New York’s Max Scherzer pitches during the first inning Monday night against the San Diego Padres in New York. Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
NEW YORK— Max Scherzer shut down the San Diego Padres for five innings, rebounding from his postseason flop last year, and the New York Mets won 5-0 on Monday night in a playoff rematch between National League heavyweights.
Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor each laced a two-run double as the Mets finally beat Yu Darvish for the first time. Eduardo Escobar added a sacrifice fly, and four relievers finished a two-hitter in the opener of a three-game series matching two of baseball’s three biggest spenders.
A clean single by Ha-Seong Kim off Scherzer (2-1) with one out in the fifth was San Diego’s only hit until the ninth. The three-time Cy Young Award winner struck out six and walked three in a 97-pitch outing that followed a shaky defeat in Milwaukee last week.
The Padres pounded Scherzer for four homers and seven runs over 4 2/3 innings in Game 1 of the wild-card round last October as Darvish cruised to a 7-1 victory.
San Diego took the best-of-three series at Citi Field with a one-hit shutout in Game 3, when Mets Manager Buck Showalter asked umpires to check Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove for illegal sticky substances that might be aiding his grip.
New York went home for the winter, while the Padres made a run to the NL Championship Series before losing to Philadelphia.
WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 3: Hanser Alberto hit a three-run homer, Dylan Cease had another strong outing against the Twins and Chicago won at Minneapolis.
Yasmani Grandal had two hits and drove in the other run for Chicago, which had to remove shortstop Tim Anderson in the sixth inning with left knee soreness after he collided with a baserunner.
Cease, the American League Cy Young runner-up last season, gave up three runs but only one was earned after three errors by the White Sox.
Cease (2-0) allowed three hits with six strikeouts in five innings.
The Twins hit just 2 for 48 and were scoreless in 16 innings in two games against Cease last season.
GUARDIANS 3, YANKEES 2: Shane Bieber shook off a rough first inning to pitch seven, and Josh Naylor hit a tie-breaking sacrifice fly to give Cleveland a win at home in a rematch of last year’s AL Division Series.
Bieber (1-0) looked to be in trouble after giving up two runs and three hits to New York’s first four batters. But Cleveland’s ace settled in and retired 17 of 18 in one stretch. He allowed two runs and five hits.
Naylor, who became a target for Yankees fans during the playoffs for his “rock the baby” gesture after hitting a home run in Game 4, put the Guardians up 3-2 in the seventh when his liner off Ian Hamilton (0-1) scored Steven Kwan.
The Yankees threatened to tie in the eighth when Gleyber Torres tripled leading off. But he was stranded by Guardians reliever James Karinchak, who after being called for a clock violation before his first pitch, retired Aaron Judge on an infield pop and struck out Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton.
PHILLIES 15, MARLINS 3: Alec Bohm homered and had six RBI and Philadelphia tagged NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara for nine runs in beating visiting Miami.
Brandon Marsh and Jake Cave added solo homers, and the Phillies pounded out 20 hits.
Alcantara (1-1) had pitched a 1-hour, 57-minute shutout in his last start against Minnesota, then struggled to get anyone out in Philadelphia.
ASTROS 8, PIRATES 2: Yordan Alvarez had three hits and boosted his RBI total to a major-league-leading 16 by driving in two runs in Houston’s win at Pittsburgh.
Kyle Tucker added two hits and drove in three runs for the Astros. Maruicio Dubón singled three times to extend his hitting streak to a career-best six games as the reigning World Series champions sent the fast-starting Pirates to the second loss in their last seven games.
ORIOLES 5, ATHLETICS 1: Adley Rutschman homered for the second straight game, Kyle Gibson earned his third victory in as many starts with Baltimore, and the Orioles won at home.
Ryan Mountcastle and Austin Hays also went deep for Baltimore, which improved to 4-0 in series openers this season.
akland has lost five in a row and fell to a majors-worst 2-8, matching its worst start since 2010.
NOTES
ROYALS: Manager Matt Quatraro will return to the dugout for Monday night’s road game against the Texas Rangers after missing the club’s previous five games with COVID-19.
The Royals went 2-3 under interim manager Paul Hoover, the team’s bench coach.
GUARDIANS: Starter Triston McKenzie is set to resume a throwing program after making progress in his recovery from a shoulder strain.
The team said McKenzie, who has been sidelined to start the season with a strained teres major muscle, was checked by Dr. Jason Genin on Sunday. The right-hander was cleared to throw with a weighted ball.
RULES: Major League Baseball’s new rules designed to speed pace of play and encourage more action seem to be working through the first 1 1/2 weeks of the season.
Batting average is up 16 points, stolen bases have spiked 30% and the average game time is down 31 minutes, on track to be the sport’s lowest since 1984.
Limits on infield shifts, a pitch clock and larger bases were all implemented on Opening Day after testing in the minors and a dress rehearsal of sorts during this year’s big league spring training.
TRADE: The Chicago White Sox traded reliever José Ruiz to Arizona on Sunday for $100,000.
The White Sox designated the 28-year-old for assignment on Friday following a difficult start to the season. Ruiz allowed nine runs, eight hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings across four appearances for Chicago.
PIRATES: The Pittsburgh Pirates will have to see if they can keep their hot start going without Oneil Cruz. The 6-foot-7 shortstop had surgery late Sunday to repair a fractured left ankle and is out at least four months.
Cruz’s left leg bent awkwardly underneath him as he tried to score from third on a chopper in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 1-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Cruz opted to slide late and collided with the legs of White Sox catcher Seby Zavala, causing Cruz’s leg to fold up underneath him as his momentum carried the rest of his body across the plate.
While the Pirates believe Cruz will be able to return by mid-August, Manager Derek Shelton stressed he’s more concerned about Cruz’s health and state of mind. Shelton added that there was a “sense of relief” that the injury wasn’t worse.
“My solace is in the fact that he’s OK,” Shelton said.
Pittsburgh placed the 24-year-old Cruz on the 10-day injured list and called up utility player Mark Mathias from Triple-A Indianapolis. Rodolfo Castro, who switched from second base to shortstop after Cruz was injured, started for the Pirates Monday when they began a three-game series against the World Series champion Houston Astros.
“I think in the early going (Castro) will get the majority (of the starts),” Shelton said. “We’ll probably see (Ji-Hwan) Bae over there at some point, too, just depending on the matchup and moving guys around or just actual off-days.”
Pittsburgh has won five of six to get to 6-3, the club’s best start since 2018, the last time the Pirates finished with a winning record. Cruz is part of the foundation the franchise is attempting to put in place under General Manager Ben Cherington.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.