Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe high fives third baseman Isaac Paredes (17) after the team defeated the Oakland Athletics on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
AP photo
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Tampa Bay Rays’ Harold Ramirez celebrates in the dugout after his two-run home run off Oakland Athletics starting pitcher James Kaprielian during the fifth inning of a game Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla.
AP photo
Tampa Bay Rays’ Harold Ramirez, center, celebrates his two-run home run off Oakland Athletics starting pitcher James Kaprielian with Isaac Paredes during the fifth inning of a game Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla. Catching for Oakland is Shea Langeliers.
AP photo
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Rays matched the best start to a major league season in 20 years, routing the Oakland Athletics 11-0 Sunday for a 9-0 record as Drew Rasmussen combined on a one-hitter and Brandon Lowe hit a grand slam.
Tampa Bay has outscored opponents 75-18, scoring the most runs in the big leagues and allowing the fewest. The 2003 Kansas City Royals had been the previous team to start 9-0.
Oakland has lost seven of nine.
Rasmussen (2-0) allowed his only runner on Ramon Laureano’s two-out double in the second and pitched seven innings. James Kaprielian (0-1) allowed seven runs, seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings.
BLUE JAYS 12, ANGELS 11, 10 INNINGS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Tim Mayza retired Shohei Ohtani with the bases loaded for the final out, and Toronto got five RBIs apiece from Matt Chapman and No. 9 hitter Kevin Kiermaier.
Chapman, who leads the majors with a .475 batting average, hit a grand slam in the sixth. Kiermaier doubled home the tiebreaking run against Carlos Estevez (0-1) in the 10th for the Blue Jays, who overcame a 6-0 deficit and wasted a 10-6 lead.
Ohtani hit one of Los Angeles’ four homers, but he grounded out to end it as Toronto took two of three in the series and finished 6-4 on its season-opening trip.
Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Drury and Logan O’Hoppe also went deep for the Angels.
Jordan Romano (1-0) got the win and Mayza got his first save.
PADRES 10, BRAVES 2
ATLANTA — Nelson Cruz hit a three-run homer and drove in six runs, and San Diego earned its third consecutive victory for the second time this season.
At 42 years and 282 days, Cruz became the second-oldest player to homer for the Padres, just one day younger than Rickey Henderson was when he went deep on Oct. 4, 2001. It was the most RBIs for Cruz since he drove in seven on July 26, 2020, for Minnesota against the Chicago White Sox.
Seth Lugo (2-0) pitched six effective innings for San Diego, and Ha-Seong Kim hit a two-run homer. Manny Machado finished with three hits.
Dodd (1-1), making his second career start, fell behind 6-0 in the fifth when Juan Soto and Cruz hit consecutive doubles. The lefty gave up 10 hits and seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.
YANKEES 5, ORIOLES 3
BALTIMORE — Aaron Judge homered twice and Nestor Cortes (2-0) allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1/3 innings after umpires forced him to blot out a marking on his glove.
Judge hit solo homers in the third inning off Tyler Wells (0-1) and the eighth off Logan Gillaspie for his 28th multihomer game and first this season. Judge is batting .364 and has four homers in nine games after hitting his fourth in the 17th game last year en route to an American League-record 62.
Franchy Cordero also went deep for the Yankees, who have homered in their first nine games for the fourth time. Off to a 6-3 start, New York has won its first three series for just the third time in 20 years.
Clay Holmes got his third save.
PIRATES 1, WHITE SOX 0
PITTSBURGH — Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz fractured his left ankle in a home-plate collision with catcher Seby Zavala in the sixth inning.
Johan Oviedo (1-0) allowed five hits — all singles — and struck out five in 6 2/3 innings as Pittsburgh won for the fifth time in six games.
Canaan Smith-Njigba tripled in the second and scored on Jack Suwinski’s sacrifice fly off Michael Kopech (0-2).
David Bednar worked around a two-out single by Gavin Sheets in the ninth for his fourth save.
RED SOX 4, TIGERS 1
DETROIT — Triston Casas homered and hit an RBI double as Boston finished a three-game sweep, outscoring Detroit 24-9.
Kutter Crawford (1-1) allowed one run and five hits in five innings and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his second save. Detroit loaded the bases with one out, but Zach McKinstry flied out and Akil Baddoo struck out.
Red Sox outfielder Adam Duvall, hitting .455 with four homers and 14 RBIs, left in the ninth after injuring his left wrist while diving for Spencer Torkelson’s bloop single.
Matthew Boyd (0-1) yielded two runs on five hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings as Detroit fell to 2-7.
