Red Sox top Twins in near-freezing game
Snow couldn’t cool Devers’ red-hot bat
MINNEAPOLIS — Rafael Devers homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 on a snowy Tuesday in a series opener moved back following the fatal police shooting of a Black man in a nearby suburb.
Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer and Bobby Dalbec added a pair of RBI doubles as Boston won its seventh in a row after losing its first three games of the season.
Monday’s game was postponed due to safety and sensitivity concerns in the Twin Cities after the police shooting a day earlier of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The Twins held a moment of silence for Wright prior to Tuesday’s game.
Snow flurries fell for most of the game and it was 33 degrees for the first pitch. That made for the third-coldest start at Target Field, the record being 27 degrees on April 7, 2018.
Adam Ottavino (1-0) earned the win with a scoreless inning of relief. Matt Barnes pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
Randy Dobnak (0-2) took the loss for Minnesota, which has lost three in a row.
ROYALS 3, ANGELS 2: In Kansas City, Mo., catcher Salvador Perez picked David Fletcher off third with the bases loaded for the final out in the ninth inning, help
ing Kansas City beat Shohei Ohtani and Los Angeles.
Danny Duffy pitched one-run ball over six innings, and Perez had two hits and an RBI.
Ohtani showed off impressive speed on an infield single in the first and added a 431-foot homer to right field in the fifth.
MARLINS 14, BRAVES 8: In Atlanta, Adam Duvall drove in seven runs against his former teammates with four hits, including two home runs, and Miami beat Max Fried and Atlanta.
Duvall’s two-run double during a four-run fourth inning gave Miami the lead. He hit his first homer of the game in the third inning and added a three-run shot in the seventh.
Duvall tied a Marlins record by becoming the sixth player to drive in seven.
Fried (0-1) gave up eight runs, seven earned, and nine hits in four innings.
Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer off Pablo López, and Ozzie Albies added another homer to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead in the first inning.
John Curtiss (1-0) threw 1⅔ scoreless innings as the first of five Miami relievers.
INDIANS 2, WHITE SOX 0: In Chicago, AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber pitched three-hit ball over nine innings while Lucas Giolito nearly matched him before Cleveland broke through in the 10th to beat Chicago.
Bieber (1-1) struck out 11 and has fanned 35 in his first three starts for the second straight year.
Giolito also allowed only three hits and fanned eight. He was pulled after issuing his second walk to begin the eighth inning.
CUBS 3, BREWERS 2: In Milwaukee, Willson Contreras struck back after getting plunked again by Milwaukee, hitting a two-run homer in the eighth and enjoying his trip around the bases as Chicago rallied.
Contreras, who has already been hit by a pitch from the Brewers three times this season, got his revenge when he hit a towering drive to left-center off Brent Suter (0-1).
TIGERS 8, ASTROS 2: In Houston, Wilson Ramos hit two home runs and Renato Núñez and rookie Akil Baddoo each homered for the second straight game as Detroit slugged its way to a second straight win over Houston.
Nomar Mazara also homered to give the Tigers a season-high five long balls. The Tigers spoiled the Astros debut of Jake Odorizzi (0-1).
BLUE JAYS 7, YANKEES 3: In Dunedin, Fla., Hyun Jin Ryu cruised into the seventh inning, Marcus Semien and Rowdy Tellez homered, and Toronto beat New York. Ryu (1-1) allowed only an unearned run over 6⅔ innings, striking out seven.
Yankees center fielder Aaron Hicks was back in the lineup and went 3 for 4 after sitting out Monday’s game following the police shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, in Minnesota.
MARINERS 4-6, ORIOLES 3-7: In Baltimore, Kyle Seager hit an RBI double in the eighth and Seattle won its third extra-inning game in as many tries this season, beating Baltimore in the first game of a doubleheader.
Baltimore’s Ramón Urías hit a game-ending single with two outs in the seventh of the second game.
METS 4-4, PHILLIES 3-0: In New York, Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar each hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to give New York the win over Philadelphia in the first game of their doubleheader and Marcus Stroman tossed six spotless innings in Game 2 to complete the Mets sweep.
Brandon Nimmo had three hits and three RBIs from the leadoff spot. Jonathan Villar followed up his game-winning single in the opener with a runscoring double.
RANGERS 8, RAYS 3: In St. Petersburg, Fla., Nick Solak and Charlie Culberson drove in three runs apiece, Kyle Gibson pitched seven strong innings and Texas beat Tampa Bay to end a season-high fourgame losing streak.
Solak delivered the biggest blow in a four-run fourth-inning against Ryan Yarbrough (0-2), a double down the left-field line that cleared the bases.
ATHLETICS 7, D’BACKS 5: In Phoenix, Jed Lowrie hit a tying, three-run homer in the seventh inning, Seth Brown had a solo shot in the next frame and Oakland rallied from a five-run deficit to beat Arizona.
Arizona’s bullpen was sharp before unraveling in the seventh inning.
PIRATES 8, PADRES 4: In Pittsburgh, Jacob Stallings had three hits and three RBIs, and Pittsburgh chased Blake Snell in the first inning before beating San Diego.
The game lasted 4 hours, 7 minutes, and included 17 walks, seven hit batters and 27 runners left on base.
CARDINALS 14, NATIONALS 3: In St. Louis, Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter all homered off Stephen Strasburg and St. Louis hammered Washington.
Jack Flaherty (2-0) allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts in five innings as St. Louis snapped a three-game losing streak.