Associated Press
Associated Press
DENVER — Jamie Moyer turned in a vintage performance in becoming the oldest pitcher to ever win a major league game.
The 49-year-old Moyer threw seven masterful innings and Dexter Fowler hit a two-run homer, helping the Colorado Rockies hold on for a 5-3 win over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
Moyer (1-2) was sharp all evening as he picked up his 268th career win, tying him with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer for 34th on the career list.
Relying on a consistent cutter and mixing in a 78-mph fastball, the cunning lefty gave up just six hits and two runs — both unearned — as he kept the Padres hitters at bay and off balance.
That’s been a winning recipe for Moyer over a career that’s stretched nearly a quarter century and included 689 games.
MARLINS 5, CUBS 2
MIAMI — Ozzie Guillen made a victorious return to the dugout Tuesday night, when pitchers Josh Johnson and Heath Bell snapped out of early-season slumps to help the Marlins beat the Cubs.
Guillen returned from a five-game suspension imposed after his comments praising Fidel Castro caused a backlash in South Florida, especially among Cuban Americans.
Johnson allowed two runs in seven innings and Bell earned the save after four rocky outings. Streaking Hanley Ramirez broke a 2-all tie with a three-run homer in the eighth, his third.
No demonstrations targeted at Guillen were evident, although a screaming fan in the second deck did call the Marlins manager an insulting name several times midway through the game.
NATIONALS 1, ASTROS 0
WASHINGTON — Gio Gonzalez earned his first win with the surprising Nationals, pitching seven dominant innings in a win over the Astros.
The Nationals improved to 9-3, their best start since moving from Montreal to Washington in 2005.
Gonzalez (1-0) allowed two hits, walked two and struck out eight in his third start for Washington. The left-hander acquired from Oakland in the offseason also earned a standing ovation at the plate when he flied out to the warning track.
Brad Lidge pitched a shaky ninth for his second save. He gave up a double to his first hitter and walked the next batter before retiring three in a row.
BRAVES 9, METS 3
ATLANTA — The Braves finally beat the Mets, taking advantage of shaky defense to hand Johan Santana the shortest start of his career.
Tyler Pastornicky’s two-run double highlighted a five-run second that finished off Santana. Randall Delgado (2-0) won it for the Braves, who lost their first four games against the Mets this season.
Two costly errors — Jason Bay dropped a fly ball, Ike Davis made a wild throw — led to a pair of unearned runs against Santana (0-2), who allowed just one run in his first two games.
He was lifted after 1 1-3 innings, finished off by Jason Heyward’s run-scoring single that made it 6-0. Santana had never gone less than three innings in his previous 265 starts.
BREWERS 5, DODGERS 4
MILWAUKEE — Pinch-hitter George Kottaras’ two-run double with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Brewers to a 5-4 victory over Los Angeles, snapping the Dodgers’ six-game winning streak.
Trailing 4-3, Corey Hart led off the ninth with a single off Dodgers closer Javy Guerra (1-1). Pinch-runner Carlos Gomez then stole second and Mat Gamel walked.
Guerra, who blew his first save of the year and third in his career, struck out Jonathan Lucroy. Kottaras then pinch-hit for Cesar Izturis and hit a 2-2 pitch to the wall, driving in Gomez and Gamel with Gamel sliding in just ahead of the throw from second baseman Mark Ellis and sending the Brewers to a jubilant celebration at home plate.
Jose Veras (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the victory.
CARDINALS 2, REDS 1 (10)
ST. LOUIS — Matt Carpenter hit a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals to a victory over the Reds.
David Freese walked to lead off the 10th off Sam LeCure (0-1). Tyler Greene came in as a pinch-runner and advanced on a sacrifice by Yadier Molina. After an intentional walk, reliever Bill Bray entered and walked Daniel Descalso to load the bases.
Carpenter, who returned to the bench after playing the last four games for the injured Lance Berkman, pinch-hit and worked the count full before flying out to right field. Jay Bruce’s throw home was unable to nab Greene. It was Carpenter’s 11 RBI of the season.
Jason Motte (1-0) worked the 10th for St. Louis.
PIRATES 5, D-DBACKS 4
PHOENIX — Andrew McCutchen lined a run-scoring single in the ninth inning, Garrett Jones homered and drove in three runs, and the Pirates beat the Diamondbacks for a rare road win.
Jason Grilli (1-1) allowed a solo homer to John McDonald in the eighth inning, but McCutchen reached down to line an RBI single off Bryan Shaw (0-2) to left with two outs in the ninth. Jones led off the sixth inning with a solo homer off Ian Kennedy, but the Pirates scored the rest of their runs with two outs to win for the second time in eight road games.
Juan Cruz worked a perfect ninth for his first save since 2009.
GIANTS 4, PHILLIES 2
SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner backed up his nice new contract with a second straight win, Melky Cabrera hit an RBI triple, and the Giants beat the Phillies.
Nate Schierholtz had three hits and drove in a run and Pablo Sandoval doubled leading off the fifth to extend his hitting streak to start the season to 11 games.
