Hicks homers as Yankees blank Blue Jays
NEW YORK >> Aaron Hicks hit a two-run homer and made jumping catch in his first left-field start in four years, leading the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Tuesday night.
New York scored first for the first time in five games this season when Hicks drove a 2-0 slider from Yusei Kikuchi (0-1) into the right-center field seats in the second inning.
Nestor Cortes and four relievers combined on a five-hitter, quieting a Blue Jays offense that produced 23 runs and 38 hits in the first four games. Clay Holmes (1-0) got the win.
Kikuchi, making his Blue Jays debut after signing a $36 million, three-year deal contract, gave up three runs — two earned — and five hits in 3 1/3 innings. BRAVES 16, NATIONALS 4 >> Marcell Ozuna homered twice for Atlanta, and Ozzie Albies drove in three runs.
Coming off an 11-2 loss, the Braves began the game with a .201 team batting average before banging out 19 hits and going 9 for 19 with runners in scoring position.
Ozuna, Austin Riley, Adam Duvall, Dansby Swanson and Orlando Arcia each had two RBIs. Bryce Elder (1-0), a fifthround draft pick out of the University of Texas in 2020, won his major league debut.
Washington's Patrick Corbin (0-2) gave up six runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Atlanta has won 15 of 21 against Washington since the start of last season. INDIANS 10, REDS 5 >> José Ramírez hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, remarkable rookie Steven Kwan reached base three more times, and Cleveland spoiled Cincinnati's home opener.
Andrés Giménez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning off Hunter Strickland (0-1). Ramírez, who tripled and singled earlier, capped a six-run burst with his third career slam, connecting against Daniel Duarte for a 10-4 lead.
Kwan has now reached base at least three times in all five games of his major league career. The 24-yearold outfielder kept up his super start with a single, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Trevor Stephan (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning for the win.
CUBS 2, PIRATES 1 >> Seiya Suzuki homered twice, Drew Smyly pitched five scoreless innings and the Cubs spoiled the Pirates' home opener.
Suzuki connected for leadoff shots in the fifth and seventh. One of the top players in Japan, Suzuki signed an $85 million, five-year contract with the Cubs last month.
Smyly (1-0) permitted three hits and walked none in his Cubs debut. The lefthander agreed to a oneyear contract last month.
The Pirates got their only run on Bryan Reynolds' homer against Mychal Givens in the eighth.
David Robertson worked a perfect ninth for his second save.
José Quintana (0-1) made his first appearance for Pittsburgh, pitching five effective innings against one of his former teams.
METS 2, PHILLIES 0 >> Tylor Megill delivered his second straight scoreless start for the Mets, and Brandon Nimmo homered.
Francisco Lindor had an RBI single for the Mets, who recovered from blowing a four-run lead in the eighth
inning against Philadelphia on Monday night to snap a two-game skid.
Megill (2-0), who got a spot in the rotation only when two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was sidelined by a shoulder problem in spring training, again looked like an ace for 5 1/3 innings. WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 2 >> Luis Robert hit his first homer of the season, a tiebreaking drive in the sixth inning that led the White Sox to their third consecutive victory.
Robert connected against Matt Brash (0-1), a 23-yearold right-hander making his major league debut.
Seattle lost its third straight game after starting with two wins. The Mariners have scored 10 runs: only Baltimore (six) and Milwaukee (nine) began the night with fewer.
Seattle was 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, getting an RBI single from Jesse Winker with two outs in the ninth off Liam Hendriks, who struck out Mitch Haniger for his first save. The Mariners are hitting .156 (7 for 45) with runners in scoring position this season.
BREWERS 5, ORIOLES 4 >> Andrew McCutchen hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, Devin Williams pitched out of his own jam in the eighth, and Milwaukee held on for the win.
Cedric Mullins hit a grand slam for Baltimore.
McCutchen had three RBIs, and Willy Adames scored three runs for the Brewers. Hoby Milner (1-0) earned his first big league win, and Josh Hader got his second save.
RED SOX 5, TIGERS 3 >> Rafael Devers had three hits and two RBIs, helping the Red Sox rally for the win.
Kiké Hernández doubled twice for Boston, which trailed 3-0 after five innings. Garrett Whitlock (10) pitched four hitless innings to win in his first appearance since the Red Sox announced his $18.75 million, four-year contract on Sunday.
ANGELS 4, MARLINS 3 >> Pinch-runner Tyler Wade slid home when Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas bobbled Max Stassi's grounder in the ninth inning, and the Angels swept a two-game interleague series with Miami.
Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer and Jack Mayfield had an RBI triple for the Angels, who went 3-3 on their season-opening homestand. Closer Raisel Iglesias (1-0) got the win. ROCKIES 4, RANGERS 1 >> Kris Bryant got his first two RBIs in a Colorado uniform and the Rockies stretched their winning streak to four games with a win over Texas.
Bryant had a go-ahead RBI double in the third inning that made it 2-1, and added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Five games into a $182 million, seven-year contract, Bryant is batting .350 (7 of 20) with hits in every game. But the fourtime All-Star hadn't driven in a run until his double down the right-field line off Martin Perez (0-1) right after Charlie Blackmon's RBI single.
CARDINAL 6, ROYALS 5 >> Albert Pujols homered for the first time since returning to St. Louis and Andrew Knizner hit a three-run shot as the Cardinals defeated Kansas City.
Nolan Arenado also went deep for St. Louis, which has won 20 of 27 interleague games against the in-state Royals since 2017.