Two day games got us off to a nice start on Monday, with two expected contenders who struggled in their first series getting comeback victories. That gave way to night game action that saw a pitcher pulled from a no-hitter in the seventh inning, the Orioles won their third straight game.
The top story below is going to be about a team that became an upstart in the second half last season and came into the season predicted by many to finish in third place behind two of the sport's titan franchises.
One of those titan franchises, the Yankees, did break its dubious two-game losing streak against a rebuilding team by taking down another rebuilding team. The other, the Red Sox, again disappointed and are now a surprising 1-4.
Among other holdover contenders that opened poorly, the Astros got back on track, breaking a three-game losing streak to move to 2-3.
The Rockies have now lost three straight after winning their first two. On the flip side, the team that beat them in the NLDS round last year is totally rolling, with the Brewers winning to move to 4-1. This will shock you, but Christian Yelich doubled and later scored the go-ahead run in the eighth in that one.
And we already have a six-win team. The Seattle Mariners are 6-1. In the parlance of the late, great Mel Allen, how about that?
Let's get to the rest.
MLB scores for Monday, April 1
- FINAL/11 -- Cardinals 6, Pirates 5 (box score)
- FINAL -- Indians 5, White Sox 3 (box score)
- FINAL -- Yankees 3, Tigers 1 (box score)
- FINAL -- Brewers 4, Reds 3 (box score)
- FINAL -- Orioles 6, Blue Jays 5 (box score)
- FINAL -- Mets 7, Marlins 3 (box score)
- FINAL -- Braves 8, Cubs 0 (box score)
- FINAL -- Rays 7, Rockies 1 (box score)
- FINAL -- Astros 2, Rangers 1 (box score)
- FINAL -- Athletics 7, Red Sox 0 (box score)
- FINAL -- Diamondbacks 10, Padres 3 (box score)
- FINAL -- Mariners 6, Angels 3 (box score)
- FINAL -- Giants 4, Dodgers 2 (box score)
1. Until they show us otherwise, the Rays are for real
The Tampa Bay Rays were 53-53 after a loss last July 29. From that point forward, they would go 37-19, which was the best record in baseball and a 162-game pace of 107 wins. Much discussion revolving around the team this past offseason concerned whether they could sustain that type of excellent baseball, notably in a division with the mighty Yankees and Red Sox.
Then, look at their schedule to start the season. They were tasked with a four-game series against the Astros and then three against another 2018 playoff team in the Rockies.
Well, they just took three of four from the Astros, holding that powerful lineup to four runs in the last three games of the series. On Monday, it was the offense's chance to flex its muscles. Kevin Kiermaier hit a three-run shot while Brandon Lowe contributed this bomb:
We can't overstate the importance of remembering just what a marathon the MLB season is and how much things can change. The Mets started last season 11-1, after all.
We also can't ignore that this group has been playing great baseball for a good amount of time and looks every bit the part of a contender in these first five games against what figured to be quality competition. Until they show us otherwise, the Rays are for real.
2. Multiple comebacks help Cards avoid 1-4 start
The Cardinals embarked on their second road series of the season with a 1-3 record. Two losses were gut punches, too. On opening day, a would-be game-tying home run was brought back by Brewers center fielder Lorenzo Cain and then on Sunday they were walked off by Christian Yelich.
Monday, the Cardinals nearly lost because Pirates third baseman Colin Moran slugged a go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning after a furious comeback.
The Pirates jumped out to an early 4-0 lead against veteran curveball specialist Adam Wainwright, but the Cardinals chipped away, and they eventually tied the game 4-4 on Tyler O'Neill's eighth inning double down the left field line. Then, a half-inning later, Moran gave Pittsburgh the lead.
In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals came back again, this time with Jose Martinez doubling home the tying run.
Then, in the 11th, the Cardinals won with a two-out rally. Paul DeJong singled, Matt Wieters was hit by a pitch, Yadier Molina walked and then DeJong scored on a passed ball. That was enough and the Cardinals avoided a terrible 1-4 start.
3. Cubs embarrass themselves, Braves get first win
Coming off a series in which they lost two of three to a team not figured to contend -- and they blew both of the losses late -- the Cubs completely and utterly embarrassed themselves on Monday night in Atlanta.
It started immediately. Left fielder Mark Zagunis dropped a fly ball in foul territory, giving Braves leadoff man Ender Inciarte another chance. He homered. Thanks in part to a Javier Baez throwing error and Zagunis being part of a miscommunication on a pop up falling in shallow left center, the Braves got four runs in the first.
Things didn't change as the game went on. Anthony Rizzo made two errors on one play. Kris Bryant kicked one. Zagunis misplayed a Freddie Freeman liner into extra bases. The Cubs would end up scoring zero runs, leaving 10 men on base and making a whopping six errors in an 8-0 drubbing. Aside from some encouraging bullpen outings after a leaky series in Texas, this was a total disaster.
Yikes.
On the bright side, it couldn't get any worse. The Cubs have a day off Tuesday to lick their wounds and then have a shot to turn it around after that. There's still plenty of talent here and it's only four games out of 162. That doesn't mean what transpired was acceptable. It wasn't.
