Back-to-back HRs spark Reds to a blowout
Elly De La Cruz and Tyler Stephenson connected for back-to-back home runs and Andrew Abbott pitched seven strong innings to lift the Cincinnati Reds to an 11-1 win against the host Chicago White Sox on Friday.
Cincinnati collected 12 hits, including five for extra bases, while drawing nine walks.
Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Santiago Espinal and De La Cruz each contributed two hits and three RBIs to the Reds’ attack. It was plenty of support for Abbott (1-1).
The left-hander gave up one run and four hits in a season-high seven innings while striking out three and walking none. The Cincinnati defense was sharp, as well. Reds right fielder Jake Fraley crashed against the fence to rob Paul DeJong of a hit to end the Chicago second.
Fraley singled home a run to start the scoring in Cincinnati’s five-run third, his first of two hits.
Chris Flexen endured the shortest among his three starts with the White Sox, as the Reds reached the right-hander for six runs and seven hits in 22⁄3 innings. Flexen (0-3) fanned two and walked one.
Rockies 12, Blue Jays 4
Nolan Jones and Ezequiel Tovar led a 20-hit attack with solo home runs and visiting Colorado defeated Toronto.
Jones, Tovar, Ryan McMahon and Kris Bryant each had two RBIs for the Rockies, who won in Toronto for the first time in the 10 games they have played there in team history.
McMahon was 4-for-6, Brendan Rodgers was 3-for-4 with one RBI and Brenton Doyle was 3-for-5 with one RBI for the Rockies, who won for the fourth time in 14 games.
Daulton Varsho and Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit solo homers for the Blue Jays, who have lost two in a row.
Colorado right-hander Ryan Feltner (1-1) allowed two runs, eight hits and two walks with four strikeouts in five innings.
Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman (0-2) allowed six runs and 10 hits with four strikeouts in 32⁄3 innings.
Angels 7, Red Sox 0
Taylor Ward highlighted his threeRBI night with a home run while Reid Detmers threw 61⁄3 scoreless innings to lead visiting Los Angeles over Boston.
Ward became the last Los Angeles batter to record one of the team’s 12 hits when he socked a two-run shot in the sixth inning.
Anthony Rendon, Nolan Schanuel and Aaron Hicks were all repeat hitters for the Angels, supporting Detmers (3-0) who struck out seven while allowing just three hits – none after the third inning – and two walks in his start.
Boston’s defensive miscues behind starting pitcher Tanner Houck (2-1) helped the visitors to take immediate control, never looking back after turning in a three-run first inning.
After Anthony Rendon sent a single into right and Nolan Schanuel was hit by a pitch to begin the Angels’ at-bats, Mike Trout reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases as Red Sox shortstop David Hamilton bobbled a potential double play turn.
Another double play that wasn’t finished allowed Ward to reach and Rendon to score the first Angels run before Hicks’ line single to center in the next atbat doubled the lead. After a wild pitch, Brandon Drury’s grounder made it 3-0.
Brewers 11, Orioles 1
Willy Adames had three hits, including a home run, Freddy Peralta pitched six strong innings and visiting Milwaukee routed Baltimore.
Gary Sanchez and William Contreras also homered for Milwaukee, which has won three straight, and former Oriole Joey Ortiz had three hits. Adames finished a triple short of the cycle.
Brewers star Christian Yelich left the game in the middle of the second inning with lower back discomfort. He singled in the top of the first, raising his batting average to .333.
Peralta (2-0) allowed a run on five hits. He struck out 11 without a walk and his earned run average after three starts is 2.55.
Top prospects Jackson Chourio of the Brewers and Jackson Holliday of the Orioles, both 20, matched up for the first time. Chourio went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts. Holliday was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and is 0-for-11 to start his career.
Colton Cowser hit his third homer in two days and doubled for Baltimore.
Braves 8, Marlins 1
Max Fried retired the side in order in four of his first five innings, leading Atlanta over host Miami.
Ex-Marlins star Marcell Ozuna led Atlanta’s offense, going 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs.
Miami is 0-8 at home this season. For the Braves, it was a turnaround performance after getting beaten 16-4 by the New York Mets on Thursday.
Fried (1-0), who entered the game with an ugly 18.00 ERA after his first two starts, allowed four hits, one walk and one run with four strikeouts in 61⁄3 innings. He lowered his ERA to 8.74.
