Minnesota and Atlanta both avoided the ignominy of starting the season 0-10 when they both through for their first victories on Friday, the Twins edging the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta coming from three runs down after seven innings to beat Miami 6-3.
Minnesota’s Miguel Sano and Trevor Plouffe hit consecutive RBI doubles in the sixth inning to provide such much-needed offensive power for the Twins, who had not scored more than three runs in a game before Friday.
Park Byung-ho drove in the go-ahead run for the Twins with a double in the eighth inning.
Photo: Kuo Yi-chieh, Taipei Times
The Angels lost for the first time in five games.
Atlanta looked like becoming the first team since Detroit in 2002 to start 0-10 when they trailed 3-0 in Miami after seven innings.
Their comeback began with three consecutive hits in the seventh, including a double by Adonis Garcia to drive in the first Atlanta run. Nick Markakis’ RBI single in the eighth made it 3-3, and Garcia’s two-run double put the Braves ahead.
The Marlins had Taiwan’s Chen Wei-yin to thank for their strong start.
The left-handed starting pitcher, on the return from a bruised left elbow, pitched 6-1/3 innings as the Marlins built their three-run lead.
He walked Markakis on four pitches to start the game, but induced a double play and retired another to save the inning. He then retired 12 straight.
“I think I felt pretty good,” Chen told MLB.com through an interpreter. “Having 10 days of rest, it might be too long for a starter, so sometimes you have doubts about whether you still have the feeling for the game. I tried not to think about all those things. I was trying to do my job out there.”
In other games on Friday, it was:
‧ White Sox 1, Rays 0
‧ Dodgers 7, Giants 3
‧ Astros 1, Tigers 0
‧ Rockies 6, Cubs 1
‧ Mariners 7, Yankees 1
‧ Red Sox 5, Blue Jays 3
‧ Nationals 9, Phillies 1
‧ Brewers 8, Pirates 4
‧ Orioles 11, Rangers 5
‧ Cardinals 14, Reds 3
‧ Royals 4, Athletics 2
‧ Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2
‧ Indians 5, Mets 6
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