As for the Braves, they stopped the bleeding after being swept in Philly and can rest easy now that they are in the W column.
4. Highlight of the day: Alonso's blast propels 3-1 Mets
The Mets started the season with slugging prospect Pete Alonso on the big-league roster instead of playing the service-time-manipulation game and thus far it has paid great dividends to the 2019 Mets. Monday in Miami, the Mets actually entered the ninth inning tied with the Marlins, but put together a rally to take a 4-3 lead. Alonso would slam the door shut with a prodigious blast to center:
Marlins Park is big. Alonso made it look small for his first career homer, likely the first of many. Through four games, Alonso is hitting .412/.474/.765 with six RBI. It's way early and we can never shake the memory of Chris Shelton, but Alonso definitely looks the part.
So do the Mets, who are now 3-1 with their only loss coming in extra innings to what many presume a good Nationals team.
5. Highlight of the day, part deux: Laureano's throw; Red Sox are 1-4
On top of A's center fielder Ramon Laureano having a cannon for an arm, it's also an accurate cannon. It was on display for the Red Sox to see in Oakland Coliseum Monday night early in the game:
Breathtaking. On a fly, right on the money, right at the perfect time of arrival -- that was a perfect throw. The A's would go on to win the game and they are now 4-3 despite starting 0-2 overseas.
A bigger takeaway here is the Red Sox are now 1-4 and their one win took a miracle ninth-inning comeback against a guy who it turns out was pitching hurt. As noted above with the Cubs, it's still ridiculously early and there's lots of talent, but things couldn't have gotten off to much worse a start for the defending champions. They have three more games in Oakland before three in Arizona, so that's 11 games on the road to start the season. When they do return home, it's a six-game homestand with the Blue Jays and Orioles. The best prediction here is by the end of that homestand they are just fine.
6. Stat of the day: Clevinger's tough luck
Indians starting pitcher Mike Clevinger was absolutely brilliant on Monday afternoon against the White Sox. He went seven innings and allowed just one hit while striking out 12 batters. And yet, when you look at the final tallies for the game, he wasn't the winning pitcher. That's because the bullpen blew the lead before the Indians stormed back to win in comeback fashion (this is why it's dumb to use W-L as a primary indicator of judging who the best pitchers are, by the way).
Seven innings, just one hit and 12 strikeouts? It's happened before, but not often:
Lost in the shuffle here thanks to the comeback is just how bad the Indians offense has been (and likely is, at least until Francisco Lindor is back). They were shut out on opening day, managed just two runs in the second game and three in the third. They had just one run Monday until the White Sox implosion that included four walks, an error and only two Indians hits. They entered the series hitting .133/.218/.189 as a team. That'll get better, but this isn't an overreaction that the offense is a problem. Look at the personnel. We knew coming in it would be a problem and it's already showing.
Quick hits
- Orioles starter David Hess had a no-hitter going when he was removed from the game after 6 1/3 innings and 82 pitches. Full story here.
- Dodgers lefty Julio Urias was once one of the top pitching prospects in baseball. Monday, he made his first start since suffering an injury that required surgery in 2017. He was very good, working five scoreless innings and allowing only three hits with seven strikeouts and no walks. That's huge for both Urias and the Dodgers. They, however, blew the game and lost to the Giants thanks in part to another Joe Kelly meltdown.
- His team was blown out, but rookie sensation Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres hit his first career home run. Highlight on MLB Twitter here.
- Felix Hernandez was awful last season and in the spring, but Monday he allowed just one earned run in five innings while striking out four with nary a walk. He did allow seven hits, but this still had to be considered a success.
- Reds top pitching prospect Hunter Greene has torn his UCL, which usually means Tommy John surgery.
- The Reds traded right-handed pitcher Matt Wisler to the Padres for right-handed pitcher Diomar Lopez.
- Some noticeable trends have emerged four games into the new season. Most notably, strikeouts are still on the rise and teams are throwing fewer fastballs than ever.
- The Red Sox have announced the seven-year contract extension with SS Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts was our No. 1 ranked free agent for the 2019-20 offseason prior to the deal.
- The Yankees placed OF Giancarlo Stanton on the 10-day IL with a biceps strain. OF Clint Frazier was called up in a corresponding move. Stanton is the eighth Yankee on the injured list. Much later in the day, the Yankees announced that third baseman Miguel Andujar was also hitting the injured list with utility man Tyler Wade coming up as a corresponding move. Andujar actually might be done for the season.
- Mets IF Jed Lowrie has been cleared to increase his running, reports MLB.com. Lowrie suffered a knee sprain in February and missed almost all of spring training. He is weeks away from being activated.
- Blue Jays top prospect 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has started taking at-bats in extended spring training, reports Sportsnet. Guerrero was shut down with an oblique injury in spring training, but he's now inching closer to a return.
- Braves RHP Darren O'Day has been shut down with renewed forearm issues, reports The Athletic. He dealt with forearm trouble throughout spring training and is not expected to join the team anytime soon.
- The Padres are converting SS Javy Guerra into a pitcher, reports Baseball America. Guerra was the top rated prospect San Diego acquired from the Red Sox in the Craig Kimbrel trade, though his bat hasn't developed.