Trevor Rogers (0-2) took the loss, allowing eight hits, one walk and two runs with five strikeouts in five innings. Rogers is 0-6 in eight career starts against Atlanta.
Rays 2, Giants 1
Harold Ramirez went 3-for-4, scored twice and stole a base as Tampa Bay won for the third straight time, edging San Francisco in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Ramirez scored on a bases-loaded walk to Yandy Diaz in the second inning and on a third-inning double by Amed Rosario, who went 2-for-4.
Rays right-hander Jacob Waguespack opened, tossed four innings and allowed one unearned run on four hits. He struck out four and walked two.
Garrett Cleavinger (2-0) fired a 12⁄3 scoreless innings, yielding one hit and two walks. He fanned three.
Closer Pete Fairbanks handled the ninth inning for his third save in as many opportunities.
San Francisco’s Thairo Estrada went 2-for-4 with a double and Jung Hoo Lee singled, stole a base and scored.
Giants starter Keaton Winn (0-3) went five innings and gave up two runs on five hits while fanning six and walking three.
Mets 6, Royals 1
Luis Severino and four relievers combined on a three-hitter Friday night for host New York, which cooled off Kansas City with a win in the opener of a threegame interleague series.
The Mets scored their first five runs with two outs as they won for the sixth time in eight games following an 0-5 start. The Royals had their seven-game winning streak snapped.
Severino (1-1) signed as a free agent with the Mets in December after spending his first eight seasons with the New York Yankees. The right-hander earned his first win with his new team after allowing one run on one hit – Salvador Perez’s leadoff homer in the second – while walking four and striking out four in five innings.
Jake Diekman got two outs in the sixth before Reed Garrett, Adam Ottavino and Jorge Lopez combined to allow one hit over the final 31⁄3 innings. The three hits allowed tied a season-low for the Mets, who held the Cincinnati Reds to three hits in a 3-1 win last Sunday.
Brandon Nimmo had an RBI double in the third against Michael Wacha (1-1) before the Mets took the lead in the fourth, when Jeff McNeil and DJ Stewart laced consecutive RBI singles.
Brett Baty added a two-run double in the fifth before Pete Alonso homered leading off the eighth.
Tigers 8, Twins 2
Mark Canha homered and drove in two runs, Tarik Skubal pitched five scoreless innings and host Detroit cruised past Minnesota.
Skubal (2-0) allowed only two hits and struck out five. Spencer Torkelson and Matt Vierling had two hits and two RBIs apiece.
The game was delayed for more than an hour due to inclement weather.
Twins starter Pablo Lopez (1-2) gave up five runs and six hits in four-plus innings. Kyle Farmer’s RBI double in the ninth broke up Detroit’s shutout bid.
Canha clubbed his third home run over the left-center field fence with one out in the first. Kerry Carpenter and Colt Keith had two-out singles later in the inning, but centerfielder Byron Buxton threw out Carpenter at third.
Skubal set down the first eight batters he faced. The next two reached on an infield single and walk. He then struck out Carlos Correa, who was removed in the bottom of the inning in favor of Willi Castro.
Pirates 5, Phillies 2
Bailey Falter pitched five effective innings against his former team and Henry Davis drove in two runs as visiting Pittsburgh beat Philadelphia to even the teams’ four-game series at one win apiece.
Falter (1-0) allowed one run on four hits and struck out three without walking a batter in his first outing against Philadelphia since being traded to Pittsburgh last season.
Davis collected two hits and two runs batting ninth for the Pirates, while Bryan Reynolds and Connor Joe each added an RBI as Pittsburgh became the major leagues’ third team to 10 wins this season.
Pirates closer David Bednar pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure his second save in five chances this season.
Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm supplied the Phillies’ lone RBIs. Bryce Harper went 2-for-4 with a double for Philadelphia, which had its two-game winning streak snapped.
Rangers 12, Astros 8
Jonah Heim clubbed a three-run homer that capped a six-run third inning and Texas added four runs in the sixth to top host Houston.
Heim followed a bases-loaded walk from Josh Smith and an RBI single by Wyatt Langford with his second home run this season, a 408-foot shot to rightcenter field that pushed Texas to a 7-1 lead. Heim was the sixth consecutive batter to reach in the third off Astros starter J.P. France.
