Royals use rare long ball to defeat the Twins
· Yahoo Sports
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Royals used home runs by Kyle Isbel and Isaac Collins, two hitters not known for their power, to defeat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on an unseasonably warm day in front of a sellout crowd of 39,320 in Kansas City’s home opener. The temperature at first pitch was 85 degrees.
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In the first game at Kauffman Stadium since the Royals moved in the fences 8 to 10 feet, all four runs scored on home runs. However, all three home runs also would have been out with the old dimensions.
Kris Bubic (1-0) picked up the win for Kansas City. He allowed one run on two hits in six innings. John Schreiber pitched the ninth for his first save.
Simeon Woods Richardson (0-1) took the loss for the Twins.
REDS 2, PIRATES 0
CINCINNATI (AP) — Chase Burns allowed one hit in five innings for his first major league win, leading Cincinnati to a victory over Pittsburgh.
Burns (1-0) walked three and struck out seven, including Jared Triolo with two on and two outs in the fourth. Jose Franco retired five batters before leaving with two on. Graham Ashcraft struck out Henry Davis to end the seventh and fanned two more in a scoreless eighth. Conner Phillips walked Marcell Ozuna and Ryan O’Hearn before retiring three straight for his first career save.
Elly De La Cruz singled leading off the fourth against Braxton Ashcraft (0-1) for the Reds but was thrown out trying to steal second. Sal Stewart walked, took third on a single by Eugenio Suárez and scored on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Steer. Suárez scored on a triple by Will Benson to cap the scoring in a third straight win for Cincinnati.
Braxton Ashcraft (0-1) gave up two runs on four hits and four walks over six innings in his ninth career start. Isaac Mattson pitched the seventh and Justin Lawrence struck out the side in the eighth.
Stewart, the reigning NL player of the week, went 1 for 2 and walked twice. He is 8 for 12 at the plate through the first four games.
RANGERS 5, ORIOLES 2
BALTIMORE (AP) — Jack Leiter struck out eight in six strong innings and Jake Burger drove in two runs to lead Texas to a victory over Baltimore.
Leiter (1-0) had a stretch of five straight strikeouts and appeared to have a sixth for the second out in the fifth, but Colton Cowser won an ABS challenge on a called third strike and turned it into a base hit. Blaze Alexander singled and Gunnar Henderson had a two-out single to cut it to 4-2 before Leiter struck out Pete Alonso to end the inning with runners at the corners.
Leiter allowed five hits and a walk in leading Texas to its third straight win. Jakob Junis and Jalen Beeks each pitched a scoreless inning before Tyler Alexander struck out two in the ninth for his second save.
Brandon Nimmo singled leading off the game against Chris Bassitt (0-1) — making his first start for the Orioles — before scoring on a fielder’s choice by Burger for a 1-0 lead.
Henderson hit his first home run of the season to tie it in the first.
WHITE SOX 9, MARLINS 4
MIAMI (AP) — Miguel Vargas hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs, Austin Hays hammered a three-run shot and Chicago beat Miami for their first win this season.
Batting leadoff, Vargas drove in Everson Pereira with a single in the third inning. Hays’ homer to right field quickly made it 4-0.
Vargas’ slam in the fourth gave the White Sox an 8-0 cushion. Luisangel Acuña scored in the sixth on Vargas’ sacrifice fly.
Tristan Peters and Pereira each had two hits for Chicago. Munetaka Murakami went 1 for 5 with a single, ending his home run streak at three games.
BRAVES 4, ATHLETICS 0
ATLANTA (AP) — The Braves scored three runs in the first inning off a double from Matt Olson and a single from Mauricio Dubón in a win over the Athletics on Monday night.
Mike Yastrzemski came in to relieve left fielder Eli White and hit a line drive triple to right field in the eighth inning. Dubón followed with a single to send him home.
Dubón, a two-time (2023, ’25) Gold Glove-winning shortstop, came to the Braves in the offseason from a trade with the Astros.
Bryce Elder (1-0) pitched six innings and gave up five hits with five strikeouts and a walk.
CUBS 7, ANGELS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Edward Cabrera was just about perfect in his debut with Chicago.
Cabrera pitched six crisp innings against the Los Angeles. The right-hander struck out five while throwing 80 pitches in the opener of a three-game series, 49 for strikes.
The Cubs had a 6-0 lead going into the seventh inning.
Cabrera, who turns 28 on April 13, was acquired in a January trade with Miami for outfielder Owen Caissie and infield prospects Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon. Caissie is 5 for 13 with a homer and four RBIs in his first four games with the Marlins.
Wearing custom Cubs-themed cleats, the 6-foot-5 Cabrera allowed two baserunners in his first start of the year. Yoán Moncada walked with one out in the second, and Nolan Schanuel singled to right in the fourth.
RAYS 3, BREWERS 2
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Nick Fortes hit a tiebreaking two-out double off Trevor Megill in the ninth inning as Tampa Bay edged Milwaukee.
Milwaukee took its first loss after opening the season with a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox.
Megill (0-1) retired the first two batters he faced and had a 1-2 count on Jonny DeLuca before walking him. Fortes sent a first-pitch fastball into the gap in right-center to bring home DeLuca.
Ian Seymour hit Sal Frelick with a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth before retiring the next two batters. Kevin Kelly picked up his first save by getting Blake Perkins to ground out.
All the runs before the ninth came on homers.
Yandy Díaz continued his blistering start by leading off the game by sending a 1-2 pitch from Kyle Harrison over the left-field wall. Díaz, who also singled in the second, is 12 for 20 this season.
ROCKIES 14, BLUE JAYS 5
TORONTO (AP) — Troy Johnston hit a two-run homer, Ezequiel Tovar had three hits and three RBIs, and Colorado Rockies won for the first time this season by routing Toronto.
After losing three straight one-run games in a weekend sweep at Miami, Colorado thumped the previously undefeated Blue Jays to avoid the first 0-4 start in team history. The Rockies are 2-11 all-time in Toronto.
Braxton Fulford also homered as Colorado finished with 17 hits. The Rockies had 19 hits in three games at Miami.
George Springer, Kazuma Okamota and Andrés Giménez each hit a solo homer for the AL champion Blue Jays. Davis Schneider added a two-run drive.
METS 4, CARDINALS 2
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Bo Bichette had a hit and drove in two runs, sparking New York to a victory over St. Louis.
Clay Holmes (1-0) pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks. He struck out five.
Devin Williams, a St. Louis native, pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save.
Carson Benge and Jorge Polanco each had two hits for the Mets. New York banged out 10 hits but stranded 11 runners.
Kyle Leahy (0-1) pitched into the sixth inning in his second career MLB start and first at Busch Stadium. Leahy gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks. He moved from the bullpen this year after starting the final game of 2025.
Alec Burleson had two hits, raising his average to .400, with an RBI. Nolan Gorman hit a solo home run after hitting one Sunday for St. Louis.