Apr 14, 2018 5 min read

Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs, and the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 10-3 on Saturday to get to 12-2 – the best start in their 118-year history.

Andrew Benintendi had a two-run single and an RBI double, and J.D. Martinez hit a solo homer for the Red Sox.

Only once – in 1918 – had Boston started 11-2.

Alex Cobb (0-1) was roughed up in his Orioles debut, giving up eight runs – seven earned – in 3 2/3 innings. He signed a $57-million, 4-year deal as a free agent on March 21 after spending all 11 years of his professional career in Tampa Bay’s organization.

Pedro Alvarez had a two-run homer for Baltimore, which has lost four of five.

Texas 6, Houston 5: Ronald Guzman’s first career homer tied the game in the eighth inning, and he put the Rangers ahead with an infield single in the 10th as Texas rallied from five runs down to beat the Houston Astros 6-5.

The Rangers, who snapped a five-game losing streak, loaded the bases with one out off Will Harris (0-1) before Guzman sent a hard grounder up the middle that Harris tried to grab. It ricocheted off Harris’ glove, allowing Jurickson Profar to score. Harris struck out Ryan Rua and induced a groundout by Juan Centeno to end the inning.

Keone Kela (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win. Chris Martin allowed consecutive singles to start the 10th but induced lineouts from Carlos Correa and Yuli Gurriel. Alex Claudio came on and retired Josh Reddick on a grounder to earn his first save.

National League

St. Louis 6, Cincinnati 1: After three last-place seasons, the Reds hoped they’d turned a corner. Instead, they’re off to their worst start since the Great Depression.

And there’s no telling how low they’ll go.

Greg Garcia hit two home runs for the first time in his career, powering the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-1 victory that left Cincinnati with the worst record in the majors at 2-12. The last time the Reds opened a season so badly was 1931, when they dropped 17 of 19.

“You never expect it,” manager Bryan Price said . “It’s a tough spot, but you’ve got to deal with it.”

It’s especially discouraging for a rebuilding team that’s seen attendance drop significantly while it put together three straight seasons with at least 94 losses.

“That’s the way it’s going,” said left-hander Brandon Finnegan (0-1), who made his season debut. “Everything that can do against us goes against us. We can’t find the big break.”

Washington 6, Colorado 2: Before Saturday’s game at Washington, Colorado manager Bud Black stated the obvious in saying that Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer was one of the three best pitchers in baseball.

Black admitted afterward that Scherzer was even “better than we expected.”

Scherzer dominated after an early hiccup, striking out 11 and retiring his final 20 batters as the Nationals ended a three-game skid by beating Colorado 6-2.

Scherzer (3-1) issued a one-out walk in the first inning and Charlie Blackmon followed with a home run. That was all the Rockies managed against Scherzer, who has won the last two NL Cy Young Awards.

Chicago Cubs 14, Atlanta 10: Javy Baez had a three-run double as the Chicago Cubs scored nine times in the eighth inning on just three hits, rallying past the wild Atlanta Braves 14-10 in cold, wet and windy conditions at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs trailed 9-1 in the third inning, were still down 10-2 in the sixth and went into the eighth behind 10-5. Chicago then used five walks, two hit batters, an error and a wild pitch to come back against four Atlanta relievers – all nine runs scored after there were two outs.

Baez drove in four runs, with his bases-clearing double making it 10-all. Ben Zobrist had three hits and two RBIs for the Cubs.

Ozzie Albies had three hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs for the Braves. Dansby Swanson and Nick Markakis had two hits and two RBIs apiece for Atlanta.

Despite a temperature of 38 degrees, a 24 mph. wind and a steady midst at the start, the decision was made to play mainly because this was Atlanta’s only visit to Chicago and the forecast for Sunday was worse.

Interleague

Philadelphia 9, Tampa Bay 4: Jake Arrieta won his first game for the Philadelphia Phillies and rookies J.P. Crawford and Scott Kingery drove in two runs each in a 9-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

It was the fifth straight win for the Phillies.

Arrieta (1-0) gave up three runs in 6 2/3 innings after being spotted a 6-0 lead in the second. The 32-year-old right-hander, who signed a three-year, $75 million contract on March 12 after winning 68 games and a Cy Young Award in five seasons with the Chicago Cubs, gave up seven hits and two walks in his second start for Philadelphia.