Martínez hits 2 homers as Guardians beat Blue Jays

TORONTO (AP) — Angel Martínez went deep twice for his first career multi-homer game, Daniel Schneemann added the first leadoff homer of his career and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-6 on Friday night.

All three home runs came off Toronto’s Max Scherzer (1-3), who allowed seven runs and six hits in 2 1/3 innings, his fourth straight winless outing. It’s the third time in five starts this season that Scherzer has failed to complete three innings.

Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams (4-1) allowed six runs and seven hits in six innings for his fourth win in five starts. He walked two and struck out four.

Hunter Gaddis pitched the seventh, Erik Sabrowski worked the eighth and Cade Smith finished for his sixth save in eight chances.

BRAVES 5, PHILLIES 3

ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Harris II delivered a two-run double as a pinch-hitter after being scratched from the starting lineup with an ailing quad, and Atlanta piled more misery on Philadelphia with a victory that sent the Phillies to their 10th straight loss.

Despite homers from Trea Turner and Bryce Harper, the two-time reigning NL East champion Phillies dropped 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Braves with the season not even a month old. Atlanta has won nine of 10 for the best record in the majors (19-8).

Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a two-run homer for the Braves, but it was Harris who delivered the biggest hit on a night when it appeared he wouldn’t play at all.

RAYS 6, TWINS 2

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Junior Caminero and Jonathan Aranda each hit two home runs, and Tampa Bay beat Minnesota to take the first game of the series.

Caminero hit his seventh of the year, a solo shot to center field in the second inning. He added a two-run homer in the seventh to make it 6-1.

Aranda’s home runs came in the fourth and sixth innings. Chandler Simpson and Nick Fortes both scored runs.

Brooks Lee hit a home run for the Twins in the fifth.

ORIOLES 10, RED SOX 3

BALTIMORE (AP) — Adley Rutschman hit two of Baltimore’s six homers and drove in six runs as the Orioles routed Boston.

Baltimore hit five of its homers off Boston starter Brayan Bello.

Coby Mayo homered for a career-best third straight game. Gunnar Henderson and Dylan Beavers also went deep during a three-homer, four-run first inning for the Orioles.

Samuel Basallo added a third-inning solo shot as part of 13 Baltimore hits in 3 1/3 innings against Bello (1-3), who had never allowed more than three homers or 10 hits in 104 previous MLB outings.

Wilyer Abreu homered for the Red Sox, Marcelo Mayer doubled in a run and Cedanne Rafaela added an RBI groundout.

ROCKIES 4, METS 3

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Lorenzen induced three double-play grounders in seven efficient innings and Colorado held off New York.

Jake McCarthy hit a tiebreaking double off starter Freddy Peralta (1-3) in the sixth, and Troy Johnston added a two-run single against Sean Manaea in the seventh to help Colorado end an eight-game losing streak to the Mets.

New York had won two in a row following a 12-game skid that was the team’s longest since August 2002.

Brett Baty had a two-run single that shaved New York’s deficit to 4-3 in the eighth, but Mark Vientos lined into an inning-ending double play with two runners aboard.

PIRATES 6, BREWERS 0

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Paul Skenes had a perfect game into the seventh inning, Konnor Griffin hit his first career home run on his 20th birthday and drove in three runs to help Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee.

Skenes (4-1), the NL Cy Young winner, didn’t allow a base runner until Jake Bauers’ sharp single to right with two outs in the seventh. He was vying to become the first pitcher to throw a perfect game in American Family Field, previously known as Miller Park, which opened in 2001. There have been two no-hitters.

Skenes gave up one hit over seven shutout innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. He threw 93 pitches — 62 for strikes.

Mason Montgomery and Isaac Mattson completed the one-hitter.

ROYALS 6, ANGELS 3

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Isaac Collins had two hits and two RBIs and Kansas City used a five-run outburst in the fourth inning to beat Los Angeles.

Noah Cameron (2-1) worked 6 1/3 innings, striking out six and allowing eight hits and three runs for his first quality start of the season. Royals starters have combined for 14 quality starts, tied for second in MLB with Seattle.

Starling Marte knocked in the first run of the game on a fielder’s choice in the fourth. Collins drove in another, and beat the throw home to score on Elias Díaz’s two-run double. Michael Massey drove in Díaz to cap the inning.

ATHLETICS 8, RANGERS 1

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Carlos Cortes had two home runs, including one of three hit off Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi in the first seven pitches of the game, and the Athletics beat the Rangers.

Cortes’ first-inning shot was sandwiched between first-pitch homers launched by leadoff batter Nick Kurtz and Tyler Soderstrom. Cortes added a three-run shot in the fifth, also off Eovaldi, and Zack Gelof added a two-run homer in the ninth off Cal Quantrill.

Luis Severino (1-2) allowed one run on six hits in 6 2/3 innings in the opener of a three-game series between teams that shared the AL West lead going into Friday. Josh Jung’s fourth-inning ground-rule double scored Corey Seager for Texas’ run.

WHITE SOX 5, NATIONALS 4

CHICAGO (AP) — Munetaka Murakami hit his 11th homer of the season and reliever Seranthony Domínguez struck out two in the ninth inning as Chicago beat the Washington.

