PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied with two runs in the seventh inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 on Sunday.
The Phillies took two of three from the World Series champion Dodgers, a series that might not mean much by October but put a little juice into an early April weekend.
Teoscar Hernández homered twice and had five RBIs for the Dodgers, whose only two losses this season came in this three-game series.
Castellanos hit his eighth career grand slam on reliever Alex Vesia’s first pitch in the third inning. The Phillies scored six times in the third and led 6-4 entering the seventh.
The Dodgers went ahead in a three-run seventh against Philadelphia’s bullpen. Mookie Betts hit an RBI double, Hernández’s fifth RBI came on a tying sacrifice fly and Will Smith knocked a run-scoring double off the right-field wall for 7-6 lead.
Bryson Stott tied the game 7-all in the seventh with an RBI single off Blake Treinen (0-1) and Edmundo Sosa beat out at first base a potential double-play ball to shortstop that brought home the go-ahead run.
Hernández hit a two-run homer in the first inning and knocked his second shot off the right field foul pole in the fourth for his 19th career multihomer game.
Orion Kerkering (1-0) got the win. José Alvarado worked the ninth for his second save.
RED SOX 5, CARDINALS 4, 10 INNINGS, 1ST GAME
RED SOX 18, CARDINALS 7, 2ND GAME
BOSTON (AP) — Alex Bregman hit a three-run homer and tied a career high with six RBIs, Rafael Devers had four hits and drove in three runs, and Boston Red rolled to a win and a doubleheader sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Wilyer Abreu added a double and three RBIs for Boston, which finished with a season-best 22 hits. It was the 14th career four-hit game for Devers. Bregman posted his 10th career game with four hits.
All that offense made for an easy night for Hunter Dobbins (1-0), who scattered five hits and gave up two runs over five innings to win his major league debut. Cooper Criswell gave up four runs in the ninth, but went three innings for his first save.
St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas (0-1) allowed nine runs and 11 hits in 2 2/3 innings. Thomas Saggaese hit a three-run homer in the ninth and Brendan Donovan had two RBIs for the Cardinals. St. Louis extended a team record with its ninth straight game getting at least 10 hits.
In the makeup of Saturday’s rainout, Abreu singled off the Green Monster to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Red Sox rallied for a 5-4 victory in the opener. Devers, who began the season 0 for 21 with 15 strikeouts, also hit his first homer of the year in the first game.
Pedro Pagés replaced St. Louis catcher Iván Herrera in the first game after he exited with left knee inflammation.
NATIONALS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 4
WASHINGTON (AP) — Alex Call and Paul DeJong each had two hits and drove in a run and Trevor Williams struck out six over five innings as Washington beat Arizona and handed Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes his first loss.
Washington took two of three from Arizona, winning a series from the Diamondbacks for the first time since 2021. It was the Nationals’ first home series victory over Arizona since 2017.
Burnes (0-1) yielded four runs while throwing 89 pitches over five innings in his second start since signing a six-year, $210 million deal in January. He gave up Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI double and Call’s run-scoring single the first inning, CJ Abrams’ sacrifice fly in the second and Dejong’s two-out RBI double in the third as his ERA rose to 5.79.
Williams (1-0) allowed three runs and has pitched at least five innings in 14 of his 15 starts since joining the Nationals before last season.
METS 2, BLUE JAYS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso hit a go-ahead single in the third inning and New York beat Toronto for its first series sweep of the Blue Jays in 24 years.
New York extended its winning streak to four by taking three in a row from the Blue Jays. The Mets had last swept Toronto from July 15-17, 2001, at Shea Stadium.
Bowden Francis (1-1) walked rookie Hayden Senger and Juan Soto in the third, Alonso singled and Brandon Nimmo followed with a sacrifice fly. Alonso has 11 RBIs this season.
David Peterson, Max Kranick (1-0), Reed Garrett, A.J. Minter and Edwin Díaz combined on a four-hitter against the Blue Jays, who went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and scored three runs in the series. A day after getting his first win this season, Díaz earned his second save.
TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 3
DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Torkelson smacked a two-run double to cap Detroit’s three-run rally in the ninth inning and give the Tigers a win over the Chicago.
Torkelson’s one-out hit off Jordan Leasure (0-1) followed a bases-loaded walk by Andy Ibáñez. John Brebbia (1-0) got the win with one inning of scoreless relief.
