Cruz homers twice as Twins rout Tigers
Nelson Cruz hit a grand slam after a near miss and added a solo homer and a double, Matt Shoemaker held Detroit hitless into the fifth inning and the Minnesota Twins rolled past the Tigers 15-6 on Monday.
Akil Baddoo hit a grand slam for the Tigers. He made his big league debut Sunday and homered on the first pitch thrown to him.
Cruz came up with the bases loaded in the second and the Twins already up 2-0. He sent a drive down the line in right field that went foul — but was close enough for a replay review. That call was upheld, but then Cruz hit the very next pitch over the fence in left.
The Twins scored five runs in the second and Cruz homered again in a five-run fifth.
Limited to pinch-hitting duty in Minnesota’s opening series at Milwaukee, Cruz was back in his normal role with the return of the designated hitter to the Twins’ lineup. After hitting his two homers, he doubled and scored in the sixth.
Cruz hit a towering fly in the ninth that was caught on the warning track.
Tiger infielder Harold Castro pitched a hitless ninth. Detroit scored five with two outs in the bottom half on a solo homer by Victor Reyes and the slam by Baddoo.
Shoemaker (1-0) held the Tigers without a hit until Wilson Ramos homered with two outs in the fifth. He allowed three hits in six innings with five strikeouts and earned his first victory since April 9, 2019, before he was beset by injuries.
CUBS 5, BREWERS 3 » Willson Contreras, Javier Báez and David Bote homered during a four-run fourth inning to lift Chicago over Milwaukee.
Trevor Williams pitched perfectly until Omar Narváez’s leadoff single in the sixth — Narváez also broke up a no-hit bid in the eighth inning Saturday against Minnesota. Narváez added a three-run homer in the seventh.
Williams (1-0) was making his Cubs debut after five seasons with Pittsburgh. He pitched into the seventh, allowing two runs, two hits and two walks while striking out six.
RED SOX 11, RAYS 2 » Xander Bogaerts had four hits, including a Little League home run — a double, with two ill-advised throws that allowed him to score — and Boston got on the board with 16 hits and their first win of the season, over Tampa Bay.
PHILLIES 5, METS 3 » A throwing error by Mets third baseman Luis Guillorme allowed the go-ahead runs to score, and Philadelphia used a fiverun eighth inning to rally for a win over New York after Jacob deGrom had shut them down through six.
CARDINALS 4, MARLINS 1 » Yadier Molina hit a basesloaded double during a three-run first inning, Daniel Ponce de Leon and the St. Louis bullpen protected the lead, and the Cardinals beat Miami.
REDS 5, PIRATES 3 » Nick Castellanos hit a go-ahead homer in the seventh inning hours after deciding to appeal a two-game suspension for his part in a brawl, and Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh.
YANKEES 7, ORIOLES 0 » Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam over the visitors’ bullpen that landed in the left-bleachers 471 feet from home plate, leading New York over Baltimore, handing the Orioles their first loss this season.
ROYALS 3, INDIANS 0 » Danny Duffy pitched six innings of two-hit ball to beat a longtime nemesis and Whit Merrifield drove in all of Kansas City’s runs with a homer and sacrifice fly, leading the Royals over Cleveland.
BLUE JAYS 6, RANGERS 2 » Steven Matz struck out nine in his Toronto debut, Marcus Semien and Cavan Biggio hit back-to-back homers and the Blue Jays won in the home opener for the Texas Rangers before the largest MLB crowd since the pandemic.
Toronto, 3-1 for the first time since 2015, went ahead 4-0 in the second after Biggio’s solo homer followed by a two-run shot by Semien.
The Rangers announced a sellout crowd of 38,283 for their 50th home opener in Texas, the second in the $1.2 billion retractable-roof stadium.