France (0-2) surrendered an RBI single to Adolis Garcia in the top of the first and a run-scoring single to Evan Carter in the fourth that scored Marcus Semien and extended Texas’ lead to 8-1. The third was a forgettable frame for France, who issued walks to Corey Seager, Garcia and Smith in addition to the hits recorded by Langford and Heim. Carter added a single that inning.
France completed a nightmarish turn through the rotation for the Astros by allowing eight runs on eight hits and four walks with three strikeouts over four innings.
Garcia added an RBI single in the sixth before Heim added a run-scoring groundout and Jared Walsh delivered a two-run single that capped a four-run inning off Astros reliever Joel Kuhnel. The production seemed gratuitous as Texas built a 12-3 lead, but Houston rallied in the seventh.
Kyle Tucker clubbed his second home run of the game and fourth of the season to ignite a five-run uprising that started against Rangers reliever Brock Burke and continued against Grant Anderson, who allowed an RBI single to Mauricio Dubon and a two-run double to Jake Meyers.
Athletics 2, Nationals 1, 10 innings
Lawrence Butler hit a game-winning single with one out in the 10th inning to go with an earlier home run as Oakland defeated visiting Washington.
Athletics pitcher Paul Blackburn remained unscored upon through three starts and Oakland won despite managing only three hits on offense.
It was the first home game for the Athletics since the announcement more than a week earlier that the team, following this season, would play home games for the next three seasons in Sacramento.
Washington’s Jesse Winker homered to lead off the ninth inning to tie the score.
Blackburn worked 61⁄3 innings. That stretched the 30-year-old right-hander’s scoreless string to 191⁄3 innings this year.
The Oakland pitching staff was three outs away from its third shutout in a sixgame span. On Thursday at Texas, the Athletics won 1-0. They also beat Detroit 4-0 on April 6.
Mariners 4, Cubs 2
Bryce Miller allowed just an unearned run over 61⁄3 innings as Seattle defeated visiting Chicago in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
Ty France went 2-for-4 and Julio Rodriguez hit a two-run single for the Mariners, who won back-to-back games for only the second time this season.
Michael Busch doubled and homered for the Cubs, who managed just four hits. Chicago lost for the third time in four games at the start of their ninegame road trip.
Miller (2-1) allowed three hits, walked three and stuck out four. The right-hander threw 100 pitches, 63 for strikes. Ryne Stanek worked the ninth for his second save of the season despite allowing Busch’s one-out homer to right.
Busch was the only Cubs player to reach scoring position in the opening six innings, as he hit a two-out double in the fourth.
Miller was replaced by Trent Thornton after issuing a one-one walk to Nico Hoerner in the seventh. Thornton made an errant pickoff attempt to allow Hoerner to advance. With two outs, Yan Gomes grounded to third baseman Luis Urias. First baseman France dropped the throw as Gomes slightly grazed his mitt while running past, allowing the Cubs to trim their deficit to 4-1.
Cardinals 9, Diamondbacks 6
Nolan Arenado hit a three-run homer and Lars Nootbaar blasted a two-run shot as St. Louis outlasted Arizona in Phoenix.
Brendan Donovan (3-for-4 with a triple, two runs, RBI) and Masyn Winn (2for-4, triple, two runs, RBI) also had big games for the Cardinals.
St. Louis starting pitcher Steven Matz allowed four runs, one earned, on eight hits in 42⁄3 innings. Reliever Giovanny Gallegos (2-0) earned the victory and Ryan Helsley earned his fifth save.
Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Pfaadt allowed six runs on seven hits in six innings. Reliever Joe Mantiply (1-1) took the loss.
Eugenio Suarez hit a three-run homer as Arizona rallied from a 6-0 deficit to tie the game at 6-6 before faltering late.
Padres 8, Dodgers 7, 11 innings
Jackson Merrill singled home the goahead run in the 11th inning as San Diego edged host Los Angeles, winning a slugfest that featured a history-making moment for the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani.
The teams combined for eight home runs on the night, six of them in the first three innings. One of the long balls was the 175th of Ohtani’s career, which tied Hideki Matsui’s MLB record for homers by a Japanese-born player.
With two outs in the 11th, Merrill punched a single to left off Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia (0-2), scoring automatic runner Jose Azocar from second base.
Padres closer Robert Suarez (2-0) pitched 11⁄3 scoreless innings.
San Diego’s Fernando Tatis Jr. tied the game 7-7 in the seventh.