It took a while to overcome the cold, but the bats heated up in the eighth inning for the Yankees to manage the Athletics in the opener of their latest series. Amed Rosario was the clear MVP of the night, smashing a pair of home runs including the go-ahead three-run jack that won them the ballgame. The Yankees’ continued success puts the pressure on the rest of their rivals to keep pace or fall into a widening early-season gap, so let’s see who managed to pull even on the day and who fell a little further behind.
Los Angeles Dodgers (9-2) 4, Toronto Blue Jays (4-7) 1
The Dodgers continue to haunt the Jays, returning from their victory in last year’s World Series just to stick it to them again on their home turf. It wasn’t the absolute beatdown that they gave them on Monday, but the Dodgers ran out Yoshinobu Yamamoto and watched him carve up the Blue Jays’ bats for six innings. He allowed just the one run, an RBI double from George Springer in the sixth inning that briefly threatened to cause a rally for Toronto. Yamamoto allowed a walk to put the tying run on base at the time, but buckled down and got the next two outs on grounders to end his night.
Meanwhile, Kevin Gausman wasn’t quite as effective against LA’s lineup. He lasted 5.1 innings, giving up a pair of runs in the third when Hyeseong Kim led off with a double, got moved to third on a bunt single and scored on a Shohei Ohtani single, and then Will Smith hit into a force out. Later, in the fifth, Kim led off again and worked a walk, and then moved to second on a balk that drew Toronto manager John Schneider’s ire and led to him getting ejected. Alex Freeland slapped a single to right to score him, making it 3-0 Dodgers. They tacked on an insurance run in the ninth inning, but it was hardly necessary as the Blue Jays managed just one hit in three innings against the Dodger ‘pen.
Boston Red Sox (3-8) 3, Milwaukee Brewers (8-3) 2
Boston’s been in a major skid to start the year, going 1-8 after Opening Day to put themselves squarely in last place in the AL East entering play on Tuesday. They faced a tough challenge in avoiding a ninth loss with Jacob Misiorowski on the mound for Milwaukee, but Garrett Crochet was going for Boston and rebounded from his previous poor start against Houston quite nicely.
Misiorowski gave the Sox plenty of trouble out of the gate, striking out the side in the first inning and following that up by striking out the first two batters in the second. Ceddanne Rafaela worked a leadoff walk in the third for the first Boston baserunner, but he was erased on a double play after yet another strikeout victim. Willson Contreras picked up the first base hit for the Sox in the fourth, but two more batters K’d including an ABS-confirmed punchout to end the frame, and the fifth saw a runner reach scoring position after a single and hit by pitch but nothing else.
Things changed in the sixth inning, however. Misiorowski struck out his 10th batter of the night in Roman Anthony to lead off, but then issued three straight walks to load the bases before getting lifted for a reliever in DL Hall. Trevor Story greeted him with a two-run double to break the scoreless tie, and a grounder to second brought in a third run.
Crochet had been matching zeroes on the scoreboard up until this point, but he found his limit in the top of the seventh. Joey Ortiz led off with a single, and two batters later Sal Frelick singled to put runners on with one out. A walk then loaded the bases, and Crochet made a rare error in hitting David Hamilton to force in a run. That would be it for Crochet, who handed the baton over to Zack Kelly and watched as he allowed one of his baserunners to score on a grounder but managed to preserve the lead by getting a second groundout. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman locked down the eighth and ninth innings, securing Boston’s third win of the year.
Minnesota Twins (5-6) 4, Detroit Tigers (4-7) 2
The Tigers had to feel confident entering this matchup, running Tarik Skubal against Taj Bradley. Their ace wasn’t on top form, however, while the Twins’ starter twirled a gem leading them to victory and overtaking Detroit in the early standings.
The game was scoreless through four, but the Twins jumped on Skubal in the fifth starting with a pair of one-out walks. Luke Keaschall, Ryan Jeffers, and Josh Bell all ripped RBI hits to push four runs across the plate, the last of which drove Skubal from the game after 4.2 innings. The reigning two-time Cy Young Award winner struck out seven in this outing, but he couldn’t avoid contact as he allowed eight hits on the afternoon, and both of his walks came to hurt him.
Bradley, on the other hand, was masterful against Detroit’s lineup. He went 6.1 innings, striking out 10 batters and scattering six hits throughout. Two of those came in the seventh inning, leading to his removal after recording his final punchout of the outing. Taylor Rogers came in and got them out of the inning with just one of those runners scoring, and after wasting a pair of walks in the eighth the Tigers hit two doubles in the ninth to drive in a second run. The tying run made it to the plate following a two-out walk, but Dillon Dingler grounded out to end it.
Colorado Rockies (5-6) 5, Houston Astros (6-6) 1
Raise your hand if you had the Rockies taking back-to-back wins against the Astros in this matchup — no, put your hands back down, we’re not buying it. In all seriousness though, Colorado had a far easier time on Tuesday as Kyle Freeland tossed 6.1 innings of one-run ball, getting beat just once in the second inning for a Christian Walker solo shot. That briefly gave Houston the lead, but they gave it up in the bottom half as the first three Rockies all reached base. Colorado took their own lead in the fourth on a Willi Castro two-run shot, and tacked on two more when Mickey Moniak launched a two-run blast of his own.
Texas Rangers (6-5) 3, Seattle Mariners (4-8) 2
Brendan Donovan owns an OPS over 1.100 in the early going, and he got the M’s off to an excellent start with a leadoff homer. Unfortunately, the rest of the Mariners’ lineup has been rather ice-cold, and they struggled to do much else in support of George Kirby on the mound. Cal Raleigh managed to knock in a run with two outs in the fifth, but the offense couldn’t muster up much else around those two instances. And while Kirby managed to go the distance in this game, it was only an eight-inning effort as he fell behind in the fifth — back-to-back singles set up our old friend Kyle Higashioka for a go-ahead home run.
COVERS INTEL: Mahle has already allowed two home runs, and opponents are hitting .351 against him in two appearances.
