Mariners shut out Guardians in dramatic series split
Seattle Mariners 8-0 Cleveland Guardians
In a dominant performance, the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Cleveland Guardians 8-0 on Sunday, splitting their four-game series. Right-hander Emerson Hancock was the star of the game, pitching six hitless innings and striking out a career-high nine batters. He also walked one and hit one batter with a pitch. The closest the Guardians came to a hit off Hancock was in the third inning when Brayan Rocchio hit a ground ball that bounced off first base and into the air. Josh Naylor fielded the carom and easily beat Rocchio to the bag.
Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter broke up the no-hit bid in the seventh inning with a line-drive single to right field. The Guardians’ only other hit was a one-out single by Daniel Schneemann in the eighth. Slade Cecconi (0-1) allowed six runs on six hits over 4 1/3 innings, with three walks and five strikeouts in the loss.
Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 Oakland Athletics
The Toronto Blue Jays secured a win against the visiting Oakland Athletics, with Jesus Sanchez hitting a two-run home run. George Springer and Kazuma Okamoto also went deep for Toronto, while Addison Barger drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk. Eric Lauer (1-0) provided solid pitching, allowing two runs, three hits, and a walk while striking out nine in 5 1/3 innings. Jeff Hoffman earned his first save of the season after a blown opportunity on Friday.
Max Muncy hit a two-run home run for the Athletics, who struck out 50 times in the series. Luis Morales (0-1) struggled in his season debut, allowing five runs, five hits, and two walks with five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
Kansas City Royals 4-1 Atlanta Braves
The Kansas City Royals took down the Atlanta Braves 4-1, with Seth Lugo pitching 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Bobby Witt Jr. hit safely for the third straight game, helping the Royals secure a win in their three-game series with the Braves. Lugo (1-0) allowed five hits, did not walk a batter, and struck out three. Lucas Erceg pitched the ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. Witt was 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk, a run, and an RBI, his first of the season. He hit .364 for the series, going 4-for-11. He turned a double play in the ninth inning to end the game.
The losing pitcher was Grant Holmes (0-1), who pitched five innings and allowed three runs on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts. Rookie Didier Fuentes worked the final four innings and allowed one run on two hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Cincinnati Reds 3-2 Boston Red Sox
Eugenio Suarez belted a three-run homer to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a win over the visiting Boston Red Sox in the rubber game of their series. Lefty reliever Brock Burke (1-0) picked up the win by allowing one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings. Starter Rhett Lowder made sure the Reds were in a good position by surrendering just two runs over five innings in his first major league start since Sept. 28, 2024. Rookie Sal Stewart contributed with another two hits and two walks, hitting .700 in his first three games.
Wilyer Abreu provided Boston’s only runs of the game with a two-run, fourth-inning shot. Connelly Early gave up just one earned run and five hits over 5 1/3 innings. Greg Weissert (0-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up the home run to Suarez.
Texas Rangers 8-3 Philadelphia Phillies
Andrew McCutchen and Brandon Nimmo homered as the Texas Rangers claimed the rubber game of their series with host Philadelphia. MacKenzie Gore (1-0), who came over in an offseason trade with the Washington Nationals, pitched 5 1/3 innings in his first start with Texas. He allowed two runs, two hits, and three walks while striking out seven. He allowed only a pair of walks over the first five innings.
Philadelphia starter Jesus Luzardo (0-1) was charged with six runs and six hits in six frames. He walked one and struck out seven, but he didn’t receive much support as the Phillies totaled three hits.
Baltimore Orioles 8-6 Minnesota Twins
Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run home run, and the Orioles later rallied with a three-run seventh inning to beat the visiting Minnesota Twins. Pete Alonso, pinch hitter Adley Rutschman, and Coby Mayo had run-producing hits in the seventh as the Orioles won for the second day in a row to capture two of three games in the season-opening series. Alonso and Mayo both finished with two of Baltimore’s 12 hits.
Tristan Gray drove in three runs with a pair of hits, and Royce Lewis homered for Minnesota. Trevor Larnach, Josh Bell, and Victor Caratini also had two hits for the Twins, who had two runners on base with two outs in the ninth.
