Shohei Ohtani continues to put forward his case for back-to-back American League (AL) MVP awards as the All-Star pitcher blasted two home runs in the Los Angeles Angels' 10-0 home win against the Detroit Tigers on Monday.
Ohtani, who was also named an All-Star as a batter, hit a double in the first inning, and then connected on a 382-foot, two-run homer with his next at-bat in the third frame.
He was robbed of another hit when his 100mph line drive was caught by the Tigers first-baseman, but there was nothing they could do about his massive 416-foot launch in the seventh inning for his second home run of the game.
Also getting in on the fun was three-time AL MVP Mike Trout, who had a single, a double and a home run as the Angels' two superstars combined to go six-for-nine at the plate with three home runs and two doubles.
Ohtani is now tied for sixth in the majors with 32 home runs this season, while Trout is tied for 10th with 30 home runs. Trout has played 16 games fewer than any other player with 30 homers, and Ohtani is also eighth in the majors for strikeouts as a pitcher (181 in 23 starts).
On the mound, Jose Suarez was spectacular for the Angels, pitching seven scoreless innings while only giving up three hits and one walk, striking out seven.
Judge homers for third consecutive day
Ohtani's biggest challenger for the AL MVP, and the heavy favourite, Aaron Judge hit a home run for the third day in a row to help his New York Yankees defeat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 at home.
Judge's hot streak has now seen him hit five home runs from his past seven games, taking his league-leading tally to 54 – 18 more than any other player. He is now seven home runs away from the Yankees' all-time record of 61 in a season, set 61 years ago, in 1961, by Roger Maris.
His big hit on Monday came at the perfect time, with his two-run homer in the sixth inning breaking a 2-2 tie to put the Yankees up 4-2, allowing Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes to close the door with sharp pitching out of the bullpen.
Debutant pitchers make history
Two pitchers in their very first career start tossed at least six scoreless innings in shutout wins, with Ryne Nelson carrying the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 5-0 win and Hunter Brown delivering for the Houston Astros in a 1-0 result.
Nelson pitched seven innings, striking out seven batters while allowing four hits and one walk. Brown pitched six innings, giving up three hits and one walk while striking out five.
It is the first time in MLB history that two debutant starting pitchers delivered a scoreless outing with at least five strikeouts on the same day.
MLB: Phillies earn seventh straight win
Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia Phillies each extended impressive streaks in the team's 7-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Monday's opener of a four-game series.
Suarez increased his run of consecutive scoreless innings to 22 by limiting the Reds to two hits and a walk over seven dominant frames in Philadelphia's seventh straight win. The left-hander struck out five and improved to 4-0 in five starts this season.
Kody Clemens supplied the offence for the Phillies by going 2 for 4 with a three-run homer after being called up from the minors to replace slugger Bryce Harper, who is away from the team to attend the birth of his child.
Hunter Greene threw a season-high seven innings for Cincinnati but was handed the loss after allowing four runs on seven hits.
The Phillies opened the scoring in the second when Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos reached on back-to-back singles before Bryson Stott plated Bohm with a sacrifice fly.
Johan Rojas tripled off Greene to start the third and came home on Kyle Schwarber's sac fly for a 2-0 edge, and the Phillies tacked on another run in the fourth when Bohm doubled and scored on Stott's fielder's choice grounder.
J.T. Realmuto's run-scoring double in the fifth put Philadelphia up 4-0, and Clemens' blast with Castellanos and Stott aboard in the ninth closed out the scoring.
Gelof's homer in ninth lifts Athletics over Yankees
Zack Gelof broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning that gave the Oakland Athletics a 2-0 win over the New York Yankees in the opener of a four-game series.
Abraham Toro greeted reliever Victor Gonzalez with an infield single to start the ninth before Gelof lined a pitch from the Yankees' left-hander into the right field seats to end the scoreless stalemate.
Mason Miller then struck out Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in order in the bottom of the ninth to record his fifth save and put an end to Oakland's three-game losing streak.
The Yankees were dealt a second loss in three games despite a dominant start from Carlos Rodon, who yielded only a fifth-inning single and two walks over seven innings.
A's starter JP Sears was equally good, however, as the former Yankee permitted just three hits and a walk while striking out seven in six innings.
