 RBIs this year.
Los Angeles is running away with the NL West. The Dodgers are 86-34 after Friday’s win at Detroit . Granderson gives Los Angeles another option for the outfield along with Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Chris Taylor and Joc Pederson.
Pederson has been struggling quite a bit of late, hitting .149 since the All-Star break. Granderson, like Pederson, offers some power from the left side of the plate.
This is Granderson’s fourth team as he started with Tigers then went to Yankees. He signed a $60 million, four-year contract with the Mets before the 2014 season. He hit 95 home runs — including a grand slam in his final at-bat — for the Mets in 573 games and was part of the team that won the National League pennant in 2015.
Granderson said he had mixed emotions.
The first half of Friday night’s season-opening game between Horizon and Cibola was a significant improvement upon last year’s, and while there were positives, the end result was only one point off from the blowout in 2016 and displayed that the Raiders are a team with only two returning starters on offense and a defense with a majority of new faces.
Cibola kept Horizon at bay early on, with the score tied 7-7 until the Huskies got a touchdown right before halftime, but Horizon would go on to outscore Cibola, 29-0, in the second half and leave Raider Field with a 43-7 victory in hand.
“I thought we played a great first half, especially defensively,” Cibola coach Lucky Arvizo said. “I thought our defense stepped up real well in the first half. Offensively, we knew coming into the game that their D-line was really good and they had real quick (line)backers; that was kind of the strength of their team. We just had to get what we could get and have our defense keep us in