NATIONAL LEAGUE
Yasiel Puig hit a 125m drive for a two-run homer and Zack Greinke won his season debut, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-2 victory against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.
Carl Crawford started the game with a base hit and Puig then drove a 2-1 pitch from Ian Kennedy into the balcony on the third deck of the Western Metal Supply Co Building in the left-field corner. It was his first homer.
Photo: USA TODAY
It was the second time Kennedy faced the Dodgers since June 11 last year, when, while with Arizona, he hit Puig and Greinke with pitches, inciting a brawl at Dodger Stadium. Kennedy was suspended 10 games. He was traded to the Padres on July 31 last year.
San Diego loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth against Kenley Jansen, on singles by Yonder Alonso and Will Venable, and a walk to Yasmani Grandal. The closer then struck out pinch-hitter Nick Hundley to earn his second save in two chances.
Greinke (1-0) went five innings, allowing two runs and two hits while striking out five and walking two.
Seth Smith homered for San Diego.
MARLINS 4, ROCKIES 3
In Miami, Nathan Eovaldi pitched six innings as Miami made the most of five hits to beat Colorado for the second night in a row.
The Marlins’ 2-0 start hints at big improvement from last year, when they began 14-41 en route to a 100-loss season. The Rockies are 0-2 after finishing last in the NL West last year.
Eovaldi (1-0) allowed two runs and struck out six after Jose Fernandez limited Colorado to one run in the season opener. Eovaldi gave up six hits, walked one and reached 159kph on the radar gun.
A.J. Ramos struck out Nolan Arenado with runners at the corners to end the eighth, protecting a one-run lead. Steve Cishek converted his 30th consecutive save opportunity and first of the year by pitching a perfect ninth.
Brett Anderson (0-1) pitched six innings and allowed four runs, three earned, in his first start for the Rockies.
In other NL action, it was:
‧ Braves 5, Brewers 2
‧ Diamondbacks 5, Giants 4
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AP, HOUSTON, Texas
Jesus Guzman and L.J. Hoes homered off C.C. Sabathia to help the Houston Astros roll to a 6-2 win on Tuesday in the first game of Derek Jeter’s farewell tour with the New York Yankees.
Jeter’s final big league season began by being plunked on the left arm by Scott Feldman. The 13-time All-Star went one for three with a single.
Jeter, who has won five World Series with New York, announced in February that his 20th season would be his last.
The Astros added Dexter Fowler and Scott Feldman to improve a team coming off three straight 100-loss seasons. On the first day, it worked.
Fowler had two doubles as Houston jumped on Sabathia (0-1) for six runs in the first two innings. Feldman allowed two hits in 6-2/3 innings in his Houston debut after signing a three-year, US$30 million contract.
BLUE JAYS 4, RAYS 2
In St Petersburg, Florida, Drew Hutchison won his first start in almost two years, while Adam Lind homered for the visiting Blue Jays.
Hutchison (1-0) allowed three hits and walked three over 5-1/3 shutout innings in his first big league game since June 15, 2012. The right-hander had elbow ligament replacement surgery in August 2012.
Lind hit a three-run homer in the first off Alex Cobb (0-1). He sent a 3-1 pitch over the center-field fence.
Cobb gave up four runs, five hits and four walks in five innings.
Jonathan Diaz, filling in for injured Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes, made it 4-0 with his first major league hit, an RBI single in the fourth.
Also in the AL, it was:
‧ Mariners 8, Angels 3
In interleague play, it was:
‧ Rangers 3, Phillies 2
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB