The white-hot Tampa Bay Rays continued their onslaught on the unfortunate teams on their schedule and the MLB record books, crushing the visiting Oakland Athletics 11-0 on Easter Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., for their ninth straight win to open the season.
The Rays’ matched the 2003 Kansas City Royals for the hottest streak to start a season in baseball’s wild-card era. Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam and Drew Rasmussen (2-0) and two relievers combined on a one-hitter. Ramon Laureano doubled with two outs in the second for the lone Oakland hit.
Wander Franco, Lowe and Harold Ramirez homered in the first five innings as the Rays built a 7-0 lead off Oakland starter James Kaprielian (0-1).
Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 75-18. The Rays’ plus-57 run differential through nine games is the largest ever in MLB since 1900. The Athletics have lost four straight games. They were outscored 31-5 in the three-game series with the Rays.
Padres 10, Braves 2
Nelson Cruz had three hits — including a three-run homer and a double — and drove in six runs as San Diego pummeled host Atlanta for its third victory of the four-game series.
The 42-year-old Cruz hit his second homer of the season — a 432-foot drive to left center — in the third, an RBI double in the fifth and a two-run single in the sixth. It was the 10th game in Cruz’s career with six or more RBIs. The Padres scored in five straight innings against Braves left-handed rookie starter Dylan Dodd (1-1) and reliever Lucas Luetge.
Padres starter Seth Lugo (2-0) gave up one run on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts over six innings to earn the win. The Padres were leading 8-0 when the Braves scored in the fifth. Orlando Arcia and Sam Hilliard singled to lead off the inning, with Arcia scoring on Ronald Acuna Jr.’s grounder to the right side.
Guardians 7, Mariners 6 (12 innings)
Jose Ramirez scored the winning run on Josh Bell’s slow roller to second base with one out in the bottom of the 12th inning as Cleveland rallied to defeat Seattle to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
Cleveland’s Will Brennan hit a two-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 3-3 and force extra innings. Brennan added a game-tying RBI single in the 11th as the Guardians again rallied from a two-run deficit. Teoscar Hernandez singled home Julio Rodriguez in the top of the 12th to give Seattle a 6-5 lead.
With automatic runner Amed Rosario starting the bottom of the 12th at second, Mariners right-hander Penn Murfee (1-2) intentionally walked Ramirez. Murfee then tried to pick off Rosario, but his throw sailed into center field, allowing both runners to advance. Josh Naylor grounded out to first to score the tying run and, following an intentional walk to Andres Gimenez to put runners at the corners, Bell hit his grounder to second.
Blue Jays 12, Angels 11 (10 innings)
Kevin Kiermaier drove in the last of his five runs with a 10th-inning double that broke a 10-10 tie, and Toronto held off Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif.
The RBIs were the first for Kiermaier since July 6, 2022, when he played for the Tampa Bay Rays. Hip surgery subsequently ended his season. On Sunday, he drove in two with a triple in the sixth and two more with a single in the seventh. Matt Chapman and Kiermaier both had three hits, and Chapman also drove in five runs for Toronto.
In the bottom of the 10th, Los Angeles loaded the bases with two outs for Mike Trout, who walked to drive in a run. Blue Jays manager John Schneider then brought in lefty Tim Mayza, who induced Shohei Ohtani to ground out.
Diamondbacks 11, Dodgers 6
Pavin Smith knocked in three runs and Arizona roughed up rookie pitcher Michael Grove to complete a series win over Los Angeles in Phoenix.
Arizona outscored the Dodgers 29-17 in winning the final three games of the four-game series. Arizona starting pitcher Ryne Nelson (1-0) limited the Dodgers to three runs on four hits in six innings. Josh Rojas collected three hits and scored twice for Arizona, which had 16 hits in the game.
J.D. Martinez had two hits, two RBIs and two runs for Los Angeles. Grove (0-1) allowed nine runs on 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings in his second start of the season.
Pirates 1, White Sox 0
Jack Suwinski’s sacrifice fly RBI provided the offense in a pitchers’ duel as Pittsburgh topped visiting Chicago to take two of three in the series.
Pittsburgh starter Johan Oviedo (1-0) gave up five hits in 6 2/3 innings, with five strikeouts and no walks. He combined with three relievers on a six-hit shutout. The Pirates managed just two hits and lost shortstop Oneil Cruz to a fractured left ankle.
Chicago starter Michael Kopech (0-2) gave up one run and two hits in six innings, with three walks and five strikeouts.
Reds 6, Phillies 4
Jake Fraley delivered a go-ahead three-run double in the ninth inning, lifting visiting Cincinnati to a win over Philadelphia.
