LOS ANGELES — Cliff Lee scattered four hits over eight innings, struck out 10 and retired 21 of his last 22 batters to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
LOS ANGELES — Cliff Lee scattered four hits over eight innings, struck out 10 and retired 21 of his last 22 batters to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 7-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Carlos Ruiz hit a two-run homer and a two-run double and Ryan Howard also went deep for the Phillies in the opener of a four-game series.
Lee (3-2) had at least one strikeout in every inning he pitched and did not walk a batter, giving way to Jeff Manship after 113 pitches.
Lee has 38 strikeouts and two walks through his first five starts, after leading the majors in strikeout to-walk ratio and fewest walks per nine innings during each of the previous two seasons.
The 2008 AL Cy Young Award-winning lefty has pitched at least seven innings and allowed no more than three earned runs in any of his eight regular-season starts against the Dodgers. It was the fifth time he has had at least 10 Ks against them.
Left-hander Paul Maholm (0-2) gave up five runs and eight hits over five innings and committed a throwing error in the fifth that gave the Phillies an unearned run.
Maholm used 29 of his 107 pitches to get out of the first after a leadoff walk to Tony Gwynn Jr. Jimmy Rollins followed with a bloop single to right-center. Matt Kemp slowed up on the catchable ball when he saw right fielder Yasiel Puig coming hard. Both runners scored on Ruiz’s double into the right field corner.
Puig tried to get one of the runs back in the bottom half, but ran into an out trying to score from second on an infield hit up the middle by Adrian Gonzalez that extended his hitting streak to 16 games.
Second baseman Chase Utley fielded the ball behind the bag and looked straight at Puig, who ended up in a rundown. Catcher Ruiz took the throw and chased Puig back to third before making a lunging tag for the third out with Kemp on deck.
The defending NL West champion Dodgers got only one more hit over the next 6 2-3 innings — a leadoff single in the second by Kemp, who entered 1 for 15 against Lee with nine strikeouts. Lee retired the next 20 batters before Tim Federowicz singled with two out in the eighth.
The Phillies made it 5-0 with a three-run fifth. Howard hit his fifth of the season one pitch after a two-out walk to Ruiz. John Mayberry Jr. singled and scored when Maholm threw the ball over Gonzalez’s head at first base after fielding a tapper to the right of the mound by Freddy Galvis.
ANGELS 4, NATIONALS 2
WASHINGTON — Raul Ibanez delivered a tiebreaking three-run double as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning on a night that Mike Trout and Bryce Harper went a combined 2 for 8 with zero runs or RBIs in their first matchup as opponents.
Los Angeles trailed 1-0 going into the eighth. But Albert Pujols — who went 0 for 5, staying on 498 homers — reached on the first of shortstop Ian Desmond’s two errors in the inning, raising his season total to nine. Later, Erick Aybar’s third hit of the night scored Pujols to even it.
After Tyler Clippard (1-2) walked the bases loaded, Ibanez doubled to left-center.
Fernando Salas (1-0) won with a hitless seventh.
Joe Smith worked the eighth and Ernesto Frieri pitched the ninth to earn his second save, despite allowing Desmond’s leadoff homer. Frieri struck out Denard Span with a man on second to end it.
BRAVES 4, MARLINS 2, 10 INNINGS
ATLANTA — Evan Gattis hit a two-run homer in the 10th inning, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Miami Marlins 4-2 Monday night.
Dan Uggla led off with a single up the middle off Arquimedes Caminero (0-1), and Gattis followed with a shot into the left-field seats for his fifth homer of the season — and first career walkoff homer.
Andrelton Simmons homered for the Braves, and Jason Heyward put Atlanta 2-1 with a seventh-inning single off Mike Dunn. Anthony Varvaro (1-0) worked a scoreless inning for the win.
N.Y. METS 2, ST. LOUIS 0
NEW YORK — Jenrry Mejia pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning and David Wright delivered another key hit.
Wright lined an early RBI single that extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Kyle Farnsworth earned his first save as the New York’s newest closer.
On an evening when the Mets debuted new camouflage tops to salute the military, they looked sharp. The Cardinals lost for the third time in four games.
Mejia (3-0) bounced back well from a torn blister on his right middle finger that limited him to five innings in his last start. The 24-year-old righty began the game by getting Matt Carpenter to look at three straight strikes, and rarely was in trouble.
Tyler Lyons (0-1) lost in his first major league game of the season. Promoted from Triple-A Memphis earlier in the day to take the rotation spot of injured Joe Kelly, he allowed two runs and six hits in six innings.
MILWAUKEE 4, SAN DIEGO 3
MILWAUKEE — Aramis Ramirez homered and Ryan Braun drove in two runs.
Wily Peralta (3-0) gave up three runs and six hits in 6 1-3 innings as the Brewers improved their major league-best record to 15-5. Peralta stuck out six.
Will Smith pitched out of a base-loaded jam in the seventh inning. Tyler Thornberg worked a scoreless eighth and Francisco Rodriquez finished for his eighth save this season and 312th of his career, good for 19th on the career list.
Andrew Cashner (2-2) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings.
