MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rafael Devers homered for the fourth straight game and the streaking Boston Red Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 4-2 on a snowy afternoon in a series opener moved back following the fatal police shooting of a Black man in the Twin Cities area.
Hunter Renfroe hit a solo homer and Bobby Dalbec added a pair of RBI doubles as Boston won its seventh in a row. Monday’s game was postponed due to safety and sensitivity concerns after the police shooting a day earlier of Daunte Wright during a traffic stop. The Twins held a moment of silence for Wright prior to Tuesday’s game. Snow flurries fell for most of the day.
In other action on the diamonds:
— Wilmer Flores’ tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh held up in a strange, back-and-forth game that featured four two-run homers in the first inning alone, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6. Austin Slater put the Giants ahead on an RBI triple in the sixth following three home runs by San Francisco. That lead didn’t last: Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and second baseman Tommy La Stella collided trying to chase down pinch-hitter Alex Blandino’s fly in shallow center in the seventh, and the ball fell to the grass for a single as the Reds scored the tying run to make it 6-6.
— Mookie Betts homered and Trevor Bauer pitched seven innings of one-hit ball in both veterans’ first home games in front of their new Dodgers fans. Together they propelled Los Angeles to a 7-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies. Corey Seager and Chris Taylor hit back-to-back homers in the first, while Max Muncy homered and drove in two runs for the defending World Series champions. Bauer had nine strikeouts in his first start at Dodger Stadium since signing with his hometown team in February. Antonio Senzatela couldn’t get out of the third for the Rockies, who have lost four straight.
— AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber pitched three-hit ball over nine innings for Cleveland while Lucas Giolito nearly matched him before the Indians broke through in the 10th to beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0. The matchup between All-Star aces sure lived up to its billing. Bieber struck out 11 and has fanned 35 in his first three starts of the season for the second straight year. Giolito also allowed only three hits and fanned eight. He was pulled after issuing his second walk to begin the eighth inning.
— Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt and Matt Carpenter all homered off Stephen Strasburg and the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Washington Nationals 14-3. Jack Flaherty allowed one run on three hits in five innings as St. Louis snapped a three-game losing streak. Strasburg was hammered for eight runs on eight hits and five walks, two of them intentional.
— Wilson Ramos hit two home runs and Renato Núñez and rookie Akil Baddoo each homered for the second straight game as the Detroit Tigers slugged their way to an 8-2 win over the Houston Astros. Baddoo is off to a scorching start to his major league career and has four home runs in just eight games.
— Willson Contreras struck back after getting plunked again by the Brewers, hitting a two-run homer in the eighth inning as the Chicago Cubs rallied past Milwaukee 3-2 on Tuesday night. Contreras has already been hit by a pitch from the Brewers three times this season. He got his revenge when he hit a towering drive off Brent Suter.
— Jacob Stallings had three hits and three RBIs, and the Pittsburgh Pirates chased Blake Snell in the first inning of an 8-4 victory over the San Diego Padres. The game lasted 4 hours, 7 minutes, and included 17 walks, seven hit batters and 27 runners left on base.
— Hyun Jin Ryu cruised into the seventh inning, Marcus Semien and Rowdy Tellez homered, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 7-3. Ryu allowed only an unearned run over 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven and limiting the Yankees to four hits and a walk. The Blue Jays ace retired 12 in a row.
— Ramón Urías hit a game-ending single with two outs in the seventh inning and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the miscue-prone Seattle Mariners 7-6 to earn a doubleheader split. Baltimore had lost four in a row and six of seven. Seattle’s three-game winning streak was halted. Kyle Seager’s RBI double in the eighth inning helped the Mariners earn a 4-3 victory in the opener.
— Royals catcher Salvador Perez picked David Fletcher off third with the bases loaded for the final out in the ninth inning, helping the Kansas City Royals beat Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Angels 3-2. Danny Duffy pitched one-run ball over six innings, and Perez had two hits and an RBI.
— Back on the mound two days after an abbreviated start, Marcus Stroman tossed six spotless innings and the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-0 for a doubleheader sweep. In the first game, Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar hit RBI singles in the eighth to give New York a 4-3 victory in extra innings.
— Adam Duvall drove in seven runs against his former Atlanta teammates with four hits, including two home runs, and the Miami Marlins beat Max Fried and the Braves 14-8. Duvall tied a Marlins record by becoming the sixth player to drive in seven.
— Jed Lowrie hit a tying, three-run homer in the seventh inning, Seth Brown had a solo shot in the next frame and the Oakland Athletics rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-5. Carson Kelly hit a three-run homer and Arizona led 5-0 after three innings. Mark Canha made it 5-2 win an RBI single in the seventh and Lowrie followed with a three-run homer off Kevin Ginkel. Brown led off the eighth with his homer off Anthony Swarzak and Matt Chapman’s run-scoring triple off the wall in the ninth made it 7-5. Oakland has won five of six since starting the season 0-6.
— Pete Alonso and Jonathan Villar each hit an RBI single in the eighth inning to give the New York Mets a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the first game of their doubleheader. Both games of the single-admission twinbill, booked to make up Monday night’s rainout at Citi Field, were scheduled for seven innings in keeping with a rules change introduced during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
— Kyle Seager hit an RBI double in the eighth and the Seattle Mariners won their third extra-inning game in as many tries this season, beating the Baltimore Orioles 4-3 in the first game of a doubleheader. Seager has reached base in nine of his last 10 plate appearances. The Orioles have dropped four straight and six of seven since opening with a three-game road sweep of Boston.