Bumgarner (2-1), pitching a day after receiving a new $35.56 million, six-year contract, outpitched Joe Blanton (1-2) and gave San Francisco a shot at a third straight series victory.
The finale tonight for an expected sellout at AT&T Park is another highly anticipated pitching matchup: San Francisco’s Matt Cain and Phillies ace Cliff Lee.
Rangers 18, Red Sox 3
BOSTON — Mike Napoli hit two of Texas’ six home runs and the Rangers romped past the Boston Red Sox 18-3 for their fifth straight victory.
Josh Hamilton homered and matched his career high with five RBIs. Adrian Beltre, Michael Young and Nelson Cruz also connected for the Rangers.
Texas finished with a season-high 21 hits, tagging Jon Lester for eight of them before the Boston ace was pulled in the third inning. The Rangers provided more than enough run support for Colby Lewis (2-0), who settled down after a shaky start and finished pitched seven solid innings.
It was the most home runs for the Rangers in a game since they hit six against Detroit in August 2008.
YANKEES 8, TWINS 3
NEW YORK — CC Sabathia shook off early trouble to get a rare April win for the Yankees and backup catcher Chris Stewart hit a go-ahead, two-run single and had three RBIs for the first time in his career to lead New York over the Twins.
Sabathia (1-0) allowed three runs and four hits in 7 1-3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. After falling behind 3-1 in the third, he didn’t allow a hit and retired 13 in a row during one stretch.
In going 19-8 last year, Sabathia didn’t get his first win until his fifth start. He is just 7-4 in March and April since joining the Yankees in 2009 and 18-14 through April in his career.
Francisco Liriano (0-2) had his third straight poor outing, allowing five runs, seven hits and four walks in 2 1-3 innings.
BLUE JAYS 7, RAYS 3
TORONTO — Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie homered and the Blue Jays took advantage of a three-error game by normally sure-handed Evan Longoria to beat the Rays.
It was a career worst performance for Longoria, the AL’s Gold Glove third baseman in 2009 and 2010. He became the seventh player in Rays history to make three errors in a game.
Matt Joyce homered for the Rays, who have lost six of eight.
Ricky Romero (2-0) allowed three runs and eight hits in six-plus innings to win.
Jeff Niemann (0-2) allowed five runs — two earned — on just three hits in five-plus innings.
ORIOLES 3, WHITE SOX 2
CHICAGO — Nolan Reimold homered for the fourth consecutive game and made a terrific diving catch in left field, helping the Orioles beat the White Sox.
Baltimore had just one hit before Robert Andino singled with one out in the sixth. Reimold then hit a drive to left-center off John Danks, giving the Orioles a 2-0 lead. J.J. Hardy followed with a drive to virtually the same spot for his third homer.
Reimold also had a big home run Monday night, helping Baltimore rally for a 10-4 victory over the White Sox in 10 innings. He is batting .394 (13 for 33) in the past eight games.
Wei-Yin Chen earned his first major league win in his second career game, allowing two runs and six hits in 5 1-3 innings.
TIGERS 3, ROYALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Miguel Cabrera snapped out of his slump with a pair of hits, driving in the go-ahead run and helping the Tigers to a win over the Royals.
Cabrera was 0 for 22 before his single in the third inning, but it was his RBI single off reliever Greg Holland in the eighth that proved most important. It came on the heels of singles by Andy Dirks and Brennan Boesch, and snapped a 1-all tie.
Prince Fielder added an RBI single to make things a bit more comfortable for Octavio Dotel (1-0), who had worked around Brayan Pena’s double during a scoreless seventh inning.
Joaquin Benoit pitched around a two-out triple by Jeff Francoeur in the eighth, and Jose Valverde took care of the ninth for his second save in three tries.
Bruce Chen (0-1) took the loss.
ATHLETICS 5, ANGELS 3
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Daric Barton ended a career-worst homerless drought of 76 games with a solo shot against Dan Haren and Coco Crisp drove in the go-ahead run with an eighth-inning single, triggering a four-run rally that carried the Athletics to a victory over the Angels.
Brian Fuentes (1-0) pitched a scoreless seventh inning for the victory and Grant Balfour got his third save in as many attempts despite giving up a one-out homer in the ninth by Vernon Wells.
Kevin Jepsen (0-1) took the loss.
INDIANS 9, MARINERS 8
SEATTLE — Jason Donald tiebreaking single off Tom Wilhelmsen in the top of the seventh inning completed Cleveland’s comeback from seven runs down and lifted the Indians to a victory against the Mariners.
Carlos Santana hit a three-run homer and Cleveland reliever Rafael Perez (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth inning to pick up the win. Chris Perez got his third save in four tries, despite loading the bases in the bottom of the ninth.
Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush (0-1) allowed a hit by Travis Hafner and a walk to Shelley Duncan before striking out the next two in the seventh and being replaced. However, Wilhelmsen could not close the inning.
Justin Smoak had a career-high four hits for the Mariners.