Eovaldi strikes out 8 in 7 shutout frames as Rangers beat Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. >> Nathan Eovaldi struck out eight in seven shutout innings. Corey Seager homered and the Texas Rangers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Wednesday.
Eovaldi (1-0) scattered four hits and walked one, throwing 103 pitches. After going 5-0 during the Rangers' postseason run to last year's World Series title, the 34-year-old righthander has allowed two runs in 13 innings this season for a 1.38 ERA.
Seager broke a scoreless tie with a leadoff homer in the sixth off Aaron Civale (1-1) and Josh Smith added a two-run single during a three-run ninth against Garrett Cleavinger.
Struggling Rangers reliever Jose Leclerc gave up an RBI single to Harold Ramírez in the ninth. After José Caballero hit a flyout to the warning track with two on, Curtis Mead hit a game-ending comebacker.
Civale allowed one run, four hits and two walks to go with eight strikeouts in six innings.
ASTROS 8, BLUE JAYS 0 >> Yordan Alvarez homered twice amd matched his career high with four hits, Cristian Javier and four relievers combined on a onehitter and Houston beat Toronto.
Javier (1-0) allowed the only hit and pitched five innings. Seth Martinez, Rafael Montero, Tayler Scott and Dylan Coleman worked an inning each.
It's the second game in the series where the Blue Jays were shut out, after Ronel Blanco threw the 17th no-hitter in franchise history in a 10-0 victory Monday night.
ANGELS 10, MARLINS 2 >> Taylor Ward homered, Nolan Schanuel extended his career-starting consecutive on-base streak to 35 games, as Los Angeles Angels beat Miami, sending the Marlins to their first winless seven-game homestand and worst start in franchise history.
Angels starter Patrick Sandoval struck out seven over 5 2/3 innings and overcame an opening day outing in which he allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings. Sandoval (1-1) limited Miami to two runs and four hits. The left-hander absorbed a 101.9 mph comebacker to his left foot hit by Miami's Vidal Brujan in the third, but remained in the game.
CUBS 9, ROCKIES 8 >> Seiya Suzuki homered in his second straight game and drove in four runs and the Chicago Cubs regrouped to beat Colorado after blowing a six-run lead.
The Cubs looked as if they were on their way to another easy win with an 8-2 lead in the sixth after outscoring the Rockies by a combined 17-2 in the first two games. Colorado made a big push, scoring a run in the seventh and five in the eighth to tie it.
Pinch-hitter Miles Mastrobuoni reached on a wild pitch by Nick Mears (0-1) as he struck out leading off the bottom half. He took third on a single by Ian Happ and beat the throw home on Suzuki's fielder's choice grounder to third baseman Ryan McMahon to put Chicago back on top, 9-8.
REDS 4, PHILLIES 1 >> Christian Encarnacion-Strand and Elly De La Cruz had RBI doubles, Frankie Montas pitched 5 2/3 innings and Cincinnati beat Philadelphia after a long rain delay.
The game was originally scheduled for the afternoon, but the start was pushed back three hours because of heavy rain in the forecast. Then the teams waited out an additional delay of 3 hour, 55-minutes — the secondlongest stoppage in the 20-year history of Citizens Bank Park.
Montas (2-0) allowed one run on five hits. Alexis Diaz pitched a the ninth for his first save.
TWINS 7, BREWERS 3 Jackson Chourios became the youngest player in six years to hit a home run but it wasn't enough for Milwaukee, who lost to Minnesota, as Ryan Jeffers hit a tiebreaking three-run drive to cap a five-run seventh inning.
Rhys Hoskins also went deep for the Brewers, who lost their first game after a 4-0 start.
Minnesota's Alex Kiriloff went 4 for 4 with two singles, a double and a triple. Jeffers had four RBIs for the Twins. Chourio led off the fifth by connecting on Daniel Duarte's 1-1 slider for a 402-foot drive
GUARDIANS 8, MARINERS 0 >> Logan Allen scattered four hits over 6 2/3 shutout innings, Steven Kwan had three hits and scored three times in his first three atbats, and Cleveland continued their hot start with a win over the Seattle.
PADRES 3, CARDINALS 2 >> Kyle Higashioka caught two baserunners stealing and homered in the same inning to help Joe Musgrove and San Diego beat the St. Louis and avoid a three-game sweep.
YANKEES 6, DIAMONDBACKS 5, 11 INN. >> Aaron Judge hit his first home run of the season and added an RBI double in a two-run 11th inning, boosting New York over Arizona.
ORIOLES 4, ROYALS 3 >> James McCann had a twoout, two-run single in the ninth inning and Baltimore emerged from a fivehour rain delay to beat Kansas City.
NATIONALS 5, PIRATES 3 >> Joey Gallo emphatically ended an 0-for-12 seasonopening drought with an upper-deck homer that traveled 447 feet and two other hits, and Washington beat Pittsburgh.