The White Sox have won four of their last five games. Munetaka has hit a home run in six of the last seven games and moved into a tie with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the MLB lead.

Munetaka’s latest homer was a 415-foot shot to center field in the fourth inning.

MARINERS 3, CARDINALS 2

ST. LOUIS (AP) — George Kirby won his third consecutive start, Josh Naylor hit a solo home run and Seattle beat St. Louis.

Kirby (4-2) allowed five hits and two runs in six innings. He was lifted after giving up leadoff single in the seventh.

Andrés Muñoz, an All Star in 2025, worked the ninth for his fourth.

The Mariners have played 10 one-run games this season, going 4-6. St. Louis fell to 11-3 in games decided by two runs or fewer in 2026.

Seattle has won five consecutive games and six of its seven games against the Cardinals.

YANKEES 12, ASTROS 4

HOUSTON (AP) — Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ryan McMahon, Ben Rice and José Caballero homered and New York extended their winning streak to seven games with a win over Houston.

Chisholm, who had 4 RBIs and scored three runs, hit a two-run single to cap a three-run first inning and added his second homer of the season in the fourth. He had an RBI single in the seventh.

McMahon hit a solo home run in the second, and Rice, who had two RBIs and scored three runs, added a solo shot, his ninth of the season, in the seventh. Caballero, who had an RBI single in the sixth, hit a solo homer in the four-run seventh.

Will Warren (3-0) allowed two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts in six innings. Warren has allowed two runs or fewer in five of his six starts this season.

Lance McCullers Jr. (1-2) allowed seven runs — five earned — on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts in five innings. McCullers has yielded at least four runs in each of his last three starts.

Cleveland Guardians' Jose Ramirez runs to third base during first-inning baseball game action against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press via AP)

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — After spending Day 1 of the NFL draft adding picks and improving Buffalo’s draft positioning, Bills general manager Brandon Beane spent Friday finally adding players.

And the first priority was restocking a defense that’s transitioning to a 3-4 scheme under new coach Joe Brady and defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

Buffalo opened its draft by using the 35th selection to pick Clemson linebacker T.J. Parker. The Bills then traded up four spots — sending the No. 182 pick to Denver — to select Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun at No. 62.

At 6-foot-3 and 263 pounds, Parker was a three-year defensive linemen for the Tigers and will make the switch to outside linebacker in Buffalo. He’s projected to be part of a rotation playing behind Greg Rousseau and free-agent addition Bradley Chubb.

At 6-foot-2 and 189 pounds, Igbinosun was a three-year starter at Ohio State, after transferring from Mississippi. Though the Bills have two returning starters in Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston, Beane said he’s learned teams can’t have enough cornerback depth because of injuries.

The Bills would not have been in position to add Igbinosun if not for the work Beane did a day earlier in trading back three times to add two picks. The deals also improved Buffalo’s draft positioning by giving the team five of the first 126 picks, after initially entering the draft with two over that span.

“You’re giving yourself a chance at better players that you have on your board, guys that you value the most,” Beane said. “What we did yesterday allowed us to be more aggressive and take the sixth-round pick we had today to go secure a corner.”

The Bills are retooling on the fly while remaining competitive after Brady was promoted from offensive coordinator to take over as head coach in January after Sean McDermott was fired following nine seasons. Buffalo is on a seven-year playoff run while failing to reach the Super Bowl.

The defense, which was McDermott's specialty, has taken much of the blame for the team's playoff shortcomings.

The Josh Allen-led offense, meantime, was mostly returning intact. And Buffalo had already spent a draft asset in trading a second-round pick to acquire receiver DJ Moore in a trade with Chicago last month.

Entering the draft with the 26th pick, Beane was already leaning toward trading down in noting the team’s draft board had fewer than 26 players with first-round grades.

“Once we saw the last player come off our board that we had a first-round grade on, we started being more aggressive with the calls,” Beane said. “We worked hard to get this ammunition, and we still feel there is some pieces that we would like to add tomorrow that can help this team this year and going forward.”

The Bills have six picks left and are scheduled to open Saturday with the first pick of the fourth round, 101st overall. Buffalo still has depth needs at defensive tackle, safety and receiver.

Parker is regarded as a hard-hitting tackler, who still needs to develop his pass-rushing technique. The 21-year-old does have versatility in showing a capability of dropping back into coverage.

He finished his college career with 41 1/2 tackles for a loss, 21 1/2 sacks and six forced fumbles over 39 games. Parker especially excelled in his sophomore season in which he had 19 1/2 tackles for a loss, 11 sacks and set the single-season record with six forced fumbles.

“I’m a guy who’s gonna play with attitude, run to the ball, get there as fast as possible and put the pain on somebody,” Parker said. “We’re playing fast, physical football in this league, and I’m trying to bring the nasty to the defense.”

Brady had previously said wanting what had been a so-called “bend-but-don’t-break” defense under McDermott to adopt a attacking style similar to his offense.

The 22-year-old Igbinosun had four interceptions and 22 pass breakups in 56 games with the Buckeyes. He was also a member of Ohio State’s 2024 national championship team.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane addresses the media during an NFL football news conference Monday, April 20, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

FILE - Ohio State defensive back Davison Igbinosun (15) runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

FILE - Clemson defensive lineman T.J. Parker (55) runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Feb. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)