Javier Báez had three hits and drove in a run for the Tigers. Jackson Jobe gave up three runs, two earned, and struck out four in five innings in his second career start.
White Sox starter Martín Pérez limited the Tigers to one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings. Signed as a free agent in January, Pérez held Minnesota hitless for six innings in his White Sox debut last Monday.
ROYALS 4, ORIOLES 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kris Bubic took a shutout into the seventh inning and Kansas City won its first series of the season with a victory over Baltimore.
Bubic (2-0) allowed five hits, walked one and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings. His streak of 12 shutout innings was snapped when Ryan Mountcastle tripled to lead off the seventh and scored on Bubic’s wild pitch one out later.
Bobby Witt Jr. had three of the Royals’ 13 hits, falling a home run shy of the cycle. Salvador Perez, Mark Canha and Maikel Garcia each had two hits and scored a run.
Carlos Estévez earned his second save with a hitless ninth for the Royals. Kansas City, which swept Baltimore in the wild-card round last year, won its first regular-season series against the Orioles since Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, 2019, after having lost six of the last eight series with two ties.
Jorge Mateo – starting in center field for the first time since April 20, 2024 – misplayed Witt’s slicing liner into a triple, keying Kansas City’s three-run first inning.
BREWERS 8, REDS 2
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Jackson Chourio homered twice and matched a career high with five RBIs as Milwaukee beat Cincinnati.
Chad Patrick (1-0) allowed one run and two hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings for his first major league win. Since starting the season 0-4, the Brewers have won five of six.
Spencer Steer went deep for the Reds, who have dropped five of six.
Chourio hit a sacrifice fly in the third to open the scoring, and Christian Yelich had an RBI single. Chourio then capped a five-run fourth with a three-run homer that made it 7-0.
He added a solo shot in the seventh.
Brice Turang had two hits to extend his hitting streak to nine games and Sal Frelick’s strong start to the season continued when he singled and scored in the fourth.
The offensive support made life easy for Patrick, who struck out four in his second big league start. The only run he gave up came when Steer led off the fifth with his first home run of the season.
PIRATES 5, YANKEES 4, 11 INNINGS
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Tommy Pham’s run-scoring single in the bottom of the 11th inning lifted Pittsburgh to a victory over New York for just its second win in eight games.
The Yankees scored three times in the ninth off Ryan Borucki to tie the game at 4. Oswald Peraza doubled in a run with two outs and Trent Grisham followed with a two-run single after hitting two homers in Saturday’s 10-4 win.
Borucki was trying to earn the first save of his eight-year career.
Jack Suwinski began the 11th as the automatic runner at second base and stole third with one out. Pham then hit a drive off the left-field wall against Devin Williams (0-1) for his fifth career walk-off hit.
Pirates starter Andrew Heaney gave up only one run in seven innings while striking out 10.
Joey Wentz (1-1) pitched a scoreless 11th for the win.
ASTROS 9, TWINS 7, 10 INNINGS
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jose Altuve drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the 10th inning after Yordan Alvarez tied it with a two-run homer in the ninth and Houston rallied from an early six-run deficit to beat Minnesota.
Altuve’s single off Twins reliever Louis Varland (1-1) scored automatic runner Brendan Rogers from third base. Jake Meyers then stole home on a double steal to make it 9-7.
Josh Hader (1-0) retired all six batters he faced to earn the victory.
The Twins led 7-1 after four innings, but the Astros came all the way back by scoring twice in the ninth off Twins reliever Griffin Jax to tie it at 7. Isaac Paredes led off with his fourth single of the game and Alvarez hit Jax’s next pitch for his first home run of the season.
Matt Wallner had four hits and Trevor Larnach drove in three runs for Minnesota.
ROCKIES 12, ATHLETICS 5
DENVER (AP) — Chase Dollander won his major league debut with five solid innings, and Colorado beat the Athletics, snapping a six-game skid.
Dollander (1-0), the ninth overall pick in 2023, gave up a two-run homer to Tyler Soderstrom in the first inning but worked out of a jam in the fourth. He benefited from Colorado’s first big offensive game of the season.
Brenton Doyle homered, doubled, singled and drove in four runs and Ezequiel Tovar tied a career-high with four hits and had three RBIs to help the Rockies salvage the finale of the three-game series.
