Machado, Smith homers help O’s rally for win over Yanks
The Orioles didn’t acquire Seth Smith for his power stroke, but they obviously knew he had a pretty good one.
Lest anyone forget, he was the guy who hit a home run for the Seattle Mariners in each game of a four-game sweep of the Orioles at Safeco Field last season, so no one should’ve been surprised when he hammered a tworun shot onto the flag court in the seventh Friday night to bring the Orioles from behind in a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees at Camden Yards.
Smith was brought here because of his solid career on-base percentage, which is why he has been in the leadoff spot in the two games he started so far. He has responded with three extra-base hits in his first eight Orioles at-bats, two of them accounting for three runs in the series opener against the Yankees (1-3).
Aside from his homer, he doubled in the bottom of the first inning and scored his team’s first run of the game on an opposite-field single by Adam Jones. But the Yankees had built a four-run lead against veteran starter Ubaldo Jimenez before the Orioles offense finally got in gear.
Manny Machado brought them most of the way back with a threerun homer in the fifth to spoil a solid outing by right-hander Luis Severino. Smith came up in the seventh after Jonathan Schoop reached second on a throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by J.J. Hardy.
Smith worked the count to 2-1 against former Washington Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard (0-1) before hitting a towering fly ball that landed just beyond the railing that tops the out-of-town scoreboard in right field.
Setup reliever Brad Brach and closer Zach Britton did the rest as the Orioles improved to 3-0.
(The Baltimore Sun)
Reds 2, Cardinals 0
In his major-league debut, Cincinnati’s Amir Garrett checked St. Louis on two hits and struck out four in six shutout innings as the Reds beat St. Louis on Friday night.
The 6- foot -5 Garrett, a four-star basketball recruit out of high school who played two years at St. John’s before switching to baseball, looked poised throughout his outing. He threw three pitches for strikes with consistency and needed just 78 pitches to obtain his 18 outs.
Pirates 5, Braves 4
David Freese and Francicso Cervelli hit home runs in the fifth inning as Pittsburgh found its offense against Atlanta in its home opener.
The Pirates, who built a 5-1 lead and hung on, had 11 hits against five Braves pitchers. That came after they totaled 13 hits and three runs in their first two games against Boston.
Tigers 6, Red Sox 5
Rookie JaCoby Jones walked on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning to force in the go-ahead run that made Detroit’s home opener a success.
Joe Kelly walked James McCann to load the bases before losing Jones on a full-count pitch. McCann’s two-run homer in the seventh had given the Tigers a 4-0 lead.
Nationals 7, Phillies 6
Reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer threw 6-plus strong innings in his 2017 debut and Bryce Harper and Daniel Murphy each belted a two-run homer as Washington spoiled Philadelphia’s home opener. Scherzer, who wasn’t starting on Opening Day for the first time in the last three years due to a finger injury, looked like he hadn’t missed a beat from 2016, which saw him win 20 games and his second career Cy Young Award.
Rockies 2, Dodgers 1
Kyle Freeland, making his majorleague debut, overcame a shaky start to the first inning and held Los Angeles to one run and four hits in six innings.
Nolan Arenado doubled home a run in the first inning for the Rockies and Dustin Garneau put them ahead when he hit his first homer in the fifth.
Padres 7, Giants 6
Yangervis Solarte’s four RBIs and rookie Manuel Margot’s two homers lifted San Diego past San Francisco.
Brandon Belt, who had five RBIs, hit his second home run of the game in the eighth, a solo shot pulling the Giants to within 7-6.
Rangers 10, Athletics 5
Nomar Mazara set a career high with six RBIs as Texas picked up its first win of the season. Mazara, who went 3-for-5, hit his first career grand slam and also had an RBI single and a fielder’s choice.
Marlins 7, Mets 2
Derek Diet rich collected three RBI sand Christian Yelich hit a two-run homer as Miami ruined the major league return of New York right-hander Zack Wheeler. Wheeler gave up five runs, six hits and one walk while striking out four in four innings in his first major league start since September 25, 2014.
Rays 10, Blue Jays 8
Tampa Bay scored five times in the first inning, managed to lose that lead, then rallied for a wild win over Toronto.
Steven Souza’s two-run double put the Rays back ahead in the sixth, and five Tampa Bay relievers held off Toronto.
Brewers 2, Cubs 1 (11 innings)
Mike Montgomery’s wild pitch with one out and the bases loaded in the 11th inning was the difference in Milwaukee’s win over Chicago.
Pitching in his third inning of work, Montgomery loaded the bases by hitting pinch-hitter Jett Bandy.
Diamondbacks 7, Indians 3
Paul Goldschmidt hit a go-ahead double in a five-run fifth inning off Josh Tomlin to give Arizona a 4-3 lead, while Yasmany Tomas and Brandon Drury drove in two runs apiece in Arizona’s win over Cleveland.