BALTIMORE — Baseball’s weird season reached another level of strange Wednesday night when the New York Yankees stepped in for the Miami Marlins and ruined Baltimore’s home opener, hitting three home runs to back right-hander Gerrit Cole in a 9-3 victory.
The Orioles were originally slated to launch the home portion of the abbreviated 60-game schedule against Miami, but the Marlins were ordered to take a hiatus after several players and coaches contracted COVID-19 over the weekend.
New York was scheduled to play Philadelphia on Wednesday, but the Phillies’ season was put on hold as a precaution because they were Miami’s opponent in the opening series.
So Major League Baseball thrust the Yankees and Orioles together while the Marlins and Phillies recover.
Gerrit Cole (2-0) gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings to win his 18th straight decision, six short of Carl Hubbell’s record streak in the 1930s. Signed as a free agent from Houston in December, Cole is unbeaten in his last 24 starts.
After DJ LeMahieu homered off Asher Wojciechowski (0-1) on the game’s second pitch, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks both went deep in the third for a 5-1 lead.
Although the circumstances surrounding this Yankees-Orioles matchup was unusual, the result was not. New York beat its AL East rivals for the 17th straight time since March 31, 2019, and for the 16th successive time at Camden Yards.
TWINS 3, CARDINALS 0: Rich Hill pitched five scoreless innings in a smooth Minnesota debut, Eddie Rosario homered and Nelson Cruz has an RBI double as the Twins won at home.
Alex Avila, another Minnesota newcomer, had an RBI single. Taylor Rogers pitched a perfect ninth for his first save, and the Twins finished a two-game sweep to improve to 4-1.
BREWERS 3, PIRATES 0: Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff allowed one hit and struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning as the Brewers won at Pittsburgh.
Woodruff (1-1) retired 19 of 21 batters, allowing a swinging bunt single to Phil Evans in the first. Pittsburgh didn’t manage another baserunner until Evans walked leading off the seventh. Woodruff’s stuff was so overpowering the Pirates only hit one ball to the outfield during his 6 1/3 innings, a lazy flyball to left by Gregory Polanco in the fifth.
BRAVES 7, RAYS 4: Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs on a four-hit night, leading the Braves to a victory over Tampa Bay in their homer opener.
Freeman, who was stricken with the coronavirus before the shortened season and became so ill that he feared for his life, has quickly reclaimed his place as one of the game’s most feared hitters.
He hit his first homer of the season in the third, a two-run shot into the empty seats in right field, and added an RBI single that capped a three-run sixth after Tampa Bay pulled ahead with three runs in the top half.
The Braves snapped Tampa Bay’s four-game winning streak as the teams met for the third straight time, having played in St. Petersburg the two previous nights.
REDS 12, CUBS 7: Mike Moustakas and Nick Senzel homered in their returns from a COVID-19 scare, Nick Castellanos added a grand slam, and host Cincinnati ended a four-game losing streak.
Sonny Gray (2-0) extended his major league record to 35 consecutive starts allowing six hits or less. He gave up only Ian Happ’s double and fanned 11 as he pitched into the seventh inning.
NATIONALS 4, BLUE JAYS 0: Adam Eaton’s bases-loaded chopper broke a scoreless tie in the 10th inning on a close play and Asdrubal Cabrera followed with a three-run triple, helping Washington snap a three-game losing streak by beating the playing-home-games-on-the-road Blue Jays.
In a quirky game befitting this pandemic-altered, upside-down season, Toronto’s team played its “home opener” at Washington – batting in the bottom half of each inning, wearing its white uniforms, playing its players’ walk-up music and even blaring the song “OK Blue Jays,” the club’s traditional seventh-inning stretch staple.
The game was played nearly 500 miles south of Toronto’s Rogers Centre, which is off-limits because Canada’s government did not want teams traveling in and out of there from the United States.
The Blue Jays will be using a minor league ballpark Buffalo, but that’s still being upgraded to host major league games.
TIGERS 5, ROYALS 4: JaCoby Jones hit a tie-breaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and Detroit’s bullpen came through again in a win over visiting Kansas City.
A night after pitching six scoreless innings in a win over the Royals, the Tigers’ relievers held Kansas City without a baserunner for four.
Detroit rallied from a 4-0 deficit thanks in large part to Jones, who doubled twice before connecting off Ian Kennedy (0-1) for his third homer of the year.
WHITE SOX 4, INDIANS 0: Yasmani Grandal and Eloy Jimenez hit sacrifice flies and visiting Chicago scored four runs in the ninth inning – three charged to ineffective closer Brad Hand.
The Indians got eight terrific innings from No. 5 starter Zach Plesac. He struck out a career-high 11, shut out the White Sox on three hits and continued a strong run of Cleveland pitching to start the season.
Rookie Luis Robert hit a two-run single in the ninth as Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak and salvaged one game in the series.
RANGERS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 4: Joey Gallo hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning and Texas scored three more runs after that to snap a three-game losing streak by winning at home
After Gallo lined an opposite-field shot to left off Andrew Chafin (0-1) for his second homer of the season, the Rangers loaded the bases with two outs. Elvis Andrus then hit a two-run single before Nick Solak added an RBI single.
Todd Frazier hit his first homer and had two doubles for Texas, whose five-run inning accounted for only one run fewer than it had scored combined in their first four games in the new $1.2 billion stadium with a retractable roof.
ROCKIES 5, ATHLETICS 1: German Marquez struck out eight over six impressive innings to bounce back after losing on Opening Day at Texas, and Colorado wrapped up a successful season-opening trip.
Charlie Blackmon delivered an insurance run with an RBI double in the eighth, then reached on an error in the ninth that led to a pair of runs.
The Rockies went 4-1 on their trip after beating the A’s 8-3 on Tuesday night. They now go home to Coors Field.
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