MLB Roundup: Dalbec’s homer helps Red Sox avoid sweep against Yankees
NEW YORK (AP) — Red Sox slugger Bobby Dalbec didn’t homer until the 19th game of his rookie season last year, a slump that nearly took him into May.
“Oh, I remember,” he quipped.
He’ll remember this one more fondly.
Dalbec hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the sixth inning and Boston avoided a season-opening sweep against its longtime rival with a 4-3 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday night.
Boston blew multi-run leads in the first two games of the series and did so again Sunday. This time, the Red Sox rallied back, with Dalbec connecting off reliever Clarke Schmidt (0-1) for his first of the season.
The Red Sox ended an eight-game regular-season skid against New York — a stretch that doesn’t include their victory in last year’s AL wild-card game. The rivals don’t play again until July 7.
Rookie right-hander Kutter Crawford (1-1) threw two of Boston’s 5 2/3 scoreless relief innings for his first big league win, and Jake Diekman pitched the ninth for his first save. J.D. Martinez had an RBI double, one of the team’s five hits.
New York’s Anthony Rizzo made it 3-all with a two-run single in the fourth, scoring Yankees newcomers Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino after they opened the inning with their first hits in pinstripes.
Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton continued torrid starts to the season. Rizzo had a hit and walked twice, and Stanton had three hits. Both homered in each of New York’s first two games. Stanton had gone deep in six straight games against the Red Sox, including the postseason.
Boston is going closer-by-committee to start the year, and Diekman surely earned himself another ninth-inning look. The sidearm-slinging lefty struck out Aaron Judge on 11 pitches to open the ninth, then got Stanton and Joey Gallo swinging, too.
“He’s absolutely nasty,” Red Sox starter Tanner Houck said.
Dalbec hit 25 homers as a rookie last season but batted .240 with 156 strikeouts in 133 games. He improved dramatically in the second half, posting a .955 OPS and driving in 42 runs over 61 games. The 26-year-old said he learned late last year how to make quick fixes when his swing got out of whack, something that helped him bounce back this weekend after striking out four times in Boston’s first two games.
“In August and September, whenever he got a pitch that he can handle, he put a pretty good swing on it,” manager Alex Cora said. “And that was a really good one.”
Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery took Xander Bogaerts’ 103 mph grounder off his left knee in the first inning and fell to the ground screaming. He remained in the game but gave up Martinez’s RBI double the next at-bat and trailed 2-0 after the top of the first.
Montgomery completed 3 1/3 innings of three-run ball. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said X-rays on Montgomery’s knee were negative, but the left-hander was stiffening up after the game. He will be re-evaluated Monday.
“Obviously to see him rolling around like that in pain was certainly concerning,” Boone said. “Pretty gutsy effort to kind of walk it off.”
New York forced Houck to throw 31 pitches in the bottom of the inning but left the bases loaded. The first inning took 37 minutes, part of yet another sluggish Sox-Yanks game that lasted 3:40.
Yankees leadoff man Josh Donaldson struck out looking three times for the first time in his career. All three came against Houck.
New York stranded 11 runners Sunday and 25 over the three-game series.
Boston’s Christian Arroyo made his first big league start in right field and slid to take away a hit from Gleyber Torres in the seventh.
The Red Sox used six pitchers and New York needed five. The teams combined for 31 pitching changes in the three-game set.
“It didn’t look pretty, right?” Cora said.
TALL COMPANY
The Saint Peter’s men’s basketball team was honored prior to the game for its unexpected run to the Elite Eight. Senior forward KC Ndefo delivered a strike for the ceremonial first pitch.
STAY AROUND
The Red Sox signed right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock to an $18.75 million, four-year deal Sunday covering 2023-26 that includes two club options and escalators that could increase the total to $44.5 million over six seasons.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red Sox: New 2B Trevor Story was out of the lineup and away from the team with flu-like symptoms. A COVID-19 test came back negative. … RHP Matt Barnes remained out with a tight back, but Boston thought he might be ready to pitch Monday.
