The odds were against the Milwaukee Brewers as they had to call up Eric Lauer from the alternate training site to make the start against the World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers, but they prevailed 2-1.
Lauer entered the game with a 14-19 record in the majors but out-pitched last year's Cy Young Award winner Trevor Bauer in Milwaukee, scattering four hits in five shutout innings.
Despite his overall career mark, Lauer has had unusual success against the Dodgers dating to his two seasons in San Diego's rotation in 2018-19.
Thursday's game improved his career record against the Dodgers to 6-0 with a 1.89 ERA.
Bauer suffered from lack of run support, working eight innings for the first time this season and allowing only a two-run home run to Travis Shaw in the fourth that proved to be the difference in the game.
The Brewers' win to open the four-game series put them at 15-10 this season, trailing only the Dodgers (16-10) and San Francisco Giants (16-9) among National League teams.
Pitchers' duel in Houston
Yusei Kikuchi was brilliant for the Seattle Mariners against the Houston Astros, allowing one hit and two walks in seven innings while striking out seven in a 1-0 win over the Astros. The Mariners got their only run from a Taylor Trammell homer off Houston starter Luis Garcia in the third inning, and Trammell ended the game with a sliding catch in center field.
The Oakland Athletics split their series against the Tampa Bay Rays with a 3-2 thanks in large part to Matt Chapman, who hit a solo home run in the fourth and added the go-ahead double in the top of the ninth.
In Baltimore, the Orioles bounced back to beat the New York Yankees 4-3 in the 10th inning thanks to a one-out sacrifice fly by Cedric Mullins.
Phillies lose in heartbreaking 10th
The Philadelphia Phillies rallied to send their game with the St. Louis Cardinals to extra innings, but lost 4-3 in the 10th without allowing a hit in the inning. The frame began with Tyler O'Neill on second base thanks to MLB's rule designed to shorten games, and he moved to third on a groundout and scored the winning run on a wild pitch by David Hale.
The Yerminator strikes again
Who else but Yermin Mercedes would cap a White Sox doubleheader sweep of the Detroit Tigers with a monstrous 449-foot home run to center field in Chicago.
Thursday's results
Baltimore Orioles 4-3 New York Yankees
Oakland Athletics 3-2 Tampa Bay Rays
St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 Philadelphia Phillies
Seattle Mariners 1-0 Houston Astros
Chicago White Sox 3-1 Detroit Tigers
Chicago White Sox 11-0 Detroit Tigers
Chicago Cubs 9-3 Atlanta Braves
Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Los Angeles Dodgers
Texas Rangers 4-1 Boston Red Sox
Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 Colorado Rockies
Astros at Rays
The last two American League champions face off in Florida as Tampa native Lance McCullers Jr. and the Houston Astros (13-12) visit Ryan Yarbrough and the Tampa Bay Rays (13-13)
'Palace can breathe a little easier after Ipswich win' - Mateta
Jean-Philippe Mateta said Crystal Palace can "breathe a little bit easier" following their 1-0 victory over Ipswich Town.
The Eagles recorded their first away win of the season at Portman Road, where Mateta's second-half strike was enough to move them three points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Receiving Eberechi Eze's pass in the 59th minute, the striker accelerated away from Jacob Greaves, before neatly lifting the ball over the advancing Ipswich goalkeeper Arijanet Muric.
Mateta underlined the importance of the victory, which he believes will give Palace momentum heading into their next match against struggling reigning champions Manchester City.
"The start of the season was not what we expected, but we keep working," he told Amazon Prime. "Today, we have the away win, and we are very satisfied.
"We can breathe a little bit easier because we were under pressure. The fans, everyone was on us. Before the game, it was a must win. Even when you score, you stay focused and the time goes slowly. As soon as the ref blew the whistle, we were so happy.
"Because of this win, everyone is confident. We can't wait to play against Manchester City. It is a good time to play them. We have to stay focused because they are a great team."
"Very pleased with the result," Palace head coach Oliver Glasner concurred. "It was not about performing brilliantly. We expected a big fight and it was a big fight.
"It was an amazing goal, an amazing finish by JP [Mateta]. We had two or three chances to take the game away from them and didn't take them. In the end, we had to be a bit lucky, but I think we deserved to win.