The Yankees played nearly the entire game without manager Aaron Boone, who was ejected by home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt in the top of the first inning after questioning whether Oakland lead-off hitter Esteury Ruiz swung a pitch that hit the outfielder.
Boone said after the game Wendelstedt was angered by a remark directed at the umpire by a fan sitting behind New York's dugout.
Orioles stay hot by extending Angels' struggles
James McCann and Colton Cowser homered to back 5 2/3 scoreless innings from Albert Suarez as the Baltimore Orioles continued their surge with a 4-2 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Angels.
Adley Rutschman added two hits and two RBIs to help Baltimore to its seventh win in eight games, a run that has moved the Orioles a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for first place in the American League East.
The Angels, meanwhile, have now lost five straight after dropping the opener of this three-game series.
Suarez scattered four hits and two walks while striking out five before departing with a 3-0 lead. McCann's solo homer in the second inning put Baltimore on the board before Jorge Mateo stole two bases in the third to precede Rutschman's run-scoring single.
Rutschman made it 3-0 when he followed Gunnar Henderson's single with a double off Los Angeles starter Reid Detmers in the fifth, and Cowser increased the margin in the seventh with his sixth home run of the season.
All four Baltimore runs came off Detmers, who lasted seven innings and was dealt his first loss of the season after going 3-0 over his first four starts.
The Angels did close the gap in the bottom of the seventh, as Jo Adell homered and Logan O'Hoppe followed with a single before later scoring on Nolan Schanuel's base hit that cut the lead to 4-2.
Los Angeles threatened in the ninth by loading the bases with one out, but Baltimore closer Craig Kimbrel got Schanuel to pop out before fanning Mike Trout to end the game and record his sixth save.
O'Hoppe recorded three of the Angels' eight hits for the game.
MLB: Dodgers' Ohtani hits milestone homer
Shohei Ohtani became Major League Baseball's career home leader among Japanese-born players with a two-run shot that highlighted the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10-0 rout of the New York Mets on Sunday.
Ohtani's third-inning blast off Adrian Houser helped support a stellar start from Tyler Glasnow as two of the Dodgers' marquee offseason additions took center stage.
Glasnow scattered seven hits while striking out 10 over eight innings to improve to 4-1 since being acquired by Los Angeles from the Tampa Bay Rays in December.
Ohtani's home run was his 176th in the major leagues, breaking a tie the reigning American League MVP shared with former New York Yankees star Hideki Matsui for the most by a Japanese native.
Andy Pages contributed his first major league homer, a three-run shot during a fifth inning in which the Dodgers scored eight times en route to ending a three-game losing streak and preventing the Mets from sweeping the three-game series.
After Ohtani's historic home run broke a scoreless tie in the third inning, Los Angeles put the contest out of reach against Houser and reliever Grant Hartwig in the fifth.
Pages started the outburst with a lead-off double and later scored on Mookie Betts' single, and an infield hit by Ohtani loaded the bases before Freddie Freeman drove in two more runs with a double for a 5-0 lead.
Will Smith followed with a two-run double of his own to extend the margin. Four batters later, Pages took Hartwig's pitch over the center field wall to cap the big inning and give Los Angeles a 10-0 advantage.
Houser was charged with eight runs allowed after being lifted with none out in the fifth.
Rangers halt Braves' win streak behind three homers
Andrew Knizner hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth inning and the Texas Rangers went deep two more times to stop the Atlanta Braves' six-game winning streak with a 6-4 victory.
Adolis Garcia added a two-run homer and Evan Carter had a solo shot as the defending World Champion Rangers overcame an early 3-0 deficit and avoided being swept in the three-game weekend series.
Atlanta had gone ahead quickly on Marcell Ozuna's MLB-leading ninth home run of the season, a three-run blast off Texas starter Michael Lorenzen in the first inning.
Lorenzen (2-0) kept the Braves off the scoreboard for the remainder of his six-inning stint, however, to help the Rangers rally in the fourth.
Carter started the comeback with a lead-off homer off Darius Vines, who later surrendered singles to Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Smith before Knizner launched the first pitch he saw into the left field seats to give Texas a 4-3 lead.
Garcia followed Carter's infield single in the eighth with a two-run shot off Tyler Matzek to extend the margin to 6-3.
The Braves got a run back in their half of the eighth when Ronald Acuna Jr. singled and later came home on Austin Riley's base hit with none out. Relievers David Robertson and Tyler Yates retired the next three hitters, however, to end the threat with two runners on base.
