ATLANTA (AP) — Max Fried pitched a three-hitter for Atlanta’s first nine-inning complete game since 2022, Adam Duvall had a two-run homer and and the Atlanta Braves blanked the Miami Marlins for the second night in a row, 5-0 on Tuesday.
After a dismal start, Fried (2-0) has recaptured the form that makes him one of baseball’s top starters. It helped to be facing the struggling Marlins, who dropped to 6-19 and have gone 20 innings without scoring a run.
They remained 0-for-Atlanta after getting blanked 3-0 in the series opener Monday. With a week still to go in April, Miami is already 11 1/2 games behind the Braves in the NL East.
Fried breezed through the night, throwing 69 of 92 pitches for strikes. He fanned six, didn’t walk anyone and needed only 1 hour, 54 minutes to dispatch the Marlins in the major leagues’ fourth complete game this season.
PIRATES 2, BREWERS 1
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen led off the bottom of the first with a home run for the second straight game, Bailey Falter took a shutout into the eighth inning and Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee.
McCutchen hit the first pitch of Tobias Myers’ major league career down the left-field line for his 12th career leadoff homer and his 100th long ball at PNC Park. McCutchen connected off Joe Ross on Monday night in the Pirates’ 4-2 win.
McCutchen became the first Pirates player to hit a leadoff homer in back-to-back games since Adam Frazier in 2019. McCutchen is 5 for 8 in two games since manager Derek Shelton moved him to the top of the batting order, boosting his average from .173 to .233.
Pinch-hitter Connor Joe pushed the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single in the sixth inning.
TIGERS 4, RAYS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Riley Greene went deep twice for his first multi-homer game, Mark Canha added a homer and Detroit Tigers beat Tampa Bay.
The Tigers have won the first two of the three-game set and have won four of their last five games.
With the Tigers trailing 2-1 in the eighth, Greene hit a two-shot off Colin Poche (0-1) and Canha added a solo drive to make it 4-2.
Greene put the Tigers ahead 1-0 in the third inning with a 426-foot homer to center off Ryan Pepiot. Greene, who started the day tied with Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the MLB lead in walks, drew his 21st free pass on an eight-pitch at-bat in the first.
GUARDIANS 4, RED SOX 1
CLEVELAND (AP) — Tyler Freeman and Bryan Rocchio had RBIs in the seventh inning when Cleveland finally scored against Boston’s Tanner Houck, and José Ramírez homered as Cleveland kept up their scorching start with a win over Boston.
Houck (3-2) threw a three-hit shutout against the Guardians last week. He held them scoreless for six more innings before Freeman hit a run-scoring single and Rocchio added a sacrifice fly off reliever Brennan Bernardino.
Ramírez connected leading off the eighth inning against Cam Booser for his fourth homer.
One of MLB’s early surprises, the Guardians won their fifth straight to improve the major leagues’ best record to 17-6, matching the club’s best start through 23 games.
REDS 8, PHILLIES 1
CINCINNATI (AP) — Elly De La Cruz hit a two-run home run, Christian Encarnacion-Strand went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Cincinnati ended Philadelphia’s seven-game win streak with a victory.
Cincinnati’s Santiago Espinal also had three hits including a solo homer in the eighth inning, his first since July 29. Fernando Cruz (1-1) pitched 2/3 of an inning in relief.
The Phillies’ seven-game win streak was the franchise’s fourth-longest in April. They haven’t won eight straight games in April since 1953. The Phillies played without Bryce Harper, who’s expected to return from the paternity list on Thursday.
J.T. Realmuto and Alec Bohm hit back-to-back doubles in the first for the Phillies’ run. Philadelphia’s five hits matched a season low.
YANKEES 4, ATHLETICS 3
NEW YORK (AP) — Anthony Rizzo snapped a lengthy power drought with a two-run homer that capped a four-run first inning, and the New York Yankees held on for a win over Oakland.
A day after getting shut out for the fourth time in their first 23 games, the Yankees fell behind when Seth Brown hit an RBI double in the first off Marcus Stroman (2-1).
Giancarlo Stanton had a go-ahead double against Paul Blackburn (2-1) in the bottom half and Rizzo hit second home run of the season and his first since April 7. He had just one extra base hit in 54 at-bats between homers.
Blackburn had not allowed a home run in four previous starts this season.
DODGERS 4, NATIONALS 1
WASHINGTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a 450-foot homer to the second deck in right field in his first visit to Nationals Park, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Washington.
Ohtani’s sixth homer of the season was the hardest-hit of his career at 118.7 mph. It was also the hardest-hit home run for a Dodgers player in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. The solo shot in the ninth inning off Matt Barnes made it 4-1 after pinch-hitter James Outman and Miguel Rojas drove in runs an inning earlier to put Los Angeles ahead.
Ohtani has 177 career homers. His previous longball on Sunday gave him the record for homers by a Japanese-born player in Major League Baseball, surpassing Hideki Matsui.
ROYALS 3, BLUE JAYS 2
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bobby Witt Jr. delivered the go-ahead double in the fifth inning for Kansas City after a costly error by Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Kansas City's bullpen shut down Toronto the rest of the way for the victory.
