Vinnie Pasquantino homered and drove in a career-high five runs, leading the Kansas City Royals to an 11-2 win over the visiting Houston Astros on Wednesday night.
Pasquantino’s two-run double in the third opened the floodgates as the Royals sent 11 batters to the plate, scoring seven times to snap a scoreless tie.
Nelson Velazquez added a two-RBI single, and Hunter Renfroe drove in two more runs with a double in the big inning, which forced Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti (0-1) to throw 43 pitches of the 79 he made in his three-inning big-league debut.
Royals starter Seth Lugo (2-0) completed six innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks, with two strikeouts. Kansas City starters have recorded a major-league-best nine quality starts. The Royals have won six straight games.
Orioles 7, Red Sox 5
Jordan Westburg had two hits, including a three-run home run, and visiting Baltimore overcame a five-run deficit to defeat Boston.
The Orioles began their comeback by scoring three runs in the sixth before Westburg’s blast off Chris Martin (1-1) capped a four-run seventh. Mike Baumann (1-0) picked up the win, and Craig Kimbrell tossed a perfect ninth for his second save.
Triston Casas had two hits, including a two-run home run, for Boston. Casas hit his second home run of the season with two outs in the fifth inning to give the Red Sox a 5-0 lead.
Phillies 4, Cardinals
Aaron Nola allowed two runs on three hits over six innings as visiting Philadelphia edged St. Louis.
Nola (2-1) struck out three batters and walked three as the Phillies finished their six-game road trip with a 4-2 mark.
Ivan Herrera and Brendan Donovan hit solo homers for the Cardinals.
Mariners 6, Blue Jays 1 (10 innings)
Cal Raleigh led off a five-run 10th inning with a two-run home run and visiting Seattle defeated Toronto.
The Mariners avoided a sweep by winning the finale of the three-game series that opened Toronto’s home schedule. Raleigh hit his second home run of the season on a drive to right center against Tim Mayza (0-1) that also scored placed runner Luke Raley. After two walks, Mitch White replaced Mayza and allowed Ty France’s RBI double and Mitch Haniger’s two-run single.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a solo homer for Toronto. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi allowed one run, three hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in six innings.
Brewers 7, Reds 2
Christian Yelich continued his torrid start to the season with a two-run homer in the first inning and Wade Miley made a successful return to the mound against his former team as Milwaukee put away host Cincinnati.
After a 110-minute rain delay, Hunter Greene walked the leadoff batter, and Yelich drilled a homer to give Milwaukee a 2-0 lead. He has five homers and 11 RBIs in 10 games. Miley, who returned from left shoulder impingement, was removed after giving up one run on one hit and two walks in four innings, and Bryse Wilson (1-0) threw three innings, allowing three hits and a run.
Greene (0-1) completed six innings, allowing six hits, seven runs — six earned — striking out nine and walking one. He also hit two batters. Elly De La Cruz was 2-for-3 with his third homer of the season for Cincinnati, which has lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
Twins 3, Dodgers 2
Edouard Julien went 3-for-4 with two home runs to help Minnesota salvage a win in the three-game series by edging Los Angeles in a day game in Minneapolis.
Alex Vesia (0-1) relieved Dodgers starter Miller to start the fifth, and Julien hit his second pitch over the fence in left for an opposite-field homer that broke a 2-2 tie. The Dodgers appeared to tie the game in the seventh when Shohei Ohtani was ruled safe at home on Freddie Freeman’s double. But a video review quickly determined he was out.
Twins starter Chris Paddack allowed two runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked two. Kody Funderburk (1-0) earned the win in relief. Steven Okert pitched the ninth for his first MLB save in his seventh season.
Diamondbacks 5, Rockies 3
Eugenio Suarez hit a tie-breaking, two-out double in the top of the ninth inning, and Arizona beat Colorado in Denver.
Blaze Alexander homered among his two hits, Ketel Marte and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also had two hits, Joe Mantiply (1-0) got one out for the win and Kevin Ginkel picked up his second save of the season for the Diamondbacks.
Michael Toglia homered and Tovar finished with three hits for the Rockies, who have not won any of their four series this season.
Guardians 7, White Sox 6 (10 innings)
Josh Naylor delivered a game-tying RBI double in the 10th inning shortly before his brother, Bo, smacked a walk-off, run-scoring single that sent Cleveland past visiting Chicago.
Both brothers homered during the Guardians’ three-run fourth inning, and they then came through in the 10th against ex-Guardian Bryan Shaw (0-1).
Gavin Sheets had given the White Sox a 6-5 lead in the top of the extra frame by clubbing an RBI double, but the Guardians still came away with their sixth win in the past seven games. Sheets finished with three hits, including a home run, and five RBIs.
Giants 7, Nationals 1
Jordan Hicks worked six strong innings, Nick Ahmed collected three hits and two RBIs, and host San Francisco salvaged one win in the three-game series by beating Washington in a matinee.
Center fielder Tyler Fitzgerald also had three hits, while Michael Conforto and Matt Chapman contributed two apiece to a 12-hit attack. Hicks (2-0) didn’t need all of the support, limiting the Nationals to one run and four hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Washington’s run came on Joey Gallo’s third home run of the season. The Giants took the lead for good against Washington starter Patrick Corbin (0-2) in the second when Ahmed tripled in Chapman and Fitzgerald plated Ahmed with a single. After Fitzgerald stole second and third, Austin Slater drove him in. San Francisco went 6-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Padres 10, Cubs 2
Jurickson Profar fell a triple short of the cycle and Dylan Cease fired six strong innings as San Diego won a series for the first time this year, routing visiting Chicago.
Cease (1-1) gave up just two hits and two unearned runs while walking two and fanning seven, earning his first victory as a Padre. He received ample support from an offense that collected 12 hits and scored multiple runs in four innings to claim the rubber match of a three-game series.
Kyle Hendricks (0-2) was hit hard in his third straight start for the Cubs, permitting nine hits and seven runs in five-plus innings with no walks and two strikeouts. The veteran right-hander saw his ERA rise from 11.74 to 12.08.
Marlins 5, Yankees 2
Tanner Scott retired Aaron Judge with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to finish a five-out save as visiting Miami held off New York.
The Marlins won for the second time in their first 13 games. Miami avoided becoming the first team to open with at least 12 losses in 13 games since the 2003 Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees had a four-game winning streak stopped and were unable to match the 2003 team for the best 13-game start in team history at 11-2.
Rays 4, Angels 2
Tampa Bay scored three first-inning runs and rode the early lead to a victory over Los Angeles in Anaheim, Calif., to take two of three in the series.
The Rays jumped on Angels starter Jose Soriano, who was making his first career major league start in place of the injured Chase Silseth (elbow inflammation). Jose Caballero homered off Soriano to lead off the second inning to give the Rays a 4-0 lead, but Soriano was able to get through four innings without allowing another run.
Rays reliever Kevin Kelly (1-0) got the victory over Soriano (0-2), while Pete Fairbanks pitched a scoreless ninth for his second save.
Rangers 6, Athletics 2
Adolis Garcia doubled twice and hit a two-run single as Texas evened its series against Oakland at one game apiece with a win in Arlington, Texas.
Jonah Heim drove in two runs for Texas, which also got a sterling effort from starting pitcher Cody Bradford (3-0) while snapping a three-game losing streak. Rangers reliever David Robertson pitched out of an eighth-inning jam.
Oakland starter Ross Stripling (0-3) was pulled after six innings, charged with all six Rangers runs on 11 hits. He walked three and struck out five.