McMahon hits walk-off grand slam to lift Rockies
Blue Jays shutout Yankees in their home opener
DENVER — Ryan McMahon hit a walk-off grand slam after committing an error in the ninth inning that allowed the Tampa Bay Rays to score the go-ahead run, and the Colorado Rockies rallied for a 10-7 victory in their home opener Friday.
McMahon, who was with the Albuquerque Isotopes for parts of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, sent the first pitch he saw from reliever Jason Adam over the fence in right-center to set off a roar from the sellout crowd at Coors Field.
After leading 6-2 in the ninth, the Rockies let the Rays take a 7-6 lead as Ben Rortvedt scored the tiebreaking run when McMahon made a throw in the dirt from third that first baseman Kris Bryant couldn’t scoop.
McMahon made up for that in a big way with his first homer of the season, propelling the Rockies to their second win in front of 48,399 fans on a sun-splashed afternoon. Colorado improved to 17-13 in home openers at Coors Field since the hitter-friendly park opened in 1995.
“Crazy one,” McMahon said. “Not how you draw it up, but all that matters is we won and hopefully this puts us back on the right track.”
BLUE JAYS 3, YANKEES 0: In New York, pinch-hitter Ernie Clement had a tiebreaking solo home run off Caleb Ferguson leading off the seventh inning, and Toronto beat the Yankees in New York’s home opener.
Juan Soto went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts in his pinstripes debut, slamming his bat and helmet after making the final out of the eighth.
He bowed to fans in right field in the top of the first and was greeted with a standing ovation when he came to the plate in the bottom half. Soto is in a 1-for-16 slide after a 9-for-17 start.
BRAVES 6, ARIZONA 5, 10 INNINGS: In Atlanta, Travis d’Arnaud singled off the left-field wall to drive home the winning run in the 10th inning and Atlanta, which scored twice in the ninth, rallied late to beat Arizona.
The hit by d’Arnaud off Scott McCough (0-2) knocked in pinch-runner Forrest Wall from second base. Wall scored easily as d’Arnaud began celebrating after rounding first.
The Braves trailed 5-3 before scoring two runs off Kevin Ginkel in the ninth. Matt Olson’s double drove in Austin Riley, who reached on shortstop Blaze Alexander’s fielding error. Pinch-hitter Jarred Kelenic’s bloop double to shallow left field drove in Olson to tie the game.
CUBS 9, DODGERS 7: In Chicago, Seiya Suzuki had three RBIs and Michael Busch homered against his former team, helping Chicago beat Los Angeles.
Dansby Swanson also connected as Chicago earned its fifth consecutive win after dropping its first two games of the season. Ian Happ added a key two-run triple on a windy, sun-splashed afternoon, and Nick Madrigal had two hits.
Suzuki got the better of Shohei Ohtani in the opener of a weekend series that features four of the majors’ best Japanese players. Ohtani hit a two-run homer in his first career game at Wrigley Field, but Suzuki lined a two-run double during Chicago’s five-run second and a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
RANGERS 10, ASTROS 2: In Arlington, Texas, Adolis García homered and drove in four runs, Texas left-hander Cody Bradford allowed only two singles pitching into the eighth inning and World Series champion Texas beat Houston in the first meeting of the instate rivals since last year in the American League Championship Series.
The Rangers led 5-0 in the second after Garcia’s three-run shot, his AL-leading fourth homer in seven games this season. He pushed his RBI total to 10 with a two-out single that made it 7-0 in the fifth, an inning before Marcus Semien also hit a three-run homer.
Semien had three hits and walked twice for the Rangers, who finished with 16 hits and six walks.
PHILLIES 4, NATIONALS 0: In Washington, Bryce Harper, still hearing boos at Nationals Park all these years later, doubled twice and singled in a run to back Aaron Nola’s 5 2/3 scoreless innings, helping Philadelphia beat Washington.
Another former player for the Nationals, Kyle Schwarber, contributed a two-run single in the second inning for the visitors.
Nola (1-1) allowed a pair of hits in the third inning and a total of four walks and otherwise was in command after allowing six earned runs in his first start of the season — so his ERA went way down, from 14.54 to 5.40.
ORIOLES 5, PIRATES 2: In Pittsburgh, Ryan O’Hearn, Gunnar Henderson and Cedric Mullins homered, Grayson Rodriguez pitched 6 1/3 strong innings and Baltimore beat Pittsburgh to spoil a their home opener that was played through occasional snow flurries.
Rodriguez (2-0) gave up solo homers to Oneil Cruz and Jared Triolo among six hits. He struck out seven and walked two in a matchup with fellow 22-year-old Jared Jones.
Jones (1-1) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks in his second career start. He struck out 10 in 5 2/3 innings against Miami last Saturday.
Jones has induced 43 swings and misses, the most in a pitcher’s first two starts since Major League Baseball started tracking pitches in 2008.
GIANTS 3, PADRES 2: In San Francisco, Thairo Estrada doubled home Matt Chapman for the winning run with one out in the ninth inning, and San Francisco gave new manager Bob Melvin a win in its home opener against his former franchise by beating San Diego.
Standing on second base, Estrada threw his arms into the air and pumped his arm when Chapman slid safely into home and beat the throw. It was Estrada’s second career game-winning RBI and first since Aug. 14, 2022, against the Pirates.
Enyel De Los Santos (0-1) replaced Wandy Peralta and plunked Chapman. Estrada then hit an 0-1 fastball into left-center.
Camilo Doval (1-0) worked out of a jam for the win.
TIGERS 5, ATHLETICS 4: In Detroit, Gio Urshela’s two-out double in the eighth inning brought in the go-ahead run and Detroit defeated Oakland in its home opener.
Matt Vierling and Mark Canha hit solo homers for Detroit. Spencer Torkelson doubled twice, scored two runs and drove in another for the Tigers, who are off to a 6-1 start.
Detroit starter Tarik Skubal gave up four runs and struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings. Jason Foley (2-0) got the win with a scoreless inning of relief and Alex Lange got the last out to record his first save.
METS 3, REDS 2: In Cincinnati, Edwin Díaz pitched out of trouble in the ninth inning to earn his first save since October 2022, and New York held off Cincinnati.
Jeff McNeil hit his first home run of the season and Jose Quintana provided a solid start as the Mets won their second straight one-run game after opening 0-5.
New York avoided its first 0-6 start since 1963 by scoring twice in the bottom of the ninth to beat Detroit 2-1 in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader. The Mets were hitless through seven inning in that game.
ROYALS 2, WHITE SOX 1: In Kansas City, Mo., MJ Melendez broke an eighth-inning tie with a single to help Kansas City beat Chicago.
With one out, Melendez hit a soft liner to left off Michael Kopech (0-1) to score pinch-runner Dairon Blanco.
Chris Stratton (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth for the victory, and James McArthur got a game-ending double-play grounder for his first save.