Major leagues:
Jorge Polanco and Kyle Garlick hit early two-run homers over the Green Monster to back Dylan Bundy, carrying the Minnesota Twins past the Red Sox 8-3 in Boston’s annual Patriots’ Day game on Monday.
The game started at 11:11 a.m. EDT, played in conjunction with the 126th Boston Marathon, which ended about one mile from Fenway Park.
Polanco added a two-run single in a four-run eighth inning and Gio Urshela had three singles for the Twins, who won the final two games of the series for a four-game split.
Christian Vázquez hit a solo homer and Xander Bogaerts had three hits with an RBI for the Red Sox.
Bundy (2-0) gave up one run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and no walks. In his Twins’ debut, he pitched five shutout innings after signing a $4 million, one-year deal as a free agent on December 1.
White Sox-Guardians ppd:
Monday night’s game between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians was postponed because of bad weather.
The game was called about five hours before the scheduled 6:10 p.m. first pitch after rain and snow fell most of the day and temperatures dropped into the 30s.
The teams were rescheduled for a day-night doubleheader on July 12.
The postponement delayed a matchup of AL Cy Young Award winners between Chicago’s Dallas Keuchel and Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.
A’s add to COVID list: Infielder Jed Lowrie and relievers A.J. Puk and Lou Trivino were among six players added to the COVID-19 injured list by the Oakand Athletics before their home opener against the Baltimore Orioles on Monday night.
Reliever Kirby Snead, infielder Chad Pinder and catcher Austin Allen also were put on the COVID-19 IL and joined outfielder Scott Piscotty, placed on the list on Friday.
“We definitely have been faced with some challenges.” A’s rookie manager Mark Kotsay said. “I think the way you handle those challenges enables you to get through them quicker, take it on and move forward. The game of baseball, any sport really, is a reflection of life. And so my message is always: stay positive, optimism wins.”
Pitcher Sam Selman and infielders Nick Allen and Christian Lopes were added to the A’s active roster as substitute players.
In Boston, Red Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki tested positive for COVID-19 along with two staff members, manager Alex Cora said before Boston faced the Twins in its annual Patriots’ Day game.
Cora said the 31-year-old Plawecki is vaccinated. He was placed on the COVID-19 related injured list and the team called up catcher Conner Wong from Triple-A Worcester. Cora said he was expected to arrive before a scheduled 11:10 a.m. first pitch.
Trout’s MRI is negative: Mike Trout was out of the starting lineup for the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night, a day after the star center fielder was hit on his left hand by a pitch.
Team trainer Mike Frostad said an MRI on Monday was negative for a fracture and that Trout has a bruise. Frostad added Trout’s return to the lineup will depend on pain tolerance.
Manager Joe Maddon said Trout is considered day to day with the injury but wasn’t sure if he’d return during this series with the Houston Astros, which ends Wednesday.
Trout said Sunday that when he first was hit, he thought he broke the hand. He had trouble seeing Spencer Patton’s pitch in the shadows at Texas and lowered his hands into the path of the ball to protect his midsection.
The three-time American League MVP is batting .222 with no homers and one RBI in eight games.
National League
Giants-Mets ppd: The New York Mets postponed their game against the San Francisco Giants scheduled for Monday night due to forecasted rain and rescheduled it as part of a doubleheader Tuesday.
The Mets announced the postponement about three hours before first pitch Monday, with 1-2 inches of rain expected starting around 7 p.m.
The teams will play two nine-inning games Tuesday beginning at 3:10 p.m., with the second game to begin approximately 30-40 minutes after the end of the first.
Diamondbacks-Nationals ppd: The Arizona Diamondbacks’ game at the Washington Nationals on Monday was postponed because of rain.
The game will be made up as part of a day-night doubleheader on Tuesday.
The rescheduled game was moved to 1:05 p.m. EDT on Tuesday. The game already on the schedule for Tuesday starts at 7:05 p.m. EDT.
Tuesday’s schedule will feature two doubleheaders – the first in the majors this season and the first twinbills of nine-inning games since Sept. 28, 2019.
Major League Baseball used seven-inning doubleheaders in 2020 and ’21 amid rules changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic but did away with the shortened games for this season.
International
Almost perfect, again: Japan’s 20-year-old phenom Roki Sasaki almost did it again.
A week after pitching the first perfect game in Japanese professional baseball in 28 years, Sasaki delivered eight more perfect innings Sunday before being pulled after throwing 102 pitches.
The game was tied 0-0 when Sasaki left, and his Lotte Marines wound up losing 1-0 in 10 innings to the Nippon Ham Fighters in a Pacific League game.
Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi defended his decision to pull Sasaki.
“If you think about what’s best in the long run, I thought he reached his limit today,” Iguchi was quoted as saying by Japan’s Kyodo news agency. “By the end of the seventh inning, he was getting close to hitting the wall.”
Sasaki struck out 14 of the 24 batters he faced, just short of the 19 strikeouts he registered in his perfect game.