Ohtani's 1st pro grand slam lifts Angels over Rays 11-3
NEW YORK (AP) - Shohei Ohtani hit his first grand slam in professional baseball on a two-homer night, and the surging Los Angeles Angels beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-3 on Monday.
The AL MVP hit two homers in a game for the second time this season and eighth in the majors. Ohtani had a solo shot in the sixth inning off Jalen Beeks. In the seventh, he connected on a 3-1 cutter from Calvin Faucher, who was making his big-league debut, and sent it over the wall in left field for his sixth homer and the Angels' third grand slam this season.
Mike Trout and Jared Walsh also went deep and drove in three runs each for the Angels, who have won five of six.
Randy Arozarena homered and Wander Franco had three hits for the Rays, who have dropped their last two after winning six straight.
Trout's two-run shot to left field off Beeks in the sixth inning extended the Angels' lead to 5-1. Ohtani then homered on the next pitch, the fourth time the two MVPs have connected in consecutive at-bats and the first since June 8, 2019.
Arozarena gave the Rays a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning with a drive into the right-center field bleachers off Noah Syndergaard (3-1).
The Angels responded in the bottom half. Trout singled through the hole at shortstop, Ohtani hit a high fly ball that center fielder Kevin Kiermaier lost in the lights for a single, and Walsh hit a three-run shot to center off Jeffrey Springs (1-1).
GUARDIANS 12, WHITE SOX 9
CHICAGO (AP) - Josh Naylor hit a tying grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning and a three-run homer in the 11th, powering a huge comeback that carried Cleveland past Chicago.
Naylor also had a run-scoring double in the eighth and finished with eight RBIs for the Guardians, who stunned Chicago by rallying from an 8-2 deficit in the ninth aided by two White Sox errors.
Andrés Giménez led off the inning with a homer and then doubled home a run in the 10th as the Guardians snapped Chicago's six-game winning streak. They have won eight of 10 following a seven-game skid.
Naylor's go-ahead drive came off Ryan Burr (0-1) and barely cleared the right-field fence. Emmanuel Clase (1-2) allowed a run in the 10th but earned the win. Trevor Stephan pitched a perfect 11th for his second major league save and first this season.
YANKEES 1, RANGERS 0
NEW YORK (AP) - Nestor Cortes took a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before Eli White singled, and Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run in the bottom half to lift New York over Texas for its sixth straight series win.
Cortes pitched a career-high 7 1/3 innings, walked four and struck out 11, one shy of his high. He threw 68 of 103 pitches for strikes.
White, the Rangers' No. 9 batter lofted a 2-2 fastball into short center field for a clean hit on Cortes' final pitch. Clay Holmes (4-0) relieved and got Marcus Semien to ground into a double play.
Aaron Judge singled in the eighth off Brett Martin (0-3) and Rizzo, in a 2-for-31 slide, lofted a curveball to the opposite-field gap in left-center.
Aroldis Chapman allowed a two-out single to Jonah Heim in the ninth, then retired Nick Solak on a flyout to finish the two-hitter for his seventh save.
GIANTS 8, ROCKIES 5
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Carlos Rodón matched his season high with 12 strikeouts in six innings and San Francisco beat Colorado.
Mauricio Dubón had three hits, including his second homer in three days, and drove in three runs as the Giants won their eighth straight against the Rockies dating to last season. Austin Slater added a pair of singles.
Rodón (4-1) pitched around traffic much of the game but benefited from two double plays and a steady fastball clocked at 97 mph in the sixth, when the left-hander whiffed NL home run leader C.J. Cron and Elias DÃaz.
Dubón got the Giants going with a sacrifice fly off Austin Gomber (2-3) in the first inning, then extended the lead to 3-0 with a two-run homer to center field in the third.
PIRATES 5, DODGERS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Jose Quintana pitched six scoreless innings for his first win since 2019 and the first victory by a Pittsburgh starting pitcher this season.
The Pirates also ended a 16-game losing streak against the Dodgers dating to 2018 and snapped Los Angeles' six-game winning streak.
Quintana (1-1) allowed four hits and four walks while striking out five. His previous win came on Sept. 5, 2019 at Milwaukee while pitching for the Chicago Cubs.
