AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
Brian Roberts hit a three-run homer and Jake Arrieta allowed one run in six innings as the unbeaten Baltimore Orioles thrilled a sellout crowd in their home opener by defeating the Detroit Tigers 5-1 on Monday.
Photo: AFP
On a gorgeous afternoon at Camden Yards, the Orioles extended a surprising winning streak that began with a three-game sweep at Tampa Bay. Off to its best start since 1997, Baltimore (4-0) has not yet trailed, hasn’t given up more than one run in a game and has outscored the competition 17-4.
With the score tied at 1-1 in the fifth, Felix Pie walked and went to third on a double by J.J. Hardy before Roberts hit a 1-2 pitch from Rick Porcello (0-1) over the wall in right-center. Roberts has Baltimore’s only two home runs this season.
Nick Markakis followed with his third hit, a double, and Matt Wieters delivered a two-out RBI single for a 5-1 lead.
YANKEES 4, TWINS 3
In New York, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada each hit a two-run homer and rookie Ivan Nova kept the New York Yankees ahead in a win over Minnesota.
Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera each pitched a scoreless inning to close the Yankees’ 15th victory in their last 16 home tries against Minnesota — that includes wins in New York’s opening-round playoff sweeps over the Twins the last two years.
Rodriguez lined his 615th homer in the first, then Posada connected the next inning for his third home run in two days. The shots off Scott Baker (0-1) gave the Yankees 11 home runs through their first four games.
Jim Thome had a two-run double for the Twins
RANGERS 6, MARINERS 4
In Arlington, Texas, Nelson Cruz became the third player in major league history to hit home runs in the first four games of a season as the Texas Rangers beat Seattle to remain one of four unbeaten teams in the big leagues.
Texas (4-0) is off to its best start since opening 7-0 in 1996, following up a three-game weekend sweep of Boston. Cruz joined Willie Mays (1971) and Mark McGwire (1998) as the only players to go deep in each of their first four games of a season.
Derek Holland (1-0) allowed three runs and seven hits with five strikeouts in six innings. Neftali Feliz worked a perfect ninth for his first save.
Elvis Andrus got the Rangers rolling in the first inning with his first homer in 705 at-bats. Julio Borbon had a two-run triple.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
AP, MILWAUKE, WISCONSIN
Martin Prado and Dan Uggla homered off Takashi Saito in the eighth inning, rallying the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 victory and spoiling the Milwaukee Brewers’ home opener on Monday.
Rickie Weeks continued his impressive start for winless Milwaukee with his third homer. However, the Brewers are 0-4 after getting swept at Cincinnati to begin the season.
Peter Moylan (1-0) got three outs to earn the win and Craig Kimbrel struck out the side in the ninth for his second save.
Prado equalized with his leadoff drive in the eighth. Saito (0-1) got two outs before Uggla hit a deep fly to left-center that hit off the top of the wall and bounced over.
Atlanta starter Brandon Beachy and Milwaukee’s Chris Narveson each tossed six sparkling innings.
CUBS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 1
In Chicago, Randy Wells overcame a shaky start to pitch six solid innings and Kerry Wood escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth as Chicago beat Arizona.
Alfonso Soriano homered and drove in two runs for the Cubs. Carlos Marmol, who blew a save in Sunday’s loss to the Pirates, worked the ninth for his second of the season.
Wells (1-0), hoping to regain the form of his 2009 rookie season, outpitched Diamondbacks left-hander Joe Saunders (0-1) on an overcast afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Willie Bloomquist hit his first career leadoff homer for Arizona.
PIRATES 4, CARDINALS 3
In St Louis, Missouri, Charlie Morton won his first road game since the end of 2009 in a 8°C chill as the Pittsburgh Pirates stunned St Louis starter Kyle Lohse with a four-run sixth inning.
In a span of four pitches, Lohse (0-1) issued his first walk all year, then allowed Neil Walker’s two-run double and Andrew McCutchen’s second homer to put Pittsburgh ahead 4-1.
Joel Hanrahan got four outs to preserve a one-run lead for his third save in three chances for the Pirates, who are 3-1 on the road to start the year after going a major league-worst 17-64 away from home last season.
The Cardinals were 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 16 with men on base against Morton (1-0) and four relievers. Albert Pujols was 0 for 3 with a walk and is 2 for 16 with a homer and one RBI thus far.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set