PHOENIX (AP) — Nolan Arenado homered and right-hander Michael Soroka moved into a tie for the MLB lead in wins among starters with his fourth of the season as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 Friday night.
Corbin Carroll and José Fernandez had RBI singles in the fifth inning off Eric Lauer (1-3) for Arizona, playing its first game at home after a 6-3 East Coast trip.
Soroka (4-0), just two years removed from a 0-10 season with the Chicago White Sox, is tied with the the Angels’ José Soriano for the major league lead among starters. Milwaukee’s Aaron Ashby has won five games in relief.
The 28-year-old Soroka went seven innings, giving up five hits and two runs. He walked none and struck out five. Jonathan Loaisiga gave up a run in the eighth on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s two-out single, but struck out Jesús Sánchez to end the threat.
Arizona added a run in the eighth off former Diamondback Joe Mantiply when Tim Tawa doubled to score James McCann, who led off the inning with a single.
Paul Sewald pitched the ninth for his major league-leading seventh save.
Arenado’s homer, his third of the season, came in the fourth inning. He drove in another run in the seventh after Guerrero's error on Fernandez’s grounder allowed a run to score.
Myles Straw hit his first home run of the season for Toronto in the sixth. Straw entered the game in the third inning, replacing center fielder Daulton Varsho, who came out of the game with left knee discomfort.
Blue Jays opener Braydon Fisher gave up a two-out double to Geraldo Perdomo, but pitched around it, and Eric Lauer replaced him to start the second. Lauer went five innings, allowing five hits and three runs.
Toronto RHP Max Scherzer (1-2, 9.58) opposes Arizona RHP Zac Gallen (1-1, 3.60) on Saturday.
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Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Eric Lauer works against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the third inning of an baseball game Friday, April 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
Arizona Diamondbacks' Nolan Arenado approaches home plate after hitting a home run during the fourth inning of an baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays Friday, April 17, 2026, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Darryl Webb)
DENVER (AP) — Play ball! And watch out for snowballs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies were greeted by 3 inches of snow that blanketed Coors Field as their four-game series got off to a frigid start Friday.
Dodgers pitcher Emmett Sheehan took advantage of the frosty mid-April day when he came out on the field in shorts to make a snowman about four hours before the game's scheduled first pitch.
The snow stopped about three hours before the game began and Colorado’s grounds crew, which placed a tarp over the infield to shield it from the snowfall, used a plow to clear snow from the outfield. By the first pitch, it was 35 degrees and sunny — with the only remnants of snow on the pine trees behind the wall in center field.
It was the coldest first pitch in Dodgers history.
“It was a dry cold,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a laugh after the game.
The bats were back out and the white stuff gave way to green grass after the shovels slugged at the snow, which came one day after the high temperature in Denver was 75 degrees.
In front of a crowd of 28,783, the Dodgers won 7-1 behind a pair of home runs from Max Muncy and a strong outing from starter Tyler Glasnow, who gave up two hits and one run in seven innings.
The start of the game didn’t mark the end of the teams’ weather-related woes. The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for the Denver area that will be in effect from 8 p.m. locally Friday until 8 a.m. Saturday, with sub-freezing temperatures dropping down into the 18-to-24 degree range overnight.
“There was still ice on the field and it was only getting colder, but you can’t complain about it,” Muncy said. “You’ve got to go out there and they have to play through it also.”
The projected high is 57 on Saturday, according to the weather service, and 74 on Sunday before reaching 79 on Monday for the series finale.
The Dodgers come in from wrapping up a six-game homestand on Wednesday in Los Angeles, where the high was 73 on Friday.
“We were told right from the start the game was going to start on time,” Muncy said. “When you know you have to go out there and play, obviously the weather sucks, but if there’s no question of you may not play or may get delayed or you may play a doubleheader, when there’s no question of that, it’s easier to just kind of block out the noise, go out there and get ready. Today was thankfully one of those days.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Grounds crew members toil to clear the outfield of Coors Field after a spring storm blanketed the intermountain West with a light covering of snow before the Colorado Rockies host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game Friday, April 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Grounds crew members toil to clear snow from the outfield of Coors Field after a spring storm blanketed the intermountain West before the Colorado Rockies host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game Friday, April 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Mark Razum, head groundskeeper at Coors Field, surveys the covering of snow on the field after a spring storm blanketed the intermountain West before the Colorado Rockies host the Los Angeles Dodgers in a baseball game Friday, April 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A grounds crew member clears snow from the outfield of Coors Field after a spring storm blanketed the intermountain West before the Colorado Rockies host the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday, April 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
As the grounds crew works around him, Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Santiago Espinal tosses a snowball at a coach while warming up to face the Colorado Rockies in a baseball game after a spring storm blanketed the intermountain West with a light covering of snow Friday, April 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