"When JP gets the ball in the box, he is such a good finisher, and it is usually a goal. We're pleased with our defensive performance, we didn't allow them a chance from open play - just one from a set-piece in the first half and one in the second half."
Ipswich remain in the bottom three and the only Premier League side still seeking their first home win of the campaign and Kieran McKenna is desperate for them to address that as soon as possible.
"A disappointing night and probably many similarities to Saturday [the 1-0 loss at Nottingham Forest]," he told Match of the Day. "It was a competitive game, an even first half, not the highest quality game, and not our best performance here.
"But we were right in the game and started the second half better, but then gave away a poor goal, and we were not able to produce the quality to open them up. We're not happy with the result and didn't make it the kind of game we wanted to give us a chance of getting a result.
"We've had some really good performances here. We've not turned one of those into a win, and until we do that, this will be held over us [no home wins] and that's something we can't remove until we win at home."
AC Milan 6-1 Sassuolo: Chukwueze brace powers Rossoneri into Coppa Italia last eight
AC Milan made light work of Serie B side Sassuolo as Samuel Chukwueze scored twice in a 6-1 thrashing to reach the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia on Tuesday.
The last-16 clash was already over as a contest by the 23rd minute after Chukwueze's brace, along with goals from Tijjani Reijnders and Rafael Leao handed Milan a 4-0 lead at San Siro.
Davide Calabria added their fifth 11 minutes after the interval, though Samuele Mulattieri managed a consolation three minutes later, before Tammy Abraham rounded off the win in the 61st minute.
Chukwueze opened the scoring in the 12th minute when a Reijnders ball over the top put him through one-on-one with Giacomo Satalino, and after his first effort hit the upright he tapped in the rebound.
Reijnders drilled home from outside the area five minutes later and Chukwueze netted his second in the 21st minute, curling beyond the reach of Satalino after an Abraham lay-off.
A no-look pass from Ruben Loftus-Cheek freed Leao to score two minutes later before Christian Pulisic's lofted cross bounced off the post and Calabria reacted quickest to convert in the second half.
Mulattieri's effort squirmed under Lorenzo Torriani to finally give Sassuolo something to cheer about, but Abraham finished off the rout, tucking his finish around Satalino just past the hour.
Data Debrief: Rampant Rossoneri
Milan's victory came by an impressive scoreline, though the underlying stats suggest the 6-1 win was somewhat flattering on the home side's performance.
Indeed, the home side accumulated just 1.89 expected goals (xG) from their 15 attempts, but the quality of finishing proved too much for Sassuolo to handle.
Bayern Munich 0-1 Bayer Leverkusen: Neuer off as Tella header defeats 10-man hosts
Ten-man Bayern Munich were dumped out of the DFB Pokal following a 1-0 defeat by reigning champions Bayer Leverkusen at Allianz Arena.
Nathan Tella's second-half strike proved the difference as Xabi Alonso's side booked their place in the quarter-finals.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men after just 17 minutes, when Manuel Neuer received the first red card of his career after bringing down Jeremie Frimpong just outside the box.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Vincent Kompany's side created the better chances during the first half, with Kingsley Coman, Konrad Laimer and Leon Goretzka going close.
However, the visitors broke through against the run of play in the 69th minute, when Tella nodded in from Alex Grimaldo's cross.
Michael Olise almost snatched a dramatic equaliser with a curling effort in stoppage time, but Leverkusen survived to maintain their title defence.
Data Debrief: Nine in a row for Leverkusen and Alonso
Bayern had won each of their five previous DFB Pokal matches against the defending champions.
However, that streak ended here as they have now suffered successive eliminations after home defeats (also losing to Freiburg in April 2023) for the first time in their history.
As for Leverkusen, they have now won their last nine DFB Pokal matches and kept clean sheets in their last five - both their longest such streaks in the competition since at least 2005-06.
Meanwhile, Alonso has won all nine of his DFB Pokal matches as a coach. Only two coaches have enjoyed longer undefeated starts in the competition this millennium - Louis van Gaal and Pep Guardiola (both in the first 10).
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