Yankees: C Ben Rortvedt is expected to ramp up activity Monday as he works back from a strained right oblique muscle. There’s still no estimate on when he’ll return to game action.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Begin a three-game set in Detroit on Monday. RHP Michael Wacha (3-5, 5.05 ERA in 2021) will face RHP Matt Manning (4-7, 5.80). Former Red Sox LHP Eduardo Rodriguez pitches for the Tigers on Wednesday.
Yankees: Open a four-game series at home against the hot-hitting Blue Jays on Monday night. RHP Jameson Taillon (8-6, 4.30) faces Toronto RHP Alek Manoah (9-2, 3.22).
Alex Bregman delivers big hit, Astros take 3 of 4 from Halos
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Alex Bregman faces ample challenges heading into this season with the Houston Astros. Along with every player’s short spring preparations, he also has to get used to playing alongside rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena after five remarkable years next to veteran Carlos Correa.
The Astros star third baseman still started out superbly in the season-opening series for the defending AL champions.
Bregman put the Astros ahead with a two-run single in the fifth, and Jose Urquidy yielded four hits over five innings in Houston’s 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Bregman began life after Correa by going 6 for 14 with two homers and driving in six runs in Houston’s first four games. His two-out, two-RBI single off reliever Austin Warren in the finale ended up being the decisive hit as Houston took three of four from its AL West rivals.
“I feel pretty good,” Bregman said. “Just getting the timing squared away. Haven’t got that many at-bats yet, but doing all right. I was just able to put some good swings on it.”
Chas McCormick had a late RBI single, and Pena delivered three hits while the Astros dominated at Angel Stadium yet again.
“You’re starting to get a little worried there,” manager Dusty Baker said of the Astros’ 13 consecutive scoreless innings before their fifth-inning breakout Sunday. “Our pitching held us until our offense could do something, and today most of our offense was Breggy.”
Jack Mayfield homered against his former team for the Angels, but they scored more than two runs just once in the four-game series _ and that was late in a blowout loss Friday.
“We have to be more offensive consistently against the entire division, not just Houston,” Los Angeles manager Joe Maddon said. “But by no means am I discouraged. … Don’t be deceived: We’re very close to Houston. I like the way we played a lot. I like our energy a lot. There’s certain things we’ve got to get better at, but we’re very close to beating that team.”
Urquidy (1-0) built on his solid 2021 with five resourceful innings, walking one and striking out two. Ryan Pressly pitched the ninth for his second save.
Jose Suarez (0-1) pitched two-hit ball into the fifth inning for Los Angeles, but yielded four walks and two runs before the Halos’ bullpen had another inconsistent afternoon.
Mayfield homered leading off the second inning for Los Angeles while filling in for resting Anthony Rendon at third base and in the cleanup spot.
But the Astros chased Suarez with back-to-back walks in the fifth, and the runners advanced on Warren’s wild pitch before Bregman drove them both home.
After Bregman scored from third when McCormick beat out a two-out grounder in the eighth, Los Angeles’ Jo Adell ended the inning by robbing Niko Goodrum of a probable three-run homer with a difficult catch above the left field fence.
SHOHEI SMASH
Shohei Ohtani interrupted his 1-for-14 start to the season at the plate by mashing a double that sent Tyler Wade to third base in the third. With a 119.1-mph exit velocity, it was the hardest-hit ball of the AL MVP’s career and the hardest by a left-handed batter since 2015, when the tracking started.
CLOSE CALL
Los Angeles failed to capitalize on Ohtani’s double moments later: Wade was ruled to have missed the plate on his slide when he tagged up on Mike Trout’s ensuing flyout. Maddon said the umpires didn’t explain the replay decision to the Angels.
“I can’t even ask,” Maddon said. “If I go up there and start asking, I’ll just get annoyed. I’m going to get kicked out right there. Where else would his hand have been, except on the plate? … I could not believe that that was not ruled in our favor.”
FAMILIAR FOE
Mayfield spent his first eight professional seasons in the Astros’ system, making the majors in 2019 and 2020 before Houston waived him. Since then, the native Texan is 12 for 41 against the Astros with two homers and seven RBIs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Houston’s Jose Altuve got the day off to rest. … The Angels placed reliever Jose Quijada on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain. Quijada warmed up to enter Saturday’s game, but didn’t take the mound.
