Seiya Suzuki homers twice as Cubs beat Pirates 2-1
PITTSBURGH — Seiya Suzuki homered twice, Drew Smyly pitched five scoreless innings and the Cubs spoiled the Pirates’ home opener.
Suzuki connected for leadoff shots in the fifth and seventh. One of the top players in Japan, Suzuki signed an $85 million, five-year contract with the Cubs last month.
Smyly (1-0) permitted three hits and walked none in his Cubs debut. The left-hander agreed to a one-year contract last month.
The Pirates got their only run on Bryan Reynolds’ homer against Mychal Givens in the eighth.
David Robertson worked a perfect ninth for his second save.
José Quintana (made his first appearance for Pittsburgh, pitching five effective innings against one of his former teams.
YANKEES 4, BLUE JAYS 0
NEW YORK — Aaron Hicks hit a two-run homer and made jumping catch in his first left-field start in four years, leading the New York Yankees over the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on Tuesday night.
New York scored first for the first time in five games this season when Hicks drove a 2-0 slider from Yusei Kikuchi (0-1) into the right-center field seats in the second inning.
Nestor Cortes and four relievers combined on a five-hitter, quieting a Blue Jays offense that produced 23 runs and 38 hits in the first four games. Clay Holmes (1-0) got the win.
Kikuchi, making his Blue Jays debut after signing a $36 million, three-year deal contract, gave up three runs — two earned — and five hits in 3 1/3 innings.
GUARDIANS 10, REDS 5
CINCINNATI — José Ramírez hit a grand slam and drove in six runs, remarkable rookie Steven Kwan reached base three more times, and Cleveland spoiled Cincinnati’s home opener.
Andrés Giménez hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning off Hunter Strickland (0-1). Ramírez, who tripled and singled earlier, capped a six-run burst with his third career slam, connecting against Daniel Duarte for a 10-4 lead.
Kwan has now reached base at least three times in all five games of his major league career. The 24-year-old outfielder kept up his super start with a single, two walks and a sacrifice fly.
Trevor Stephan (1-0) pitched one scoreless inning for the win.
METS 2, PHILLIES 0
PHILADELPHIA — Tylor Megill delivered his second straight scoreless start for the Mets, and Brandon Nimmo homered.
Francisco Lindor had an RBI single for the Mets, who recovered from blowing a four-run lead in the eighth inning against Philadelphia on Monday night to snap a two-game skid.
Megill (2-0), who got a spot in the rotation only when two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was sidelined by a shoulder problem in spring training, again looked like an ace for 5 1/3 innings.
After throwing five shutout innings to win on opening day at Washington, Megill outpitched Zack Wheeler (0-1).
Edwin Díaz struck out three in the ninth for his first save in the combined five-hitter.
WHITE SOX 3, MARINERS 2
CHICAGO — Luis Robert hit his first homer of the season, a tiebreaking drive in the sixth inning that led the White Sox to their third consecutive victory.
Robert connected against Matt Brash (0-1), a 23-year-old right-hander making his major league debut.
Seattle lost its third straight game after starting with two wins. The Mariners have scored 10 runs: only Baltimore (six) and Milwaukee (nine) began the night with fewer.
Seattle was 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, getting an RBI single from Jesse Winker with two outs in the ninth off Liam Hendriks, who struck out Mitch Haniger for his first save. The Mariners are hitting .156 (7 for 45) with runners in scoring position this season.
Reynaldo López (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings for the win in Chicago’s home opener.
BREWERS 5, ORIOLES 4
BALTIMORE — Andrew McCutchen hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning, Devin Williams pitched out of his own jam in the eighth, and Milwaukee held on for the win.
Cedric Mullins hit a grand slam for Baltimore.
McCutchen had three RBIs, and Willy Adames scored three runs for the Brewers. Hoby Milner (1-0) earned his first big league win, and Josh Hader got his second save.
Félix Bautista (0-1) allowed a one-out double by Adames in the seventh. Cionel Pérez retired Christian Yelich on a grounder before McCutchen’s sharp single put Milwaukee ahead.
RED SOX 5, TIGERS 3
DETROIT — Rafael Devers had three hits and two RBIs, helping the Red Sox rally for the win.
Kiké Hernández doubled twice for Boston, which trailed 3-0 after five innings. Garrett Whitlock (1-0) pitched four hitless innings to win in his first appearance since the Red Sox announced his $18.75 million, four-year contract on Sunday.
Devers’ tiebreaking RBI single gave the Red Sox a 4-3 lead in the eighth.
Boston, which has not been above .500, improved to 2-3.
Detroit’s Spencer Torkelson, the top pick of the 2020 amateur draft, doubled in the third inning for his first big league hit after an 0-for-10 start. Alex Lange (0-1) got the loss.
CARDINALS 6, ROYALS 5
ST. LOUIS — Albert Pujols homered for the first time since returning to St. Louis and Andrew Knizner hit a three-run shot, helping the Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5 on Tuesday night.
