CLEVELAND (AP) – Jordan Luplow hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning off Alex Colomé, giving the Cleveland Indians a 5-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins in their series opener Monday night.
Luplow’s second career game-ending homer was a leadoff shot that quickly cleared the wall in left field, scoring free runner César Hernández from second base. Minnesota fell to 0-5 in extra-inning games.
Emmanuel Clase (2-1) worked a perfect inning, helping Cleveland win its second straight. Luplow was the only batter faced by Colomé (1-3).
It was the first 19 meetings this season between teams combined to win the last five AL Central titles. Minnesota is the two-time defending champion.
Luis Arraez gave the Twins a 3-2 lead in the eighth when he singled home Jake Cave with two outs, but José Ramírez answered in the bottom half with a homer off Tyler Duffey.
ANGELS 9, RANGERS 4
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) – Shohei Ohtani struck out nine after a shaky first inning on the mound and scored three runs, and drove in two in a start like none since Babe Ruth 100 years earlier, as Los Angeles beat Texas.
A day after hitting his seventh homer to tie for the primary league lead, Ohtani (1-0) became the first home run leader to be the starting pitcher for a game since Ruth for the New York Yankees against Detroit on June 13, 1921. It was the second time this season Ohtani pitched and batted second.
The Japanese right-hander gave up four runs in the first inning before retiring 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, with all his strikeouts coming during that span.
Ohtani walked and scored first, then threw 28 pitches in the bottom of the inning, including two walks, a hit batsman, and a wild pitch. But the game was tied at 4 in the second after Ohtani hit a two-run double and scored on Mike Trout’s single.
Justin Upton and Albert Pujols put the Angels ahead to stay with back-to-back homers to begin the third-off starter Jordan Lyles (1-2), who allowed seven runs and ten hits in 2 2/3 innings. José Iglesias went deep off Hyeon-Jong Yang, the lefty from South Korea, making his big league debut.
Trout also had an RBI double among his four hits in return to the lineup to raise his average to .426. He missed three games last weekend in Houston because of a bruised left elbow after getting hit by a pitch.
Texas went ahead on Nate Lowe’s sixth homer, a three-run shot that gave him an MLB best-matching 21 RBIs.
ASTROS 5, MARINERS 2
HOUSTON (AP) – Jose Altuve had three hits and two RBIs returning to the lineup after testing positive for COVID-19, leading Houston over Seattle.
Yordan Alvarez and Yuli Gurriel both had three hits and drove in a run as the Astros won for the fourth time in five games after losing their previous three.
José Urquidi (1-2) yielded two runs in six innings, and Ryan Pressly worked a scoreless ninth for his second save.
The Mariners got solo homers from Kyle Lewis and Kyle Seager. Justus Sheffield (1-2) allowed a career-high 12 hits with five runs – four earned – in 5 1/3 innings.
BRAVES 8, CUBS 7
ATLANTA (AP) – Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer, and Atlanta woke up offensively after a grim doubleheader. The Braves were coming off two shutout losses to Arizona the previous afternoon – managing just a single hit, by Freeman, over 14 innings. Madison Bumgarner held Atlanta without a hit in his seven-inning victory, though it did not qualify as an official no-hitter.
Atlanta scored four times in the first inning. Chicago tied it on Kris Bryant’s sixth career grand slam, a shot off Charlie Morton (2-1) in the third. Freeman broke a 5-all tie with a mammoth, two-out shot of his own, connecting in the fifth against Brandon Workman (0-2).
Will Smith worked around a walk in the ninth for his fifth save.
PHILLIES 2, CARDINALS 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Zack Wheeler took a one-hit shutout into the ninth inning, and Rhys Hoskins homered twice as Philadelphia beat St. Louis. Hoskins’ seventh career multi-homer game and second this season helped the Phillies improve to 3-1 against the Cardinals. Wheeler (2-2) struck out nine and edged Adam Wainwright in a classic pitchers’ duel that took just 2 hours, 22 minutes.
Wheeler retired his first 14 batters until Paul DeJong’s opposite-field single in the fifth. The right-hander was lifted after issuing a leadoff walk to Matt Carpenter on his 114th pitch in the ninth. Héctor Neris got the save after Carpenter scored on a groundout by Dylan Carlson. Wainwright (0-3) tossed a complete game on 107 pitches, allowing six hits and striking out eight as the Cardinals’ winning streak was snapped at three.
