Kevin Plawecki grounded a tiebreaking, two-run single through a drawn-in infield in the seventh inning, and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins, 2-1, Wednesday to stop a four-game losing streak.
Logan Verrett, starting in place of injured pitcher Jacob deGrom, allowed three hits in six shutout innings, and Hansel Robles and Jerry Blevins (1-0) combined to escape a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the seventh.
Miami’s Adam Conley struck out a career-high nine in six scoreless innings, but Dustin McGowan (0-1) faltered in the bottom half. Wilmer Flores singled, took second on a wild pitch, and third on Asdrubal Cabrera’s single. McGowan retired Juan Lagares on a comebacker, but Plawecki singled just past the outstretched glove of shortstop Miguel Rojas for his first hit this season.
Pitching for the third straight day, Jeurys Familia got a five-out save.
He entered with one on and one out in the eighth, got Giancarlo Stanton to fly out, then gave up a hit to Martin Prado and an RBI single to Justin Bour. Familia retired J.T. Realmuto on a comebacker and pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
New York went 2-4 on its first homestand. En route to last year’s NL title, the Mets didn’t lose their fourth game until May 15.
Flores made his first major league start at first base for the Mets, who began the day with the worst batting average in the major leagues at .187 and were 29th in runs with 18 in seven games.
Ichiro Suzuki made his first start of the season for Miami and doubled in the fourth for his 2,937th hit.
New York loaded the bases on three singles in the fourth, but Flores fouled out and Cabrera struck out.
Jim Henderson threw 34 pitches on Tuesday night, his most in the big leagues, and his fastball was 94-96 miles per hour. But his velocity dropped to 89-91 on Wednesday.
He gave up a leadoff single to Prado in the seventh, then loaded the bases with walks to Bour and Realmuto. Robles relieved and threw a called third strike past Rojas and got pinch-hitter Derek Dietrich to swing at a third strike. The lefthanded Blevins came in and fell behind NL batting champion Dee Gordon, 3-0, before retiring him on a fly to short left.
Angels 5, Athletics 1 — Matt Shoemaker pitched one-hit ball for six innings as Los Angeles defeated host Oakland for its fourth straight win.
Mike Trout had three hits and scored three runs as the Angels finished a three-game sweep. Kole Calhoun got three hits and drove in two runs, and Albert Pujols also had two RBIs.
Marcus Semien hit his third home run in two days for the A’s. Oakland fell to 1-6 at home. Shoemaker (1-1) struck out five and walked three.
Eric Surkamp (0-1) went 4? innings, giving up two runs on five hits.
Mariners 4, Rangers 2 — Dae-Ho Lee hit a two-run pinch homer with two outs in the 10th inning, lifting Seattle over visiting Texas, marking the Mariners’ first win of the year at Safeco Field.
Calhoun twice drove in Trout. Calhoun extended his hitting streak to seven games and has driven in 17 runs against the A’s since the beginning of last year.
Valencia and Coco Crisp were the only A’s to get as far as second base against Shoemaker, who retired 11 of his final 12 hitters. The A’s finished with three hits.
After starting 0-5 at home, the Mariners won on Lee’s second home run of the season. Robinson Cano hit his fifth homer for Seattle.
The righthanded-hitting Lee, who spent the last four years in Japan after 11 seasons in his native South Korea, came on to bat for Adam Lind against lefthander Jake Diekman (0-1). Lee launched an 0-2 pitch deep over the left-field wall for his second homer.
Nelson Cruz reached on a one-out error by second baseman Rougned Odor, but was forced out by Kyle Seager, setting up Lee.
Steve Cishek (1-1) pitched two innings.
Delino DeShields brought the Rangers even at 2 in the eighth with a solo homer, his first.
Blue Jays 7, Yankees 2 — Jose Bautista had two hits and collected his 800th RBI, J.A. Happ worked six innings for his first victory of the season, and host Toronto beat New York. Ryan Goins had three hits and two RBIs for the Blue Jays, who had lost five of six. Six of Toronto’s 10 hits were doubles.
Facing the Yankees for the first time since Aug. 31, 2014, Happ (1-0) allowed one run and seven hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Mark Teixeira hit a solo homer, his third, but New York failed to win its third straight.
Brett Cecil worked the seventh, Drew Storen allowed Teixeira’s homer in the eighth and Pat Venditte finished.
Making his second start of the season, Yankees right-hander Michael Pineda (1-1) allowed three runs, two earned, and five hits in six innings.
Indians 4, Rays 1 — Carlos Carrasco pitched eight efficient innings, Jason Kipnis hit his first homer, and Cleveland beat host Tampa. Carrasco, who came within one strike of a no-hitter in Tampa last July, held the Rays to just a single and a walk through the first seven innings.
He allowed a run on three hits in the eighth inning and finished with eight strikeouts and just 93 pitches.
Lefthander Drew Smyly (0-2) tied a career high with 11 strikeouts in seven innings for the Rays.