The Reds, who squandered a late lead on Saturday, avoided the three-game sweep and won for the first time in Philadelphia since 2021. Kevin Herget (1-0), who was making his Reds debut, allowed one hit over two scoreless innings to earn his first major league win.
The Reds entered the ninth inning trailing 4-3 before Stuart Fairchild and Jonathan India worked one-out walks against Seranthony Dominguez (0-1). TJ Friedl’s infield single loaded the bases before Fraley’s double down the right field line. Alec Bohm’s two-run homer in the fourth put the Phillies up 4-2 before the Reds made it a one-run game in the eighth.
Yankees 5, Orioles 3
Aaron Judge homered twice and Franchy Cordero hit a two-run blast to support a strong performance from five pitchers as New York defeated host Baltimore.
Judge had two solo shots for his third and fourth homers of the season. The home runs came in the third and eighth innings. Nestor Cortes (2-0) pitched 5 1/3 innings and picked up the victory, giving up two runs and four hits.
Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman went 4-for-4 with a solo home run. He had the team’s first three hits through 5 1/3 innings. Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander followed with doubles, the latter knocking in two runs.
Red Sox 4, Tigers 1
Triston Casas homered and drove in two runs as visiting Boston completed a three-game series sweep of Detroit.
Rob Refsnyder reached bases three times while scoring a run and knocking in another. Winning pitcher Kutter Crawford (1-1) gave up one run and five hits and struck out six in five innings. Kenley Jansen survived a jam to pick up his second save.
Spencer Torkelson had two hits and drove in Detroit’s lone run. Matthew Boyd (0-1) gave up two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Marlins 7, Mets 2
Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz each hit a home run to spark a surge by the top half of the order for Miami, which routed host New York.
The top four batters in the Marlins’ order — Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cooper, Luis Arraez and De La Cruz — combined to go 8-for-15 with seven RBIs and six runs scored as Miami salvaged the finale of the three-game series and improved to 2-5 against the Mets.
Francisco Alvarez and Pete Alonso each had an RBI single for the Mets, who outscored the Marlins 31-13 in the first six games between the National League East rivals.
Astros 5, Twins 1
Rookie Hunter Brown allowed two hits and one unearned run over seven innings and Chas McCormick homered and drove in four runs to lead Houston to a victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Mauricio Dubon had a double and scored twice, Jeremy Pena went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and run, and Yainer Diaz also doubled and had two hits for Houston. The Astros salvaged the final game of the three-game series to avoid being swept in a series by the Twins for the first time since August 2013.
Brown (1-0) picked up his third major league win in his ninth career game and fourth start. The fifth-round pick out of Division II Wayne State University in Detroit walked two and struck out seven. Donovan Solano had an RBI double for Minnesota, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. Tyler Mahle (1-1) took the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Brewers 6, Cardinals 1
Willy Adames drove in three runs with a homer and double and Freddy Peralta allowed one run over six innings to pace Milwaukee to a victory over visiting St. Louis in the rubber game of the three-game series.
Peralta (2-0) allowed four hits, striking out seven and walking three in a 102-pitch outing. Adames put the Brewers in front 3-1 in the fifth with his second homer, a two-out shot to left-center.
Cardinals starter Jake Woodford (0-2) allowed three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out five and walking one.
Rangers 8, Cubs 2
Marcus Semien and Bubba Thompson each had two hits and combined for five RBIs as Texas defeated host Chicago.
Texas broke out offensively after totaling 12 runs in its previous six games. Rangers starter Jon Gray (1-1) allowed Edwin Rios’ two-run homer in the second inning. He yielded five other hits over 5 2/3 frames to help the Rangers snap a seven-game road losing streak.
Tucker Barnhart had a pair of hits for the Cubs, who grounded into two double plays and committed two errors en route to seeing their three-game winning streak end. Jameson Taillon (0-2) surrendered five runs (four earned) and six hits while striking out seven with a walk in five innings.
Rockies 7, Nationals 6
Elias Diaz homered among three hits, Jurickson Profar had two hits and also went deep and host Colorado beat Washington in Denver.
Charlie Blackmon added two hits, Dinelson Lamet (1-0) tossed one inning of relief to earn the win and Pierce Johnson earned his third save for the Rockies.
Stone Garrett and Victor Robles had two hits apiece for the Nationals.
Giants 3, Royals 1
Michael Conforto crushed a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning that rallied host San Francisco to a win over Kansas City.
Giants right-hander Anthony DeSclafani made quick work of the Royals in 6 1/3 innings before he was lifted at the 88-pitch mark. The 32-year-old yielded just three hits and struck out seven without surrendering a walk.
The lone run DeSclafani allowed came in the fourth on a two-out rally. Vinnie Pasquantino doubled and came home on Salvador Perez’s RBI single.
–Field Level Media
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