— Pirates 5, Orioles 4
Highly touted prospect Konnor Griffin hit an RBI double in his first MLB at-bat
Pittsburgh scored four runs in the second inning.
38,986 fans at the Pirates’ home opener.
— White Sox 5, Blue Jays 4 (10)
Tristan Peters had a walk-off single for Chicago.
Sean Burke gave up 4 hits, one run in 6 IP as the bulk pitcher.
Toronto trailed 4-2, tied game with two runs in 8th inning.
— Red Sox 5, Padres 2
Mayer/Contreras homered, Boston snapped a 5-game losing skid.
Sonny Gray got the win, giving up four hits in 6 IP
First five hitters in San Diego’s lineup were a combined 0-for-19.
— Twins 10, Rays 4
Minnesota scored 7 runs in 7th inning on what looked like a very cold day.
9th place hitter Tristan Gray hit a grand slam for the Twins.
Tampa Bay hasn’t played at home yet; they’re off to a 2-5 start.
— Mets 10, Giants 3
Nolan McLean retired the first 15 batters he faced.
C Francisco Alvarez hit two home runs.
Juan Soto left the game very early with calf tightness.
— A’s 11, Astros 4
Lawrence Butler went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI
A’s led 10-1 in 4th inning in their home opener.
Jeffrey Springs gave up two hits, one run in 6 IP
— Mariners 3, Angels 1 (10)
Game was scoreless after nine innings.
Cole Young hit a RBI triple leading off the 10th inning.
Brian Woo allowed one hit in 7 scoreless IP
— Famous birthdays, April 4th:
Craig Nelson, 82
John Hannah, 75
Tommy Herr, 70
Jack Del Rio, 63
Robert Downey Jr., 61
Nancy McKeon, 60
Scott Rolen, 51
Ben Gordon, 43
Martin Perez, 35
Mitch Keller, 30
Missed a birthday yesterday; Joe Biden turned 84 years old.
— When he was in high school, Braves’ utility guy Kyle Farmer was an unnamed high school quarterback in the movie The Blind Side. Movie’s producers needed someone who could actually throw a football; Farmer played QB for his high school team. He spent 12 hours filming, learning the plays, and meeting Sandra Bullock, who gave him acting advice.
— Lions center Frank Ragnow retired, two years before his contract was up. He had signed a 4-year contract with Detroit, and now that he has retired, the Lions want some of the money back, something they had previously done with stars Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson.
Bad optics for sure, but apparently they’re getting $1.5M back from Ragnow.
— Underrated fact: In 2010 and 2011, Butler lost the national championship game two years in a row; they weren’t in the Big East back then, they were in the freakin’ Horizon League. Imagine a Horizon League team playing in the Final Four now???
Brad Stevens was Butler’s coach back then; he runs the Celtics now.
— Baseball season is a little more than a week old, and Miami’s Liam Hicks is leading MLB in RBI, with 12. Go figure.
— Cardinals/Rockies were the last two teams whose hitters challenged a ball/strike call.
— QB Kirk Cousins signed a contract with the Las Vegas Raiders for $20M which could turn into a lot more with incentives; Raiders are expected to draft Fernando Mendoza with the first pick in the draft later this month, but they’ve said they’re not crazy about starting a rookie QB right off the bat.
— Miami Dolphins have seven picks in the first three rounds of the draft, so they’ll be one of the most interesting teams to follow.