ROSTER MOVES
After the game, Houston optioned INF Joe Perez to Double-A Corpus Christi and sent RHP Tyler Ivey outright to Triple-A Sugar Land. Ivey was designated for assignment last Thursday.
UP NEXT
Astros: After a day off in Phoenix, Luis Garcia takes the mound Tuesday to open a two-game interleague series at Arizona.
Angels: Orange County native Michael Lorenzen makes his Angels debut Monday night in the opener of a two-game interleague series with the Miami Marlins. Lorenzen signed with his hometown team to be a starter after six years as a reliever in Cincinnati.
Profar’s early slam jolts Padres past D backs
PHOENIX (AP) — Nabil Crismatt’s experience in a big league bullpen has taught him to be ready to pitch from the moment the first inning starts.
He had to be ready even earlier on Sunday.
Crismatt pitched three scoreless innings in an emergency start, Jurickson Profar hit a grand slam and the San Diego Padres used a big second inning to win their third straight game, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 10-5.
“My mentality is to be ready to go at any moment,” Crismatt said. “When they told me I was in the game, I liked that moment and I love to go out there and compete.”
Crismatt and catcher Jorge Alfaro formed the first Colombian-born starting battery in major league history.
The Padres sent 10 hitters to the plate in the second and the first seven reached base, starting with Jake Cronenworth on an error by second baseman Ketel Marte. Luke Voit and Wil Myers followed with walks and then Profar hammered a hanging slider from left-hander Caleb Smith into the left-center seats.
It’s been a good start for Profar, who also homered on Friday. He helped the Padres win three of four in the series.
Jorge Alfaro followed Profar with a shot to center and the Padres had a 5-0 lead they wouldn’t come close to relinquishing. They were helped by a sloppy D-backs team that made two costly errors, including Marte’s that started the second-inning rally.
“Three unearned runs to me is unacceptable,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “That game should have been a lot closer than it was.”
Crismatt was the emergency starting pitcher for the Padres after Blake Snell was scratched just before the first pitch because of left adductor tightness. San Diego manager Bob Melvin said he had already exchanged lineup cards when Snell felt the injury on his final warmup pitch, setting off a bullpen scramble.
“It was as late as I’ve ever seen anything,” Melvin said. “We had to make some adjustments on the fly and got it done.”
Crismatt responded well in his first career start, throwing three shutout innings and giving up just one hit. Austin Adams (1-0) got the win after a scoreless inning of relief.
Smith (0-1) gave up five runs, four earned, in one inning. Cooper Hummel hit a three-run homer for Arizona in the ninth, his first major league hit. Diamondbacks catcher Carson Kelly moved to the mound for the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning.
SNELL SCRATCHED
Melvin said Snell _ the 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner _ is likely headed for a stint on the 10-day IL but the team wanted to see how the pitcher feels on Monday.
It was the first bit of bad news for a Padres rotation that was brilliant through the first three games. Yu Darvish and Sean Manaea threw 13 innings of no-hit baseball on back-to-back days and Joe Musgrove was solid on Saturday, giving up two runs over six innings.
DISMAL D-BACKS
It was a rough opening series for the Diamondbacks, who dropped three of four games.
Their only win was on opening night, when Seth Beer clubbed a game-winning, three-run homer in the ninth.
That fun moment aside, the D-backs don’t look much better than last season, when they finished with a 52-110 record. On Sunday, Arizona was hurt by two costly errors that led to three unearned runs. When two runs scored on back-to-back wild pitches in the fifth, there were even some boos from the home crowd at Chase Field.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: RHP Luke Weaver was placed on the 10-day IL with right elbow inflammation. LHP Kyle Nelson was called up to take Weaver’s place on the roster.
UP NEXT
Padres: San Diego travels to San Francisco for a three-game series beginning Monday. RHP Nick Martinez will start for the Padres against Giants LHP Alex Wood.
Diamondbacks: Arizona has a day off before a two-game home series with the Houston Astros that begins Tuesday. RHP Zac Gallen is expected to make his first start of the season against Houston RHP Luis Garcia.
