Major leagues
Zach Eflin pitched five effective innings in his return from injury and the Tampa Bay Rays hit two more home runs Sunday, beating the slumping Chicago White Sox 4-1 for their 13th consecutive home win to begin the season.
Tampa Bay (19-3) tied the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers for the second-longest home winning streak to start a season since 1901. The 1907 New York Giants opened with 15 straight wins at home.
Luke Raley and Harold Ramirez went deep for the Rays, who have homered in each of their first 22 games – extending their major league record. Tampa Bay has 48 home runs, second-most in big league history through 22 games behind the 2000 St. Louis Cardinals (52).
Eflin (3-0) allowed one run and three hits in a game that took only 2 hours, 2 minutes. He had been on the injured list with lower back tightness for just more than two weeks.
Baltimore 2, Detroit 1: Adam Frazier dashed home on Mason Englert’s wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Baltimore Orioles their sixth straight victory, 2-1 over the Detroit Tigers.
The Orioles won for the 10th time in 12 games.
Toronto 5, N.Y. Yankees 1: Kevin Gausman struck out 11 in seven shutout innings, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Daulton Varsho hit back-to-back homers following an error by rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 5-1.
Texas 5, Oakland 2: Jacob deGrom struck out 11 batters in six innings to take the major league lead, showing no ill effects from the right wrist soreness that forced an early exit in his prior start, as the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-2.
L.A. Angels 4, Kansas City 3: Taylor Ward, Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani hit consecutive homers in the sixth inning, and the Los Angeles Angels hung on for a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals.
National League
L.A. Dodgers 7, Chicago Cubs 3: Mookie Betts homered and drove in four runs in his first career start at shortstop, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-3.
Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez also connected as Los Angeles took three of four in the series at Wrigley Field. Clayton Kershaw (4-1) pitched six innings of three-hit ball in career win No. 201.
Philadelphia 9, Colorado 3:
Trea Turner and Kody Clemens hit solo homers, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh hit two-run shots and Zack Wheeler struck out 11 to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 9-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.
San Diego 7, Arizona 5: Yu Darvish pitched effectively into the sixth inning before leaving with an apparent injury, and the San Diego Padres beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-5.
Matt Carpenter homered for San Diego and drove in five runs.
Interleague
Minnesota 3, Washington 1: Jorge Polanco homered and Bailey Ober pitched three-hit ball into the sixth inning, helping the Minnesota Twins beat the Washington Nationals, 3-1.
Michael A. Taylor also connected for Minnesota, which won for just the second time in eight games after a 10-4 start. Polanco had three hits, and Ryan Jeffers and Jose Miranda each had two.
Houston 5, Atlanta 2: Yordan Alvarez tied the game with a two-run single in the eighth inning, Corey Julks had a go-ahead pinch-hit single in the ninth, and the Houston Astros won their fourth straight, 5-2 over the Atlanta Braves.
The defending World Series champion Astros loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against reliever Nick Anderson before closer A.J. Minter (1-2) entered to face Alvarez, who delivered the hit that made it 2-all.
Cleveland 7, Miami 4: Cleveland’s Logan Allen held the Miami Marlins to a solo homer and struck out eight over six innings to win his major league debut, a 7-4 victory that kept the Guardians from being swept.
Called up from Triple-A Columbus before the game, the 24-year-old left hander gave up a two-out homer to Jon Berti in the third. Otherwise, he allowed five hits and walked one, and finished with a flourish by striking out three around a one-out walk in the sixth.
Boston 12, Milwaukee 5: Masataka Yoshida homered twice during Boston’s nine-run outburst in the eighth inning as the Red Sox rallied to beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-5.
Justin Turner and Yoshida started the eighth with back-to-back homers off Matt Bush (0-1) that gave the Red Sox a 5-4 lead. Yoshida then capped the inning with a grand slam off Javy Guerra that landed in the second deck of right-field seats.
St. Louis 7, Seattle 3: Lars Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game, Nolan Gorman added a three-run shot and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 to prevent a three-game sweep.