Alexander ties an AL record by striking out nine in a row
In the opener of the first seven-inning doubleheader in Major League Baseball history, Shogo Akiyama hit an RBI single in the seventh inning that sent the Cincinnati Reds to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday in a game in which Tigers reliever Tyler Alexander struck out the first nine batters he faced, tying the American League record for consecutive strikeouts.
It was strange from the start — the scoreboard at Comerica Park listed nine innings instead of the usual seven.
Former Tigers slugger Nick Castellanos homered twice and drove in three runs for Cincinnati. But his three-base error in right field in the sixth inning allowed Detroit to tie the game.
Cincinnati’s Raisel Iglesias (1-1) got the final out of the sixth before pitching a scoreless seventh.
Alexander struck out the first nine batters he faced, and his streak ended in the top of the sixth, one short of Tom Seaver’s major league record, when he hit Mike Moustakas with a 1-2 pitch. Moustakas left the game with an apparent hand injury.
In the second game, Trevor Bauer made short work of the Tigers, throwing a two-hit shutout.
MLB recently decided to use doubleheaders of seven-inning games, which have been
commonplace in the minor leagues and colleges, to help teams alleviate an expected crush of twinbills caused by weather and coronavirus-related postponements. The Reds-Tigers game was rained out Saturday.
DODGERS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 0 >> Clayton Kershaw was stringing together dominant, scoreless innings and Cody Bellinger ripped a first-inning homer into the bullpen to end a slump for Los Angeles. Kershaw threw 5 2/3 sharp innings in his season debut.
ASTROS 6, ANGELS 5 (11 INN.) >> Alex Bregman hit an RBI single in the 11th inning as Houston Astros rallied for the victory over Los Angeles. Bregman also homered, and Josh Reddick delivered the tying RBI single in the
ninth as the Astros took two of three at Angel Stadium. Blake Taylor (1-0) retired Brian Goodwin on a soft fly to center with the bases loaded to end it. Albert Pujols hit a grand slam for the Angels, who got another rocky start from Shohei Ohtani in his first home mound appearance since June 2018. BRAVES 4, METS 0 >> Kyle Wright and the Atlanta bullpen combined on a 10-hit shutout as the Braves won their fifth in a row. The Braves sent New York to its fifth straight loss. ORIOLES 5, RAYS 1 >> Hanser Alberto doubled in the tiebreaking run in the seventh inning, Renato Núñez and Pat Valaika homered, and Baltimore beat Tampa Bay to complete a three-game sweep. After the final out, the Orioles celebrated (with proper social distancing) their first series sweep since Aug. 27-29, 2018, against Toronto, and first against Tampa Bay since 2016.
YANKEES 9, RED SOX 7 >> Aaron Judge homered twice and drove in five runs, connecting for the fifth straight game and breaking an eighth-inning tie with a tape-measure shot that powered host New York past Boston for its sixth consecutive victory.
WHITE SOX 9, ROYALS 2 >> White Sox prospect Nick Madrigal had the first four hits of his promising big league career, including two during a seven-run seventh inning, and Chicago finished a threegame sweep. Yasmani Grandal added three RBIs for the White Sox in support of righthander Dylan Cease (1-1).
TWINS 3, INDIANS 1 >> Mitch Garver hit his first home run of the season and Minnesota used its bullpen to string together a two-hitter, taking the four-game series from its primary division competitor.
CUBS 2, PIRATES 1 >> Javier Báez singled through a drawnin infield in the 11th inning, scoring David Bote from third base and giving Chicago the victory. Bote, who made the last out in the 10th, started the inning on second base as mandated by MLB’s extra-inning rule for the pandemicshortened season. He advanced to third on a deep fly to right by Anthony Rizzo and jogged home on Baez’s first career game-ending hit against Cody Ponce (0-1).