AROUND THE HORN
Rangers: Rangers rookie right-hander Jack Leiter was optioned to Triple-A Round Rock on Friday, one day after allowing seven runs in his major league debut. The Rangers recalled right-hander Owen White from Round Rock to provide bullpen depth for the start of their weekend series against the Braves. Leiter, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft, allowed seven runs on eight hits in 3 ⅔ innings in Thursday’s 9-7 win at the Tigers. He walked three and struck out three. Leiter, the son of Al Leiter, who won 162 games in 19 major league seasons, was promoted after he went 1-1 with 25 strikeouts and three walks in 14 innings over three appearances for Round Rock.
Cubs: Jameson Taillon had a solid first start, Nico Hoerner doubled twice and the Cubs rolled past the Marlins 8-3 on Friday. Taillon (1-0), reinstated from the injured list a day earlier, retired the first 10 Miami batters before Bryan De La Cruz smacked his fourth homer of the season. By then, the Cubs had a six-run cushion. They’ve won two straight and five of six. The Cubs tagged A.J. Puk (0-4) for a pair of runs in the first inning and ended his day with a four-run third capped by Miguel Amaya’s two-out, two-run double. Puk was charged for the Cubs’ first seven runs after giving up seven hits and three walks while striking out four. He’s lost all four starts to begin the season. Taillon started the spring on the injured list with a back strain but seemed to have worked the problem out in a pair of minor-league rehab starts. He gave up three hits without a walk and struck out four in five innings.
Giants: Logan Webb retired 19 straight batters on his way to seven smooth innings and the Giants beat the Diamondbacks 5-0 Thursday night to open a four-game series. Webb (2-1) struck out five and induced 13 groundball outs, allowing just two hits and a walk in a game that took only 2 hours, 12 minutes. “I think today’s a perfect example of the type of team we are,” Webb said. “We’re going to grind out at-bats, we’re going to go till the end, we’re going to play great defense, and that’s what we did.” Wilmer Flores had a pinch-hit, two-run double in the eighth and Mike Yastrzemski added a two-run single. LaMonte Wade Jr. delivered a sacrifice fly in the third. Jung Hoo Lee singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. The Giants earned their first shutout of the season, while the Diamondbacks were blanked for the first time and fell to 1-6 in series openers. “That’s probably as good a game as we’ve played all year, all the way around,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “We got some big hits, we got great starting pitching, we got good relief pitching, we played good defense. All of the above. And I think that’s the type of team we’re capable of.” Diamondbacks starter Ryne Nelson exited after two scoreless innings with a bruised right elbow when he was hit on the pitching arm by an 87 mph line drive off the bat of Yastrzemski. X-rays were negative.