The Minnesota Twins came back from the worst possible start to earn a 4-3 road win against the New York Yankees on Friday.
In a stunning first inning in front of their home fans, the Yankees led 2-0 after two at-bats. Rookie Anthony Volpe connected on a 394-foot shot to left-center field for his first career home run, and he was followed by reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge, who sent his solo home run 404 feet for his fifth dinger of the season.
Judge's five home runs this season trails only Baltimore Orioles slugger Ryan Mountcastle and New York Mets star Pete Alonso for the league's most, both with six.
But those two runs would be the only scores until the sixth inning, when Carlos Correa put the Twins on the board with a solo home run of his own, barely scraping over the short-porch at right-field with a distance of 331 feet.
Giancarlo Stanton answered for the Yankees in the bottom of the sixth, cancelling out Correa's blast with another solo home run, before Kyle Garlick smacked the game's fifth solo homer to cut the New York lead to 3-2.
But after Michael Taylor and Byron Buxton both got on base to lead off the eighth frame, Correa came through again with a two-run double to give the Twins their first lead, setting up Jhoan Duran to come in and pick up the save – his fourth of the season.
The win was the Twins' fourth in a row, improving their AL Central-leading record to 10-4, while the Yankees slipped to 8-6.
Jays end the Rays' historic start
The Tampa Bay Rays have had their perfect start to the season snapped at 13 wins after the Toronto Blue Jays defeated them 6-3 at home.
George Springer gave the Blue Jays an early lead when he sent the second pitch from Rays starter Drew Rasmussen 440 feet for a lead-off home run, before team-mate Bo Bichette doubled their lead with a ground-rule double in the second inning.
Bichette went on to collect five hits from his five at-bats – three singles and two doubles – but it was loose pitching from Tampa Bay that doomed them to defeat.
Trailing just 2-1 in the sixth inning, the Rays issued two bases-loaded walks, and then allowed two more runs to score on an error.
Tampa Bay tied the 1982 Atlanta Braves and the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers for the best start to a season (13-0) since the 1884 St Louis Maroons (20-0).
Ohtani and Trout both hit, walk in Angels loss
The Los Angeles Angels went down 5-3 on the road against the Boston Red Sox, despite their two former AL MVPs both finishing with a hit and a walk.
Shohei Ohtani went one-for-four with a walk, while Mike Trout also went one-for-four with a walk, although his hit went for a double down the left-field line.
The production from the Angels' stars was not enough to overcome three fielding errors as a team, including two costly errors from third-baseman Anthony Rendon to allow three runs, and a fourth run scored on a passed ball from catcher Logan O'Hoppe.
Boston's top bat Rafael Devers was the highlight for the home side, connecting on his equal league-leading sixth homer.
MLB: Paddack pitches Twins to 11th straight victory
Chris Paddack pitched two-hit ball over six scoreless innings and Edouard Julien and Ryan Jeffers each drove in two runs to lead the Minnesota Twins to their 11th straight win, 5-2 over the Boston Red Sox on Friday.
The Twins matched win streaks in 2003 and 2006 for their third-longest ever, trailing the club record of 15 straight during their last World Series championship season in 1991. They also won 12 in a row in 1980.
Paddack walked one and struck out six to win his third consecutive start. Jhoan Duran fanned two in the ninth for his second save.
The Red Sox struck out 13 times and lost their second straight following a four-game win streak.
The Twins opened the scoring in the third on Julien’s RBI single and extended to a 5-0 lead with four runs in the seventh.
A throwing error by catcher Reese McGuire scored a run, Julien walked with the bases loaded and Jeffers followed with a two-run double.
Bohm, Marsh lead surging Phillies
Alec Bohm had an RBI single to extend his hitting streak to 16 games and Brandon Marsh drove in two runs as the Philadelphia Phillies remained hot with a 4-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Trea Turner added a pair of hits and scored from second on a passed ball for the Phillies, who have won 14 of 17 and lead the majors with 22 victories.
Turner injured his left hamstring running the bases between third and home. He will have further tests on Saturday but said he expects to miss at least a couple of days.
Philadelphia took the lead for good with three runs in the third against Jordan Hicks on Bohm’s RBI single and Marsh’s two-run hit.
Bohm is 30 for 60 with three home runs, 10 doubles and 21 RBIs during his hitting streak.
Sears pitches Athletics to fifth straight victory
JP Sears pitched into the seventh inning and Brent Rooker hit a two-run homer to propel the surprising Oakland Athletics to their fifth consecutive win, 3-1 over the Miami Marlins.
Sears allowed four hits over 6 1/3 scoreless innings with one walk and six strikeouts. Austin Adams and Michael Kelly each got two outs before Lucas Erceg gave up one run over the final 1 1/3 innings for the save.
Oakland improved to 16-17 after it didn’t pick up its 16th win last season until June 10 in the 66th game.
After Rooker’s two-run shot in the fourth inning opened the scoring, Max Schuemann led off the fifth with a double and scored on Esteury Ruiz’s single.