Julio Urias (2-2) allowed two runs in six-plus innings while scattering 11 hits. He struck out four and walked none.
CUBS 6, PADRES 0
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Kyle Hendricks came within one out of a three-hit shutout for Chicago, which beat listless San Diego to snap a season-high five-game losing streak.
Hendricks (2-3) didn't allow a runner to reach scoring position as he continued his mastery of the Padres. He struck out seven and walked one to improve to 8-2 overall against San Diego and 5-1 at Petco Park.
The Padres were shut out for the second time in three games.
Ian Happ drove in two runs for the Cubs, who handed rookie lefty MacKenzie Gore (2-1) his first loss. They took a 1-0 lead two batters in after Willson Contreras singled to right and scored on Seiya Suzuki's double to left. Suzuki left the game in the middle of the sixth with a sore right ankle.
PHILLIES 9, MARINERS 0
SEATTLE (AP) - Jean Segura and Rhys Hoskins hit back-to-back home runs in the second inning, Ranger Suárez tossed six strong innings and Philadelphia beat Seattle.
Nick Castellanos finished with three hits, including two doubles. Castellanos' RBI double in the fourth was the start of a three-run inning off Chris Flexen.
Suárez (3-1) struck out a season-high seven in his best performance of the season.
Flexen (1-5) had not allowed more than three earned runs in his first five starts. The six earned runs were the most since last July, when he gave up seven runs to Houston.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, MARLINS 3
PHOENIX (AP) - Ketel Marte hit a go-ahead solo homer, Daulton Varsho and Christian Walker each added two hits, and Arizona kept rolling with a win over slumping Miami.
The Diamondbacks have won six of seven. The Marlins have dropped eight of nine and lead the majors in one-run losses with 10.
Kyle Nelson (1-0) earned his first big-league win with a scoreless inning of relief. Mark Melancon picked up his sixth save, working around a leadoff single.
Miami starter Elieser Hernandez (2-2) gave up four runs, including three earned, over 5 1/3 innings. He was chased in the sixth inning after Marte's tie-breaking homer.
ORIOLES 6, ROYALS 1
BALTIMORE (AP) - Tyler Wells pitched six strong innings to earn his first victory of the season and Baltimore used a six-run fifth inning to surge past Kansas City.
Baltimore has won four of five for the first time this season and finished its homestand 5-4. Kansas City has lost seven of its past nine to fall a season-high eight games under .500.
Wells (1-2) allowed Ryan O'Hearn's RBI single in the first, but cruised through the rest of his start. He retired 15 of the last 18 batters he faced and struck out three in the longest outing of his career.
The Orioles had only four hits in their fifth-inning rally against Royals starter Carlos Hernández (0-2).
REDS 10, BREWERS 5
CINCINNATI (AP) - Colin Moran homered in his third straight at-bat, Brandon Drury and Kyle Farmer each hit a three-run homer, and Cincinnati won two straight games for the first time this season.
The Reds, baseball's worst team at 6-23, bounced back after being swept in three games at Milwaukee last week by a combined score of 34-12.
Moran connected in the second inning off Brandon Woodruff (3-2) to make it 1-0. His first longball of the season was a grand slam in the sixth inning of Sunday's 7-3 win over the Pirates, and he hit a two-run blast in his next at-bat.
Luis Castillo, who missed all of spring training and the first 28 games with a right shoulder strain, made his season debut for Cincinnati. Luis Cessa (1-0) escaped the fifth before allowing two runs in the sixth.
ATHLETICS 2, TIGERS 0
DETROIT (AP) - Paul Blackburn threw 6 2/3 strong innings to improve to 4-0 as Oakland beat Detroit to snap a season-high nine-game losing streak.
Tony Kemp hit a solo home run in the third and Chad Pinder added an RBI single in the fourth.
Blackburn gave up four hits and struck out three before leaving in the seventh inning. Despite walking two batters, rookie Dany Jiménez escaped damage and earned his fifth save to finish off the four-hitter.
Michael Pineda (1-2) took the loss, despite allowing only two runs on six hits in 6.2 innings. Javier Báez and manager A.J. Hinch were ejected after arguing balls and strikes in the ninth after Báez was called out on strikes.
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports