MLB roundup: Kodai Senga shines in debut as Mets down Marlins

 

[April 03, 2023]  Right-hander Kodai Senga struck out eight batters in his major league debut, leading the New York Mets to a 5-1 win over the host Miami Marlins on Sunday afternoon.

Senga (1-0), who played 11 years of pro ball in Japan, is considered a rookie at age 30. He allowed three hits, three walks and one run in 5 1/3 innings. All eight of his strikeouts came on his best pitch, which has been called a "ghost forkball" because it disappears out of the zone.

Mets backup center fielder Tommy Pham went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one walk as New York took three out of four games in this season-opening series. Pham finished a triple short of the cycle.

Marlins starter Trevor Rogers (0-1) lasted just 4 1/3 innings, allowing four hits, two walks and four runs, three earned. He struck out four. Miami cut its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the first as leadoff batter Luis Arraez singled, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on Jorge Soler's double. But that was all the offense the Marlins could muster.

Guardians 6, Mariners 5 (10 innings)

Mike Zunino went 3-for-3 with two doubles and a home run against his former team as Cleveland defeated host Seattle.

Enyel De Los Santos (1-0) pitched a scoreless inning of relief and Trevor Stephan worked the 10th for his first save. The Guardians took three of the four games in the season-opening series. Cleveland scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th after starting the inning with a runner on second, per extra-inning rules.

After striking out Amed Rosario, reliever Penn Murfee (0-1) intentionally walked Jose Ramirez. Josh Bell then walked on four straight pitches to load the bases. After pinch hitter Josh Naylor was announced, the M's countered with lefty Gabe Speier. Naylor hit a soft chopper in front of the plate that Speier fielded and tossed to catcher Cal Raleigh for a forceout. Raleigh tried to turn a double play but his throw to first was low and Ty France couldn't pick it out of the dirt, allowing Ramirez to score the deciding run from second.

Twins 7, Royals 4

Joey Gallo hit two homers and drove in four runs, and right-hander Joe Ryan continued his mastery of Kansas City as visiting Minnesota swept the three-game series with a win.

Ryan (1-0) went six innings in improving to 5-0 with an ERA of 1.20 in 30 innings in his career against the Royals. He allowed one run on three hits while walking two and striking out six in his first start of the season. Gallo also doubled and scored three times, and Ryan Jeffers added a pair of two-out, RBI singles for the Twins.

The Royals, who lost the first two games of the series by identical 2-0 scores, finally got on the board when Edward Olivares hit a solo blast in the second inning. Matt Duffy hit a two-run bomb off reliever Jovani Moran in the seventh. Kansas City right-hander Brad Keller (0-1) took the loss in his season debut, surrendering two runs on five hits and four walks in 4 2/3 innings.

Cardinals 9, Blue Jays 4

Nolan Gorman hit a pair of two-run homers to lift St. Louis to a victory over visiting Toronto.

Alec Burleson went 3-for-4 with a homer, two doubles, two runs and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who took the series 2-1. Cardinals starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (1-0) allowed three runs on six hits in five innings. He struck out three batters and walked one.

Blue Jays starting pitcher Chris Bassitt (0-1) lasted just 3 1/3 innings while allowing nine runs on 10 hits, including four homers. Whit Merrifield drove in two runs for Toronto and Matt Chapman went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs. The Cardinals surged ahead 4-0 in the first inning thanks to three home runs.

Rangers 2, Phillies 1

Martin Perez allowed just one run over 5 2/3 innings and Josh Jung hit a solo home run as Texas edged Philadelphia in Arlington, Texas, to complete a three-game series sweep.

After scoring 27 runs in the first two games of the three-game set, Texas leaned on its pitching staff to earn its first season-opening sweep since 2011. Perez (1-0) scattered eight hits and three walks while striking out seven. Relievers Brock Burke and Jonathan Hernandez then combined to allow just one hit over 2 1/3 innings before Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save.

Philadelphia left-hander Bailey Falter (0-1) allowed two runs on seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts over 5 1/3 innings. The Phillies outhit Texas 9-8, with two coming from Trea Turner.

Rays 5, Tigers 1

Starter Jeffrey Springs was dominant over six no-hit innings, Randy Arozarena homered and scored twice and Tampa Bay swept its three-game series with Detroit thanks to a victory in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In the six frames, Springs (1-0) fanned a career-high 12 -- six by changeup -- and walked one in an 81-pitch outing. The left-hander faced just 19 batters. Wander Franco was 2-for-3 with a double, run, walk and a stolen base. Jose Siri singled, drove in two runs and swiped a bag.

In 5 1/3 innings, Detroit starter Joey Wentz (0-1) allowed three runs on four hits while striking out three with a walk. Riley Greene broke up the no-hitter in the seventh with an infield single. Jake Rogers spoiled the shutout with a ninth-inning homer.

Yankees 6, Giants 0

Jhony Brito tossed five scoreless innings in his major league debut to power New York over visiting San Francisco to win the first series of the year.

Brito allowed just two hits and one walk. He also fanned six batters, including striking out the side in the top of the third. Giancarlo Stanton hit a monstrous two-run homer, and Aaron Judge went 1-for-4 at the plate, but his one hit was a solo shot to give the Yankees the lead in the third.

J.D. Davis, Mike Yastrzemski and Thairo Estrada each tallied a single for San Francisco's three hits.

Red Sox 9, Orioles 5

Adam Duvall and Masataka Yoshida combined for five hits, four RBIs and five runs as host Boston topped Baltimore.

Duvall went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs, while Yoshida had a pair of hits, two RBIs and three runs. Enrique Hernandez (2-for-4) hit his second home run of the season in the second inning. Rafael Devers also had two of Boston's 14 hits.

Tanner Houck (1-0) worked five innings of three-run ball with five strikeouts in his first start for Boston. Two of Houck's five hits allowed were home runs by Baltimore's Adam Frazier (3-for-4, two RBIs, two runs) and Cedric Mullins (2-for-5, run, three RBIs).

Nationals 4, Braves 1

Washington jumped on rookie Jared Shuster, who was making his major league debut, for four runs in the first inning and held on for a victory over visiting Atlanta.

The Nationals salvaged a win after the Braves took the first two games of the season-opening series, in a game that took just 2 hours, 17 minutes to play. Dominic Smith had an RBI single, and Lane Thomas went 2-for-4 with a run for Washington.

The lefty Shuster (0-1) opened the first inning by giving up three singles and three walks, walking in a pair of runs, and was in a 3-0 hole before retiring Ildemaro Vargas on a popup to shortstop for the first out. Shuster's counterpart, 24-year-old left-hander MacKenzie Gore (1-0), was in control from the outset of his Nationals debut, striking out Braves sluggers Matt Olson and Austin Riley twice and Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna once.

Reds 3, Pirates 1

Graham Ashcraft tossed seven strong innings and Jason Vosler and TJ Friedl each belted a solo homer as Cincinnati beat visiting Pittsburgh.

Ashcraft (1-0) needed just 95 pitches to strike out six with one walk while holding the Pirates to one run on four hits. After losing 100 games last year, the Reds are over .500 for the first time since winning the 2022 season opener in Atlanta.

Pirates starter Vince Velasquez (0-1) took the loss in his first start of the season, allowing three runs and five hits over 4 2/3 innings. He was chased from the game after the Friedl home run.

White Sox 6, Astros 3

Mike Clevinger logged five scoreless innings and Yoan Moncada had three extra-base hits as Chicago doubled up host Houston to salvage a split of the four-game series.

Clevinger (1-0) surrendered three hits and three walks while striking out eight to pick up the victory in his White Sox debut. Moncada went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and a two-run homer in the ninth.

Luis Robert Jr. also had a pair of hits, including a tiebreaking solo shot in the fifth inning off Houston starter Luis Garcia (0-1), who went five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

Brewers 9, Cubs 5

Jesse Winker had two hits with three RBIs, while Garrett Mitchell and Willy Adames drove in two runs apiece, as visiting Milwaukee beat Chicago.

Rookie Brice Turang went 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs and an RBI for the Brewers, who had 13 hits on Sunday, and took the final two games of this three-game set for their first opening-series victory since 2019. Eric Lauer (1-0) allowed two runs and five hits while walking two with six strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings for Milwaukee.

Patrick Wisdom hit two solo homers while Dansby Swanson, Yan Gomes and Cody Bellinger each had an RBI for Chicago, which was outscored 12-6 following Thursday's 4-0 victory. Meanwhile, Jameson Taillon (0-1) allowed three runs and seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts over four innings during his Cubs debut.

Angels 6, Athletics 0

Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit back-to-back home runs, left-hander Tyler Anderson threw six shutout innings and Los Angeles completed a series win over host Oakland.

Logan O'Hoppe completed a six-RBI series with a three-run homer for the Angels, who rebounded from a season-opening 2-1 defeat to swamp the rebuilding A's 13-1 and 6-0 over the weekend.

After Ken Waldichuk (0-1) matched zeroes with Anderson (1-0) through three innings, the Angels took the lead for good in the fourth after a leadoff infield single by Hunter Renfroe and one-out walk by Luis Rengifo. With two outs, O'Hoppe -- who caught every inning of the series -- unleashed his rocket to left-center field for a 3-0 advantage.

Diamondbacks 2, Dodgers 1

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. scored on Jake McCarthy's bunt single in the top of the ninth inning to lift Arizona over host Los Angeles.

Gurriel, Christian Walker and Geraldo Perdomo each had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who split the season-opening four-game series despite being outscored 20-7. Will Smith homered in the first for the Dodgers' lone run.

Arizona starter Zach Davies allowed a run on four hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings before the Diamondbacks' bullpen took care of the rest. Kyle Nelson, Miguel Castro, Andrew Chafin and Scott McGough combined for four scoreless innings in which they didn't allow a hit to go along with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Padres 3, Rockies 1

Trent Grisham and Xander Bogaerts homered in the third inning and Seth Lugo took a shutout into the seventh of his San Diego debut as the Padres defeated Colorado to earn a split of their season-opening series.

Lugo, who joined the Padres as a free agent in December, allowed one run on four hits and no walks with seven strikeouts over seven innings. He threw only 93 pitches.

Colorado's only run was a one-out home run in the seventh by Ryan McMahon.

-Field Level Media

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