The Marlins, who dropped to 9-25, are working to trade second baseman and reigning NL batting champion Luis Arrez to the San Diego Padres.
MLB: Lindor overcomes illness to lift Mets to walk-off win
Francisco Lindor overcame illness to deliver a walk-off, two-run double in the 11th inning in the New York Mets’ 7-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
After Nick Madrigal gave the Cubs a 6-5 lead in the top of the 11th with a run-scoring double, Daniel Palencia began the bottom half by hitting Harrison Bader to put two runners on.
Lindor, who didn’t start after leaving Wednesday night’s game with flu-like symptoms, ripped a sharp grounder inside third base and down the left-field line to score automatic runner Brett Baty and Bader.
Lindor also had a two-run double in the sixth inning to forge a 5-5 tie and right fielder Starling Marte made two rocket throws in extra innings to cut down Cubs runners at the plate to end the 10th and 11th.
Brandon Nimo drove in two runs for the Mets, who overcame a 4-0 deficit to salvage a split of the four-game series.
Christopher Morel hit a three-run homer and had one of Chicago’s six stolen bases.
Orioles hit three home runs to beat Yankees
Ryan Mountcastle, Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna homered and Kyle Bradish pitched well in his season debut to lead the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-2 win over the New York Yankees.
Bradish allowed one run over 4 2/3 innings with two walks and five strikeouts after he began the season on the injured list with a UCL strain. Four relievers combined to limit the Yankees to one run and two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.
Mountcastle, Mateo and Jordan Westburg each knocked in two runs as the Orioles took three of four in the series between the top teams in the AL East.
Baltimore’s pitchers allowed just six runs in the four games for a 1.50 ERA.
Carlos Rodon had his worst start of the season, yielding seven runs on eight hits in four-plus innings.
Gleyber Torres hit his first home run of the season for the Yankees but also made the team’s third error of the series to help extend Baltimore’s four-run fifth.
Singleton leads Astros past Guardians
Jon Singleton homered and drove in three runs as the Houston Astros rallied for their fourth win in five games, 8-2 over the Cleveland Guardians.
Singleton’s two-run homer in the sixth gave Houston a 3-2 lead and the Astros broke open the game with five runs in the seventh.
Jose Altuve singled home a run and scored when Jeremy Pena was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Yainer Diaz delivered a two-run single and Singleton’s sacrifice fly capped the outburst.
Spencer Arrighetti had the best of his four major league starts, allowing two runs and four hits over 5 2/3 innings with three walks and six strikeouts.
Will Brennan had three of Cleveland’s seven hits as the Guardians completed a six-game road trip with four losses.
MLB: Twins beat White Sox again for 10th straight victory
Max Kepler and Jose Miranda delivered run-scoring singles in the seventh inning and the Twins added four runs in the ninth to win their 10th straight game, 10-5 over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday.
Alex Kiriloff had a solo home run, Will Castro and Miranda each finished with three hits and Ryan Jeffers contributed a two-run double for the Twins, whose winning streak is their longest since June 2008.
Minnesota has beaten the major league-worst White Sox seven times during the streak, with the other three wins coming against the 11–20 Angels.
Tommy Pham and Kory Lee homered for Chicago, which lost its third straight to fall to 6-25.
Twins center fielder Byron Buxton left in the second inning with right knee soreness after an unsuccessful attempt to steal second base.
Imanaga sharp again as Cubs hold off Mets
Shota Imanaga continued his historic start with seven scoreless innings and the Chicago Cubs completed a perfect relay for the game’s final out to hold off the New York Mets, 1-0.
Imanaga limited the Mets to three singles with one walk and seven strikeouts to improve to 5-0 with a 0.78 ERA in his first six major league starts.
He is the first pitcher since 1901 to go 4-0 with a sub-1.00 ERA and at least 28 strikeouts in his first five starts.
The Mets put runners at second and third with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Hector Neris before Jeff McNeil hit a flyball to medium left field. Ian Happ made the catch and relayed to third baseman Nick Madrigal, who threw home to get Pete Alonso for the final out.
Chicago scored the game’s only run in the fifth, when Matt Mervis led off with a double, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong’s sacrifice fly.
Red-hot Lugo wins again
Seth Lugo pitched seven strong innings for his fifth win and Michael Massey hit a three-run homer to lift the Kansas City Royals to a 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Lugo allowed just one hit until giving up Danny Jansen’s home run with two outs in the seventh. The right-hander walked two and struck out eight to improve to 5-1 and lower his ERA to 1.60.
Bobby Witt Jr. had two hits, scored once and had an RBI to help the Royals take two of three in the series.
Salvador Perez had an RBI single and extended his career-best streak of reaching base safely to 21 games. He leads the AL with a .355 batting average and 27 RBIs.
Kansas City gave Lugo all the support he needed with a three-run sixth. Kyle Isbel led off with a double, moved up on a sacrifice and scored on Witt’s single. Vinnie Pasquantino then doubled, and Perez’s hit plated Witt before Massey’s groundout made it 3-0.
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