Rockies best Dodgers, wind as Black earns 1,000th managerial win
DENVER (AP) — The trivia question stumped Bud Black: Who was the opposing team’s center fielder when he got his first win as a major league manager all the way back in 2007?
Answer: None other than good friend and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I did not know that,” Black said.
Understandable. That was lot of wins ago.
C.J. Cron drilled a two-run homer on an afternoon when the whipping wind made flyballs an adventure, and the Colorado Rockies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 9-4 on Sunday to give Black his 1,000th win as a bench boss.
Black became the 66th skipper to reach the milestone. He improved to 351-360 with Colorado after going 649-713 with San Diego from 2007-15.
His first managerial win was with the Padres on April 3, 2007, against the San Francisco Giants, who had Roberts in center.
“I like math,” Black said of his big moment. “It’s a round number.”
In typical Black fashion, though, he deflected the attention toward his team. He preferred to chat about Ty Blach and his four-inning save as the lefty made his first major league appearance since September 2019.
Or how the Rockies took two of three for their first home series win over the Dodgers since Aug. 9-12, 2018.
So his players did the speaking for him _ after Black was doused in suds in celebration, of course.
“It’s special. It’s a lot of wins. You don’t just magically wake up one day with 1,000 wins,” Cron said. “It tells about all the hard work he’s put in. He’s a players’ manager. We all love playing for him.”
This win was far from a breeze. Wind gusts up to 40 mph at Coors Field sent napkins and hot-dog wrappers flying through the stands.
The Rockies led 6-0 after the third inning, but with the swirling conditions, no lead was safe. The Dodgers cut it to 6-4 after left fielder Kris Bryant dropped Freddie Freeman’s fly for a three-run error.
That wasn’t the only mishap in left, as Chris Taylor misplayed Ryan McMahon’s deep drive in the first, allowing two runs to score. Originally ruled a two-run double for McMahon, the official scorer changed it to an error.
“It was one of those balls I kind of expected to slice, and it didn’t really slice,” Taylor explained. “It kind of stayed at me the whole time and then it sort of hit a wall and I tried to put on the brakes and come in. But it just sort of died on me.”
Elias Diaz added some insurance in the seventh with a two-run homer to make it 9-4.
“It was tough for hitting because the wind was getting in your eyes and you started crying,” Diaz said.
Diaz and Cron found a way to go deep.
“Two lines drives. That’s why,” Diaz explained. “If you (hit it up in the air), no chance.”
Jhoulys Chacin earned the win by throwing 1 2/3 innings and striking out three. Blach took it home from there. A Denver native, Blach considered pitching for Colorado a “lifelong dream.”
“It’s one of the most wonderful things that’s ever happened to me,” said Blach, whose parents and other family members were in attendance. “The biggest thing was being able to enjoy the moment.”
Both starters had issues with the blustery conditions. Dodgers lefty Julio Urias (0-1) gave up six runs, three earned, over two innings. Rockies righty Antonio Senzatela allowed four runs, one earned, over 3 1/3 innings.
It wasn’t the beginning either was looking for _ Urias was coming off a 20-win season, while Senzatela signed a five-year contract in October.
“Strange day from the start, with the wind, with everything that was going on,” Urias said through a translator. “Physically, I felt great, but it was a strange day.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: 1B Connor Joe was hit on the right hand with a pitch from Mitch White in the fourth but stayed in the game. … Black couldn’t provide a timeline on a return for LHP Lucas Gilbreath and RHP Robert Stephenson, who are both on the COVID-19 injured list. “Anywhere from one to 365 days,” Black said. “I hope it’s quicker.”
EXTENDED
Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner singled in the first and extended his hitting streak to 22 regular-season games dating to last year.
INFLUENCERS
Black said there’s been a lot of baseball people who’ve had an impact on him and shaped his managerial style. He referenced managers such as Roger Craig, Mike Scioscia and Dusty Baker, along with front-office personnel like Al Rosen and John Hart.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: Off on Monday before starting a two-game series in Minnesota. LHP Andrew Heaney is scheduled to pitch for Los Angeles.
Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber takes the mound when Colorado opens a two-game series in Texas on Monday.