Miami Marlins 4-3 Colorado Rockies
Rookie Owen Caissie slugged a two-out, two-run, walk-off homer in the ninth inning, leading host Miami to a win over Colorado in a three-game sweep in Denver. Miami, which is 3-0 for the first time since 2009, saw the major league debut of Deyvison De Los Santos, who slugged a 389-foot double in his first plate appearance. Otto Lopez (RBI double) and Austin Slater (sacrifice fly) had RBIs for the Marlins.
Jordan Beck ripped a three-run double in the first inning to give Colorado a 3-0 lead, but the Rockies were shut down the rest of the way. Kyle Karros was the lone visiting player with a multiple-hit day, collecting a pair.
Houston Astros 9-7 Los Angeles Angels
Isaac Paredes delivered a two-out, two-strike double in the eighth inning, and Houston earned a split of their four-game season-opening series against visiting Los Angeles. Paredes’ second double drove home Cam Smith and Yordan Alvarez and snapped a 6-6 tie. Angels reliever Drew Pomeranz (0-1) hit Smith with a pitch to open the eighth and issued an intentional walk to Alvarez with two outs to set the table for Paredes, who roped a full-count fastball to right. Jose Altuve followed with an RBI double that plated pinch-runner Nick Allen.
Alvarez walked three times and added an RBI single in the Astros’ four-run second inning. Paredes finished 2-for-5 while Altuve worked a pair of walks in addition to his RBI single. Zach Neto had a two-run homer for the Angels in the fourth inning.
Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 New York Mets (10)
Ryan O’Hearn smacked his second run-scoring single of the game to snap a 10th-inning tie as visiting Pittsburgh avoided a season-opening sweep at the hands of New York. Henry Davis added another 10th-inning run with an RBI single. Brandon Lowe also plated a run with his third homer of the young season. Dennis Santana (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth to earn the win, while Jose Urquidy recorded his first save of the campaign.
Richard Lovelady (1-1) suffered the defeat after giving up O’Hearn’s second RBI. Juan Soto drove in two runs, while Marcus Semien added an RBI of his own. Soto almost had a third RBI to tie the game in the 10th, but Francisco Lindor was thrown out at the plate. Jorge Polanco came within a few feet of a walk-off dinger before Billy Cook recorded the third out just in front of the fence.
Tampa Bay Rays 11-7 St. Louis Cardinals
Yandy Diaz went 5-for-6 with four RBIs as Tampa Bay beat host St. Louis to avoid a three-game series sweep. Jonathan Aranda added three hits and two RBIs for the Rays, who collected 17 hits. Jonny DeLuca had two hits and an RBI, Cedric Mullins drove in two runs, and Chandler Simpson and Ben Williamson added two hits apiece. Starter Steven Matz (1-0) gave up four runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts over five innings.
Jordan Walker slugged a three-run homer among his three hits for the Cardinals, who went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Nolan Gorman hit a solo homer and Pedro Pages added a two-run shot. Starter Dustin May (0-1) allowed six runs on 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts over four innings.
Washington Nationals 6-3 Chicago Cubs
Joey Wiemer and Keibert Ruiz homered while Jake Irvin struck out seven to lead the visiting Washington over Chicago. Wiemer continued his torrid start to the season as he was 3-for-3 with a triple, a walk, and three RBIs as the Nationals claimed the three-game series. By reaching base in each of his first eight plate appearances as a National, he tied the record for most consecutive plate appearances with a base to begin a tenure with a club since 1961.
Alex Bregman had two solo home runs and Ian Happ also homered for the Cubs.
Milwaukee Brewers 9-7 Chicago White Sox
Christian Yelich capped a six-run eighth-inning rally with a three-run pinch-hit home run to give Milwaukee a comeback victory over visiting Chicago and a sweep of their opening three-game series. The Brewers, who trailed 7-2 after three innings, cut the deficit to 7-6 before Yelich drove a 2-2 pitch 421 feet to right off Seranthony Dominguez (0-1) for his first career pinch-hit homer. Trevor Megill gave up a leadoff single in the ninth, but then retired three straight for the save.
Munetaka Murakami hit his third home run in three games for the White Sox. Murakami joins Cleveland rookie Chase DeLauter, Trevor Story, and Kyle Lewis as the only players to homer in their first three regular season major league games. Colin Montgomery’s grand slam staked the White Sox to a 4-0 lead before Brewers starter Brandon Sproat recorded an out.
