MAJOR LEAGUES
Prince Fielder and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit back-to-back home runs, while Robbie Ross limited Seattle to five singles in seven-plus innings as the Texas Rangers blanked the Mariners 5-0 on Tuesday.
Fielder ended a 13-game homer-less streak to start the American League season with his new team, hitting a line drive to right-center off former Texas first-round pick Blake Beavan (0-1) leading off the second inning. Two pitches later, Kouzmanoff went deep to left.
Kouzmanoff also had two doubles, the second of which drove in two runs to put the Rangers up 4-0 in the eighth.
Ross (1-0) got his first win as a starter in his third try as the Rangers won their third straight by shutout and fourth in seven overall.
Fielder’s homer drought was the second-longest of his career to start the season. He had twice gone 14 games before his first long ball, in 2008 and 2010.
In Cincinnati, Mike Leake doubled and hit a two-run homer to end Gerrit Cole’s winning streak and lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 7-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates that completed two days full of homers and delays.
First, the National League Central rivals completed a game that was suspended in the sixth inning because of rain the previous night. Andrew McCutchen doubled and came around on Russell Martin’s single in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates an 8-7 win.
Leake, who has the most hits by a major league pitcher since 2010, doubled and scored in the third. He hit his third career homer in the sixth off Cole (2-1), who had won his past six starts.
Todd Frazier hit his second homer in two games and Joey Votto had four hits, while Neil Walker hit three of Pittsburgh’s seven homers in the two games.
The teams wore their customary uniforms for the completion of the suspended game, then switched to commemorative No. 42 Jackie Robinson jerseys for the later game.
Also in the NL, Giancarlo Stanton equaled a career high with five RBIs, including a three-run homer off Stephen Strasburg, as the Miami Marlins broke an eight-game losing streak by beating the Washington Nationals 11-2, while Hector Sanchez singled home the winning run with two outs in the 12th inning to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2.
In other NL games, the St Louis Cardinals downed the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1, the New York Mets trounced the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-0, the Colorado Rockies were 3-2 winners over the San Diego Padres and the clash between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies was postponed.
In the American League, Josh Donaldson drove in Jed Lowrie with an 11th-inning double as the Oakland Athletics overcame Mike Trout’s game-leveling homer in the ninth to beat the Los Angeles Angels 10-9, while inclement weather postponed both the Tampa Bay Rays’ game against the Baltimore Orioles was rained out and the Cleveland Indians-Detroit Tigers match.
Also in the AL, the Chicago White Sox edged the Boston Red Sox 2-1, the Kansas City Royals beat the Houston Astros 4-2 and the Toronto Blue Jays downed the Minnesota Twins 9-3.
Tuesday’s only interleague game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs was rescheduled for yesterday.
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