Tigers 7, Pirates 3 — Jarrod Saltalamacchia hit a grand slam for his 100th career home run, Shane Greene pitched six strong innings in his first start since undergoing shoulder surgery last August, and Detroit beat host Pittsburgh.
Kipnis homered off Erasmo Ramirez in the eighth.
After Carrasco and Smyly went perfect through three innings, the Indians broke through in the fourth.
Rajai Davis led off the inning with a double and Kipnis followed with a single. Davis scored the first run on a ground ball, and the Indians added runs with a double by Mike Napoli, Carlos Santana’s sacrifice fly and a throwing error by third baseman Evan Longoria.
Curt Casali drove in Tampa Bay’s run with a double, but the Rays’ streak of 21 straight games with at least one home run ended.
Saltalamacchia connected off Arquimedes Caminero (0-2) with two outs in the sixth inning, hitting a drive into the right-field bleachers that enabled the Tigers to erase a 2-1 deficit. Detroit loaded the bases on a double by Miguel Cabrera, a walk to J.D. Martinez and Nick Castellanos’s single.
Greene (1-0) allowed two runs and three hits in six innings in his first start of the season, which was delayed after the Tigers were rained out Sunday night against the New York Yankees. He struck out seven and walked three in helping Detroit win for the fifth time in seven games to start the season.
Phillies 2, Padres 1 — Maikel Franco homered, doubled, and drove in both runs, and Jerad Eickhoff struck out nine in seven scoreless innings to lead host Philadelphia, which won for the fourth time in five games after opening with four straight losses.
Royals 4, Astros 2 — Salvador Perez tagged Houston reliever Ken Giles for a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting Kansas City over host Houston.
White Sox 3, Twins 0 — Carlos Rodon worked his way out of trouble several times to complete six scoreless innings, Jerry Sands hit a two-run home run, and Chicago kept host Minnesota winless. At 0-8, the Twins have been outscored, 33-13, this season.
He did it while displaying the power he showed at the end of last season when he fanned 10 in each of his final two starts.
Brett Wallace had an RBI single with two outs in the ninth off Jeanmar Gomez, who held on for his fourth save in as many chances. The Padres ended their scoreless streak at 20 innings and let them avoid being shut out for the fifth time in nine games.
Franco connected off Colin Rea (0-1) in the first for his second homer of the season. He hit an RBI double in the third.
Rea, making his eighth big league start, also went seven innings. He gave up one earned run on five hits and two walks, striking out five.
Eickhoff used a knee-buckling curveball and a mid-90s fastball to stifle Padres batters.
The Padres threatened against David Hernandez in the eighth. Alexi Amarista singled and moved to second when he was hit in the back by first baseman Ryan Howard’s throw on a grounder by Jon Jay. A walk to Cory Spangenberg loaded the bases with one out, but Hernandez struck out Matt Kemp and Wil Myers.
Hernandez pumped his fist and hopped off the mound after getting the final strike to escape.
The run off Gomez snapped the Phillies’ bullpen scoreless innings streak at 12 1/3 innings. Philadelphia relievers began the season by giving up 15 earned runs in their first 10 2/3.
Jay went 0 for 4 to snap his eight-game hitting streak.
Giles (0-1) retired the first two batters in the eighth before walking Alex Gordon on a full count. Perez followed with a drive off the facade above the Crawford Boxes in left field for his first homer of the year.
Rodon (1-1) needed 107 pitches to make it as far as he did. He walked five, including the leadoff man twice, but the Twins left the bases loaded in the sixth after filling them with one out. David Robertson pitched a perfect ninth inning for his fourth save in as many attempts.
Phil Hughes (0-2) gave up the one-out homer to straightaway center field to Sands in the seventh.
Cubs 9, Reds 2 — John Lackey pitched into the seventh inning, Kris Bryant hit his first homer of the season, and Chicago matched the best eight-game start (7-1) in franchise history with a victory over Cincinnati.
Miguel Montero had two of Chicago’s 10 walks and scored three times as the Cubs improved to 7-1 for the first time since 1985 and just the 11th time overall. Jason Heyward drove in two runs with a two-out single in the third and robbed Scott Schebler of a hit with a diving grab in right-center in the fourth.
Brewers 6, Cardinals 4— Domingo Santana hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the ninth inning off closer Trevor Rosenthal, Chase Anderson threw six innings without an earned run, and Milwaukee beat host St. Louis.
Nationals 3, Braves 0 — Tanner Roark pitched seven innings, Stephen Drew and Jayson Werth hit fourth-inning home runs, and host Washington defeated winless Atlanta for its fourth straight victory.
Roark, who moved up a day when scheduled starter Stephen Strasburg was scratched due to illness, allowed four hits and three walks.
Rockies 10, Giants 6 —Nolan Arenado homered twice, doubled, and singled to drive in a career-high seven runs, and rookie Trevor Story had two triples as Colorado tied a franchise record with 12 extra-base hits to beat visiting San Francisco.
The Rockies set a team record with four triples. Story had three of Colorado’s 18 hits.