Doyle led off the bottom of the first with a homer and drove in two more with a double in the second off Joey Estes (0-2). Kris Bryant doubled, singled and drove in his first run of the season as Colorado took a 6-2 lead after three innings.
Lawrence Butler led off the fifth with a homer off Dollander, but the right-hander retired the next three to end his day.
RANGERS 4, RAYS 3
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Jonah Heim’s walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning to center field scored Josh Smith and Texas beat Tampa Bay for its fifth consecutive win.
Smith had a two-out double down the left-field line, his third hit to match a career high, off Edwin Uceta (0-1).
Smith and Heim, hitting seventh and eighth in the order, combined for five of Texas’ seven hits.
Jacob Webb (1-0), the last of three Rangers relievers, stranded the potential go-ahead run at second in the ninth.
Neither of Texas’ top late-inning relievers, Luke Jackson (five saves) nor Chris Martin (one), was available because of recent workloads.
ANGELS 6, GUARDIANS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Logan O’Hoppe homered in his fourth consecutive game, and Jorge Soler hit a tiebreaking shot in the sixth inning of Los Angeles’ victory over Cleveland.
Kyren Paris also homered for the Angels, who have won six of eight after taking two of three from Cleveland in their only home series during the first three weeks of the season. Los Angeles plays 15 of its first 18 away from home.
O’Hoppe became the first catcher in Angels history to homer in four straight games when he connected leading off the second inning. He went deep at St. Louis last Wednesday before homering in all three games against Cleveland.
Kyle Manzardo homered for the Guardians, who finished 3-6 on their season-opening trip after losing five of the last six in Southern California.
Tyler Anderson gave up two runs over five innings for the Angels, yielding one hit and four walks. Ryan Zeferjahn (1-0) pitched the sixth.
PADRES 8, CUBS 7
CHICAGO (AP) — Luis Arraez had four hits, Fernando Tatis Jr. scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning when first baseman Justin Turner couldn’t make the catch to finish a double play, and San Diego beat Chicago.
The Padres’ Gavin Sheets singled off Porter Hodge to tie it in the eighth.
Jackson Merrill homered for the Padres, who had lost two straight after opening the season with seven consecutive victories for the best start in franchise history.
Kyle Tucker homered and drove in three runs and Nico Hoerner added three hits for the Cubs, whose five-game win streak ended.
Ryan Pressly (0-1) took the loss after allowing one hit and a walk in the ninth. Robert Suarez threw a perfect ninth for his fourth save.
The Padres went ahead 3-0 in the first inning. Ben Brown allowed two walks and a bunt single before hitting Jake Cronenworth to bring in a run. Xander Bogaerts reached on an infield single and Jason Heyward walked to score the other runs.
The Cubs scored five runs in the bottom of the first. After Kyle Hart issued two walks, Tucker singled, Justin Turner had a sacrifice fly and Hoerner doubled to tie it. Logan Gillaspie, called up from Triple-A El Paso before the game, replaced Hart and was called for two balks while pitching to Carson Kelly, scoring two runs.
Tucker hit a two-run homer in the second inning for his fifth, tied for the NL lead.
GIANTS 5, MARINERS 4
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Wilmer Flores hit an RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning and San Francisco beat Seattle Mariners to sweep the three-game series.
Mike Yastrzemski hit a three-run homer for the Giants, who are 8-1 and off to their best start since 2003.
Randy Arozarena tied it at 4 for the Mariners in the ninth with an RBI double after Seattle was down to its last strike against Giants closer Camilo Doval (1-0).
But Flores singled in Luis Matos with two outs on the first pitch he saw from Gregory Santos (0-2) to win it for the Giants.
Flores’ hit came just after Mariners right fielder Victor Robles made a long dash for a terrific catch in the netting in foul territory by going over the low railing to snag a fly ball by Patrick Bailey. Robles appeared to hurt his arm on the play and was carted off the field. San Francisco challenged the call that it was a catch by Robles, but it was upheld.
The Giants scored four times in the fourth after trailing 2-0, capped by Yastrzemski’s opposite-field homer.
Julio Rodríguez and Cal Raleigh hit solo homers to put Seattle up 2-0.
Giants starter Jordan Hicks allowed three runs in 5.1 innings. Seattle’s Bryan Woo gave up four runs in six innings.
The Associated Press