Yates then worked a scoreless ninth to earn his third save of the season.
Acuna finished 2 for 4 with two runs scored, while Vines was handed the loss after permitting four runs in five innings.
Phillies finish sweep of White Sox to extend win streak to six games
Aaron Nola struck out seven over eight strong innings to help the Philadelphia Phillies extend their winning streak to six games with an 8-2 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.
Nola yielded just two runs on four hits to improve to 3-1 on the season, and the right-hander received plenty of offensive support as Philadelphia finished off a sweep of the three-game series.
Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in two runs, Bryce Harper also knocked in two runs and Alec Bohm went 3 for 5 with an RBI double as the Phillies completed a successful 10-game home-stand in which they won eight times.
Chicago, meanwhile, continued its worst start in franchise history as it dropped to 3-18, the lowest winning percentage in the majors this season.
The White Sox did take a 2-0 lead, however, when Eloy Jimenez followed Robbie Grossman's one-out single in the top of the first inning with his first home run of 2024.
Philadelphia quickly answered, as Chicago starter Nick Nastrini walked Schwarber and Trea Turner to start the bottom of the first before Harper delivered a single that scored Schwarber and sent Trea Turner to third.
The Phillies then attempted a double steal in which Turner stole home and Harper advanced to second on a throwing error, and Harper later came home on Brandon Marsh's single for a 3-2 advantage.
Nola surrendered just two more hits the rest of the way, and the Phillies increased their lead with three runs in the fourth on an RBI single from Turner, Harper's sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double from Bohm.
Schwarber's lead-off homer in the sixth extended the margin to 7-2, and the slugger had a sacrifice fly in the seventh to bring home Philadelphia's final run.
Nastrini was tagged for six runs - five earned - and walked five in just three-plus innings in his second major league start.
MLB: Wheeler loses no-hit bid in 8th inning as Phillies beat White Sox
Zack Wheeler took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and Brandon Marsh hit a two-run homer as the surging Philadelphia Phillies defeated the lowly Chicago White Sox, 9-5 on Saturday.
Wheeler held the White Sox hitless until Korey Lee’s one-out single in the eighth. The right-hander struck out eight, walked two and threw 75 of 106 pitches for strikes.
A night earlier, Spencer Turnbull didn’t allow a hit until Gavin Sheets’ one-out single in the seventh.
The Phillies won their fifth straight and moved five games over .500 in April for the first time since 2019.
Marsh’s home run in the second off Michael Soroka gave Philadelphia a 3-0 lead and Trea Turner’s two-run double in the seventh made it 9-0.
The White Sox scored their first runs of this series with five in the ninth but dropped to a major league-worst 3-17.
Streaking Mets beat Dodgers
Starling Marte belted a go-ahead, three-run homer and Pete Alonso made a stellar defensive play to lift the New York Mets to their sixth straight victory, 6-4 over the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers.
Marte finished with four RBIs and Francisco Lindor drove in two runs as the Mets improved to 12-3 after an 0-5 start.
The Dodgers went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base. They have lost three consecutive series for the first time since June, and three straight series at home for the first time since August 2018.
Marte’s 432-foot shot off reliever Ryan Brasier in the sixth snapped a 2-2 tie.
Los Angeles had the bases loaded in the sixth trailing 5-4 before Max Muncy grounded to Alonso, who fielded the ball near the edge of the outfield grass, sprinted in and dove to tag the bag for the third out.
New York won despite issuing 10 walks, its most since Aug. 15. They last walked 10 in a win on May 13, 2014, in a 12-7 victory over the Yankees.
D’Arnaud homers again in Braves’ win
Charlie Morton combined with three relievers on a five-hitter and the Atlanta Braves defeated the Texas Rangers 5-2 for their sixth straight win.
Morton gave up two runs and four hits with two walks in six innings. Joe Jimenez and A.J. Minter each pitched one inning and Raisel Iglesias worked the ninth for his sixth save in as many chances.
D’Arnaud, who drove in six runs with three home runs on Friday, hit a two-run shot in the eighth off Austin Pruitt to close the scoring.
Luis Guillorme had an RBI double and scored on Michael Harris’ single before Matt Olson’s sacrifice fly snapped a 2-2 tie in the second.
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