PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jesús Luzardo followed up his sensational Phillies’ debut with two-hit ball and eight strikeouts over seven shutout innings in Philadelphia’s 3-2 win over Los Angeles on Friday night that ended the Dodgers’ undefeated start.
The World Series champion Dodgers won their first eight games and were just two wins shy of matching the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955 for the best start in franchise history.
Tommy Edman hit a two-run homer in the ninth with no outs against Phillies reliever Jordan Romano to make it 3-2. Romano escaped on a strike-him-out-throw-him out double play to end the game.
Luzardo struck out 11 batters against the Washington Nationals in his first regular-season appearance in 9 1/2 months. Luzardo was sidelined last season with a back injury. The Miami Marlins traded the left-hander in the offseason to the NL East champion Phillies for a pair of prospects.
With the Phillies up 1-0 in the seventh, Luzardo (2-0) ran into his only jam of the game when he had two runners on base with two outs. Luzardo, who had his fastball humming in the high 90s, got Kiké Hernández to strike out swinging on a slider to that had another sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park roaring in celebration.
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1) struck out five and allowed one unearned run in six innings. The unearned run came on his own error. Yamamoto threw the ball into foul territory trying to pick off Trea Tuner attempting to steal third in the first inning. The All-Star shortstop hustled home for a 1-0 lead.
TIGERS 7, WHITE SOX 4
DETROIT (AP) — Kerry Carpenter hit a pair of solo home runs and Detroit beat Chicago for their 14th win in their last 17 home openers.
Carpenter’s third career multihomer game backed Jack Flaherty (1-0), who allowed one run and three hits while striking out seven over 5 2/3 innings in his first Comerica Park start since July 16. He was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 30, then returned to the Tigers as a free agent for a $35 million, two-year contract.
Riley Greene had three hits, including a solo homer. Greene’s sixth-inning homer had an exit velocity of 114.3 mph, the second hardest-hit ball of his big league career.
Zach McKinstry, Trey Sweeney, Spencer Torkelson and Dillon Dingler also drove in runs before a crowd of 44,735.
CUBS 3, PADRES 1
CHICAGO (AP) — Shota Imanaga pitched one-run ball into the eighth inning in Chicago’s home opener at Wrigley Field, and they handed San Diego its first loss.
Imanaga (2-0) allowed four hits in 7 1/3 innings in his second straight win. Picking up right where he left off in his impressive rookie season, the Japanese left-hander has permitted two runs and seven hits in 18 1/3 innings over his first three starts this year.
Ian Happ had two hits and scored two runs as Chicago improved to 6-2 since it dropped its first two games in Tokyo against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
San Diego had opened the season with seven consecutive victories for the best start in franchise history.
Martín Maldonado homered for the Padres in the third, tying it at 1. But the Cubs scored two runs in the fifth after Randy Vásquez (0-1) retired the first two batters.
RED SOX 13, CARDINALS 9
BOSTON (AP) — Rafael Devers reached base four times in his return to Boston after a season-opening slump and Alex Bregman had two hits in his first home game at Fenway Park to help the Red Sox beat St. Louis.
Boston began its 125th home opener by scoring five runs in the first inning, including back-to-back homers by Trevor Story and Wilyer Abreu. The Cardinals cut it to 6-5 in the ...