ROCKIES 8, GIANTS 2
DENVER — Charlie Blackmon hit two of Colorado’s five homers and Jorge De La Rosa threw five efficient innings, lifting the Rockies to a victory over the Giants.
Nolan Arenado, Wilin Rosario and Corey Dickerson also homered for the Rockies, who’ve won four of the last five. It was Blackmon’s first multihomer game of his career.
De La Rosa (1-3) rediscovered his rhythm, allowing five hits and one run for his first victory of the season. The hard-throwing lefty tied a career high with 16 wins last season.
Ryan Vogelsong (0-1) never got on track and was pulled after 1 1-3 innings, his shortest start with the Giants.
He surrendered five runs and six hits, including three homers.
Blackmon lined solo homers in the second and eighth innings. He’s now hitting .411 this season.
CUBS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 1
CHICAGO — Travis Wood hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs to back his nine-strikeout performance on the mound, leading the Cubs to a victory over thea Diamondbacks.
Wood (1-2) gave up a run and six hits over seven innings. His four RBIs and nine strikeouts matched career highs.
Bronson Arroyo (1-2) allowed five runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings for Arizona. The Diamondbacks have lost nine of 10 games and have the worst record in the majors (5-17).
Welington Castillo hit a two-out bloop single to right field to score Starlin Castro from second for a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
Ryan Kalish followed Castillo’s RBI single with a single of his own to extend the inning. Bronson Arroyo fell behind in the count 1-0 before Wood hit a hanging slider for a three-run shot into the left field bleachers. It was Wood’s seventh career home run.
Orioles win on Patriot’s Day in Boston
BOSTON — Clay Buchholz allowed six runs in the third inning, and the Baltimore Orioles held on to beat the Red Sox 7-6 in the annual Patriots’ Day morning game at Fenway Park, a year after the Boston Marathon bombings.
Trailing by two runs, Boston loaded the bases in the ninth. Mike Napoli hit an RBI groundout before Tommy Hunter, Baltimore’s fifth reliever, retired Mike Carp on a game-ending grounder for his fifth save.
The game began at 11:09 a.m., about an hour before Meb Keflezighi crossed the marathon finish line just over a mile away as the first American man to win since Greg Meyer in 1983.
Wei-Yin Chen (3-1) allowed three runs and five hits in five innings. Buchholz (0-2) gave up seven hits in 2 1-3 innings.
INDIANS 4, ROYALS 3
CLEVELAND — Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley hit two-run homers, powering the Indians over the Royals when a fearless squirrel ran around Progressive Field and provided some extra entertainment.
Kipnis connected in the sixth inning off Jeremy Guthrie (2-1), overcoming a 3-2 deficit. Brantley provided Cleveland a 2-0 lead in the fourth.
Zach McAllister (3-0) gave up six hits and overcame three errors — one on his errant throw.
Alex Gordon and Omar Infante each had two of the Royals’ six hits.
The game was momentarily delayed in the second inning when a squirrel ran onto the field. The pesky intruder hung around for another inning before it was shooed into the Indians’ center-field bullpen.
WHITE SOX 3, TIGERS 1
DETROIT — Jose Abreu and Dayan Viciedo hit RBI doubles in the seventh inning, and the White Sox rallied for a victory over the Tigers.
Chicago scored three runs in the seventh off Anibal Sanchez (0-2) after managing only one hit in the first six innings. John Danks (2-0) allowed six hits and three walks in 6 1-3 innings, but the Tigers could score only one run off him.
Ronald Belisario got five outs in relief for the White Sox, and Matt Lindstrom pitched the ninth for his second save.
ASTROS 7, MARINERS 2
SEATTLE — Matt Dominguez homered and drove in three runs, Dallas Keuchel struck out a season-high eight and the Astros broke a seven-game skid with a win over the Mariners.
It is the seventh straight loss for Seattle, which is the longest active streak in the majors.
The Astros took advantage of an error by Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager in the sixth inning to score four unearned runs off Felix Hernandez (3-1) and break a 2-all tie.
Hernandez took the major league lead with 43 strikeouts after recording four, but was unable to avoid his first loss of the season after shaky defense put the right-hander in a tough situation in the sixth.
Keuchel (2-1) deftly navigated the Mariners for six innings, allowing six hits and a walk, but just two runs.
RANGERS 4, ATHLETICS 3
OAKLAND, Calif. — Donnie Murphy lined a go-ahead single up the middle with one out in the eighth inning, and the Rangers rallied from an early three-run deficit to beat the Athletics.
Sean Doolittle (0-1) allowed a leadoff double to Kevin Kouzmanoff and Mitch Moreland sacrificed him to third before Murphy’s hit. Murphy and Kouzmanoff are both former A’s players.
Neal Cotts (1-1) pitched one inning for the win, then gave way to Alexi Ogando before Joakim Soria finished for his fourth save.
Brandon Moss homered and Coco Crisp hit a two-run single as the A’s went ahead 3-0 in the second, but they couldn’t hold the lead.
Oakland swept a weekend series against Houston and lost for only the second time in nine games and third time in 14.