REDS 6, PHILLIES 4
PHILADELPHIA — Jake Fraley hit a bases-clearing double in the ninth off Seranthony Domínguez (0-1) to overcome a 4-3 deficit as Cincinnat avoided a three-game sweep.
Alec Bohm hit a two-run homer for the Phillies.
Kevin Herget (1-0) tossed two innings of scoreless relief and Ian Gibaut struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save.
ASTROS 5, TWINS 1
MINNEAPOLIS — Chas McCormick had four RBIs and Hunter Brown (1-1) allowed an unearned run and two hits in seven innings, combining on a two-hitter as Houston salvaged the series finale.
The defending World Series champions are 4-6 after winning for just the second time in seven games.
Tyler Mahle (1-1) gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings.
RANGERS 8, CUBS 2
CHICAGO — No. 9 hitter Bubba Thompson had a triple, double and two RBIs as Texas stopped a two-game slide.
Leadoff man Marcus Semien doubled among two hits and drove in three runs as the Rangers rebounded from an error-filled 10-3 loss.
Jon Gray scattered six hits in 5 2/3 innings and Will Smith, Cole Ragans and José Leclerc followed with 3 1/3 scoreless, one-hit innings.
Jameson Taillon (0-2) allowed five runs, three earned, and six hits in five innings.
BREWERS 6, CARDINALS 1
MILWAUKEE — Willy Adames went 3 of 4 with a homer, double and three RBIs.
Adames hit a two-run double in the third inning and a solo shot in the fifth off Jake Woodford (0-2).
Christian Yelich also had three hits and a solo homer as the Brewers won two of three from the Cardinals in a matchup between the past two NL Central champions.
Brewers starter Freddy Peralta (2-0) struck out seven and gave up one run, four hits and three walks in six innings.
MARLINS 7, METS 2
NEW YORK — Bryan De La Cruz homered and drove in four runs, and Miami stole five bases.
De La Cruz hit a three-run homer off Carlos Carrasco (0-2) in the first iand added a sacrifice fly in the seventh. Garrett Cooper had a two-run shot for the Marlins, who avoided a three-game sweep.
Miami entered with just two stolen bases this season but went 5 for 5 against rookie catcher Francisco Álvarez in his second big league start behind the plate.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. had two hits, two runs, two steals and an RBI before being ejected in the seventh for arguing with plate umpire Jeff Nelson.
Tanner Scott (1-1) worked 1 1/3 hitless innings in relief.
GUARDIANS 7, MARINERS 6
CLEVELAND — José Ramírez slid past catcher Cal Raleigh’s tag to score the winning run in the 12th inning on Josh Bell’s grounder to second baseman Kolten Wong off Penn Murfee (1-2).
Teoscar Hernández’s two-out single gave the Mariners a 6-5 lead in the top of the 12th, but Seattle’s bullpen faltered again. Cleveland rookie Will Brennan tied the game twice — with a two-out, two-run double in the ninth and an RBI single in the 11th.
Rookie Tim Herrin (1-0) recorded the final out in the 12th for his first major league win.
GIANTS 3, ROYALS 1
SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer off Ryan Yarbrough (0-1) to cap a three-run rally in the eighth.
John Brebbia (1-0) retired one batter in relief, and Tyler Rogers earned his first save.
Royals starter Kris Bubic struck out nine in six shutout innings of two-hit ball.
ROCKIES 7, NATIONALS 6
DENVER — Elías Díaz had three hits, including his first home run this season and Jurickson Profar hit his first home run with Colorado.
Ryan McMahon drew a bases-loaded walk in a four-run sixth for the go-ahead run, allowing the Rockies to gain a four-game split.
Dinelson Lamet (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh, and Pierce Johnson got three outs for his third save. Yonathan Daza making a diving catch of CJ Abrams’ sinking liner to center for the final out.
Erasmo Ramirez (0-1) was the loser.
DIAMONDBACKS 11, DODGERS 6
PHOENIX — Josh Rojas had his second straight three-hit game, Pavin Smith drove in three runs and Arizona got 16 hits.
Every starter had at least one hit as the Diamondbacks followed a 12-run, 17-hit effort Saturday with another easy victory and took three out of four in the weekend series. Arizona is 5-3 against the Dodgers this season after Los Angeles went 38-10 against the Diamondbacks over the prior three seasons.
Arizona scored in each of the first five innings, helped by five stolen bases, including two from Nick Ahmed.
Ryne Nelson (1-0) gave up three runs and four hits in six innings of his second start this season. He worked through a shaky first inning and retired his last 11 batters,
Michael Grove (0-1) allowed nine runs and 12 hits in 3 1/3 innings.