Nolan Arenado also went deep for St. Louis, which has won 20 of 27 interleague games against the in-state Royals since 2017.
Salvador Perez homered twice and Michael A. Taylor also connected for Kansas City, which has allowed 33 runs in losing its last three games. Daniel Lynch (0-1) allowed six runs in five innings.
The 42-year-old Pujols, who also singled twice in a 3-for-4 performance, signed with St. Louis on March 28 for his final season. The star slugger played for the Cardinals from 2001-11, helping them win two World Series.
Jordan Hicks (1-0) picked up the win with two innings of hitless relief.
RAYS 9, ATHLETICS 8, 10 INNINGS
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Manuel Margot hit a game-ending single during Tampa Bay’s two-run 10th inning.
Wander Franco started the Tampa Bay 10th with an RBI double off Lou Trivino (0-1). Josh Lowe was walked intentionally with two out, and Margot then lined his clutch hit down the left-field line.
Billy McKinney’s leadoff single off Ryan Thompson (1-0) in the 10th put Oakland ahead 8-7.
Ji-Man Choi, Brandon Lowe and Brett Phillips homered for the Rays, who improved to 4-1.
The A’s got a homer from Jed Lowrie. Oakland had won two in a row.
BRAVES 16, NATIONALS 4
ATLANTA — Marcell Ozuna homered twice for Atlanta, and Ozzie Albies drove in three runs.
Coming off an 11-2 loss, the Braves began the game with a .201 team batting average before banging out 19 hits and going 9 for 19 with runners in scoring position.
Ozuna, Austin Riley, Adam Duvall, Dansby Swanson and Orlando Arcia each had two RBIs. Bryce Elder (1-0), a fifth-round draft pick out of the University of Texas in 2020, won his major league debut.
Washington’s Patrick Corbin (0-2) gave up six runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings.
Atlanta has won 15 of 21 against Washington since the start of last season.
ROCKIES 4, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kris Bryant got his first two RBIs in a Colorado uniform and the Rockies stretched their winning streak to four games.
Bryant hit a go-ahead RBI double in the third inning that made it 2-1, and a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Five games into a $182 million, seven-year contract, Bryant is batting .350 (7 of 20) with hits in every game. But the four-time All-Star hadn’t driven in a run until his double down the right-field line off Martin Perez (0-1) right after Charlie Blackmon’s RBI single.
Jhoulys Chacin (2-0) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings, and Daniel Bard earned his second save in three chances.
ANGELS 4, MARLINS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Pinch-runner Tyler Wade slid home when Marlins shortstop Miguel Rojas bobbled Max Stassi’s grounder in the ninth inning, and the Angels swept a two-game interleague series with Miami.
Anthony Rendon hit a two-run homer and Jack Mayfield had an RBI triple for the Angels, who went 3-3 on their season-opening homestand. Closer Raisel Iglesias (1-0) got the win.
Jazz Chisholm hit a tying two-run homer in the seventh for Miami, and Jesús Luzardo had a career-high 12 strikeouts over five sharp innings.
The Marlins dropped four of five on their season-opening California road trip. Anthony Bender (0-1) was charged with the loss.
GIANTS 13, PADRES 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Brandon Belt hit a two-run homer to highlight a six-run first inning off Yu Darvish (0-1), and it was 10-1 in the second. That was plenty for Alex Cobb (1-0), who struck out 10 to win his San Francisco debut.
Joc Pederson homered for the first time since joining the Giants. He and Wilmer Flores went deep in the eighth after Padres outfielder Wil Myers moved to the mound to pitch.
ASTROS 2, DIAMONDBACKS 1
PHOENIX — Michael Brantley delivered a go-ahead single in the ninth inning, and Jose Siri hit a homer and a key double that helped Houston edge Arizona.
The game was tied at 1 in the ninth when the Astros pieced together a two-out rally against Mark Melancon (0-1) started by Siri’s hustle double into right-center. Jose Altuve walked and Brantley drove in Siri with a single, his third hit of the game.
Hector Neris (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth and Ryan Pressly earned his third save, working around a leadoff single in the ninth.
Siri, batting ninth, hit a 456-foot homer in the fifth. Christian Walker went deep for the Diamondbacks in the sixth.
DODGERS 7, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Trea Turner and the Los Angeles Dodgers broke open a tie game with a six-run eighth inning, then waited out the rain to take their series opener against Minnesota.
Turner, who made an error earlier that led to Minnesota’s tying run, hit an RBI single that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Justin Turner added another RBI single, and Will Smith doubled in two runs to give Los Angeles a 5-1 cushion.
Both teams then sat through an 88-minute rain delay that halted play in the bottom of the eighth with the Dodgers ahead 7-1. The game resumed at 11:31 p.m. with only a few dozen fans in the stands.
Daniel Hudson (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh. Emilio Pagan (0-1) took the loss.
Chris Archer tossed four scoreless innings in his Twins debut.