Chris Stratton (2-1) minimized the damage when he inherited a bases-loaded jam from Michael Wacha in the fifth. He also took care of the sixth before John Schreiber handled the seventh and James McArthur breezed through the eighth.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro opted to send McArthur out for the ninth, and the Blue Jays’ Cavan Biggio appeared to begin the inning by beating out a single, only for the call to be overturned upon review. George Springer followed with a single and went to second on Guerrero’s groundout, but McArthur got Bo Bichette to ground out to finish off his fifth save of the season.
MARINERS 4, RANGERS 0
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Logan Gilbert allowed only two hits pitching into the seventh inning, Julio Rodríguez hit his first homer and Seattle beat Texas, knocking the World Series champion Rangers out of first place for the first time this season.
Gilbert (2-0) struck out six and walked four while throwing 100 pitches over 6 2/3 innings. It was the franchise-record 11th game in a row for the Mariners to have their starter pitch at least five innings and allow two earned runs or less.
The Mariners (12-11), who missed the playoffs last season a year after ending a 21-year postseason drought, have won eight of those games and moved a half-game ahead of Texas (12-12) in the AL West.
TWINS 6, WHITE SOX 5
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alex Kirilloff hit a two-out, game-ending single after Byron Buxton led off the ninth inning with a tying homer, and the major league-worst Chicago White Sox fell to Minnesota.
Chicago joined Cincinnati in 2022, Detroit in 2003, the St. Louis Browns in 1936 and the Cleveland Spiders in 1899 as teams to start 3-20. The 1988 Baltimore Orioles began 1-22.
Trevor Larnach hit a 433-foot, two-run homer in the eighth to get the Twins within 5-4 and help set up the heroics by Buxton and Kirilloff against Steven Wilson (1-2). Buxton hit a line drive off the left-field foul pole, and Kiriloff pulled the ball into right field to score pinch-runner Austin Martin with the winning run.
DIAMONDBACKS 14, CARDINALS 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Pavin Smith hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs to help Arizona to a win over St. Louis.
Christian Walker and Kevin Newman also homered for Arizona, which leads the majors with 148 runs.
Tommy Henry (1-1) tossed six effective innings in his first win in five starts this season. The 26-year-old left-hander gave up one run on five hits and struck out six with one walk.
Willson Contreras homered for St. Louis, which has lost five of six.
Smith, recalled from Triple-A Reno on Friday, hit his second career grand slam in the sixth inning. He also had a two-run double in the fifth.
CUBS 7. ASTROS 2
CHICAGO (AP) — Mike Tauchman hit his first two homers of the season, and the Chicago Cubs took a five-run first-inning lead in a win over Houston that dropped the Astros 10 games under .500 for the first time since 2016.
Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer in the first off J.P. France (0-3) and Tauchman hit a three-run drive. Tauchman added a solo homer in the eighth against Seth Martinez and tied his career high of four RBIs.
Bellinger left after the fifth inning with bruised right ribs.
Houston has lost three straight and six of seven. At 7-17, the last-place Astros are 10 games under .500 for the first time since an 18-28 start in 2016.
ROCKIES 7, PADRES 4
DENVER (AP) — Brendan Rodgers hit a go-ahead grand slam in a five-run fourth inning, and Colorado beat San Diego for just their second win in 10 games.
Colorado trailed 4-1 before Rodgers’ first career slam, a drive into the left-field bleachers on an up-and-in fastball from Michael King (2-2) with an 0-2 count. Rodgers had not homered since Sept. 29 — he hit all four of his homers last year in a 10-day span.
King allowed six runs — four earned — eight hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings, leaving after a bases-loaded walk to Elehuris Montero.
Ezequiel Tovar added an RBI single in the fifth for the Rockies, who stopped a six-game losing streak to the Padres.
GIANTS , METS
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Logan Webb pitched eight strong innings and extended his scoreless streak to 19 as San Francisco beat the New York Mets.
Webb (3-1) won his third straight start, striking out four and scattering six hits with a walk. The 27-year-old right-hander recorded 15 groundball outs.
Mike Yastrzemski, Thairo Estrada and Michael Conforto each had two hits for San Francisco. Yastrzemski had three RBIs, and Estrada and LaMonte Wade Jr. drove in the other runs.
Starling Marte had three hits for New York, which lost its third straight game after a six-game winning streak.
ANGELS 7, ORIOLES 4
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Mike Trout hit his first leadoff home run since 2012, and the Los Angeles Angels defeated Baltimore to snap a five-game losing streak.
Zach Neto had two hits and drove in two runs as the Angels’ six through nine hitters combined for eight of their 11 hits along with five RBIs.
Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson hit a towering 414-foot home run in the seventh inning, and Adley Rutschman had three hits.
Griffin Canning (1-3) — who allowed 18 runs (17 earned) in 19 innings in his first four starts — gave up three runs on five hits in five innings and struck out four. It was the right-hander’s first win in 11 starts dating to last season.
Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Max Fried delivers to a Miami Marlins batter in the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
