MIAMI — Kris Medlen allowed only an unearned run in seven innings Tuesday night, and the Atlanta Braves earned their fifth consecutive victory by beating the punchless Miami Marlins 3-2.
MIAMI — Kris Medlen allowed only an unearned run in seven innings Tuesday night, and the Atlanta Braves earned their fifth consecutive victory by beating the punchless Miami Marlins 3-2.
The Braves improved to 7-1, their best start since 2007. The Marlins fell to 1-7 with their fourth consecutive defeat, and they’re off to their worst start since the 1998 team began the season 1-11. Evan Gattis hit his second homer and Justin Upton doubled home a run.
Craig Kimbrel pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth for his fourth save in as many chances to complete a four-hitter. Atlanta has allowed six hits and two runs in the first two games of the series.
PHILLIES 8, METS 3
PHILADELPHIA — Michael Young and Ryan Howard homered, Cliff Lee came within one out of a complete game, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the New York Mets.
John Mayberry Jr. also went deep for Philadelphia, and Young had three hits, missing the cycle by a double.
Lee (2-0) allowed three runs — two earned — and eight hits, striking out six in 8 2/3 innings. The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner didn’t win his second game until July 31 last year.
PADRES 9, DODGERS 3
SAN DIEGO — Will Venable homered and hit a bases-loaded triple for the San Diego Padres, who rebounded from a dreadful six-game trip to win their home opener against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
Venable tied his career high with four RBIs. He homered in the first, and his two-out triple highlighted a five-run eighth against three Dodgers relievers. The Padres sent 11 batters to the plate that inning, five of whom walked.
Nick Hundley also homered off Josh Beckett for the Padres, who were outhomered 10-1 and outscored 40-14 in going 1-5 in a swing through New York and Colorado.
CUBS 6, BREWERS 3
CHICAGO — Pinch-hitter Scott Hairston had a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, and David DeJesus added a two-run single, lifting the Chicago Cubs over the Milwaukee Brewers.
Carlos Marmol (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth. Kyuji Fujikawa worked a scoreless ninth for his second save, stranding two runners when he got Jonathan Lucroy to pop out.
The Cubs rallied from an early 3-0 deficit.
CARDINALS 5, REDS 1
ST. LOUIS — Lance Lynn (1-0) struck out 10 in six sharp innings, and rookie Matt Adams connected for his first career pinch-hit homer as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds.
Reds starter Bronson Arroyo (1-1) retired the first 15 batters. The Cardinals broke through in the sixth, with Adams hitting a two-run homer and Allen Craig and Carlos Beltran also driving in runs.
Brandon Phillips had a sacrifice fly, and Shin-Soo Choo had two hits for Cincinnati. The Reds were held to five hits, ending a run of four consecutive games with double-figure hit totals. Choo has four straight two-hit games.
PIRATES 6, d‘BACKS 5
PHOENIX — Garrett Jones had three hits and two RBIs, Starling Marte drove in two runs and scored twice, and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Arizona Diamondbacks for their first winning streak of the season.
Pittsburgh has snapped out of its offensive funk in the desert, winning the first two games of the series by scoring 11 runs — three more than the first six games combined.
The Pirates fell into an early hole after James McDonald (1-1) allowed four runs in the first inning, but they rallied with a five-run fourth off Arizona starter Brandon McCarthy (0-1).
GIANTS 9, ROCKIES 6
SAN FRANCISCO — Angel Pagan hit a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning to cap San Francisco’s rally from a four-run deficit, and the Giants went on to beat the Colorado Rockies for the eighth straight time.
Brandon Crawford hit a three-run homer to start the comeback, and Hunter Pence had a pair of RBI singles for the Giants, who have won the first two games of the series.
Dexter Fowler and Josh Rutledge each drove in two runs in a five-run second inning against Tim Lincecum, and Troy Tulowitzki added a solo homer off the former Giants ace to help the Rockies build a 6-2 lead.
INTERLEAGUE
NATIONALS 8, WHITE SOX 7
WASHINGTON — Adam LaRoche ended an 0-for-15 start to the season with homers in consecutive at-bats, Jayson Werth and Ian Desmond also homered, and the Washington Nationals opened an early interleague series by edging the Chicago White Sox.
Werth and LaRoche hit two-run shots off Jake Peavy (1-1) in the sixth, an inning after Desmond went deep. LaRoche added a solo homer off Matt Thornton in the eighth.