KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Cleveland Guardians won for the first time with their new name as hot-starting rookie Steven Kwan went 5 for 5 on Sunday in a 17-3 romp over the Kansas City Royals.
Oscar Mercado hit a grand slam during a five-RBI performance and Owen Miller drove in a career-high four runs. Cleveland had lost its first two games since changing this season to the Guardians from the Indians, its name since 1915.
Kwan had four singles and a double, was hit by a pitch and scored four runs. The 24-year-old outfielder made his major league debut on opening day and is 8 for 10 in three games so far, reaching base in 12 of 14 plate appearances.
Kwan hit .469 in spring training after batting a combined .301 in three minor league seasons.
Held to a total of one run while dropping the first two games of the series, Cleveland broke loose with 22 hits. José Ramírez, who homered and three hits, and Amed Rosario, who had four hits, each drove in three runs.
Mercado connected for his first career grand slam off Taylor Clarke in the first inning, capping a six-run burst. The Guardians made it 10-0 in the second and Mercado added an RBI triple in the fourth.
Ramírez and Miller each contributed three hits.
Pitching with a huge cushion, Cal Quantrill (1-0) tossed five innings and allowed two runs and four hits.
Kris Bubic (0-1) got just two outs and was tagged for five runs on three hits with two walks.
Royals rookie Bobby Witt Jr. hit a two-run double.
Washington 4, NY Mets 2
Nelson Cruz hit his 450th home run and added a tiebreaking two-run single in three-run eighth inning that lifted the Washington Nationals over the Mets 4-2 on Sunday and prevented New York from an opening four-game sweep.
Washington trailed 2-1 in the eighth when Yadiel Hernández singled leading off against Chasen Shreve, and Maikel Franco singled pinch-runner Dee Strange-Gordon to third against Trevor Williams (0-1).
Lucius Fox, who started in his major league debut, dragged a safety squeeze sacrifice bunt, and Strange-Gordon slid home headfirst ahead of first baseman Pete Alonso’s underhand toss.
“Dee is one of the fastest players in the league,” Alonso said. “He had a good break on it. Bang-bang play. Sometimes even though it’s well-defended, you have to tip your hat to the baserunner. I feel like he had a really good read on the bunt. Fox made a really good read on the bunt. I feel like I did what I could. He’s just safe.”
Victor Robles sacrificed and Cesar Hernandez grounded to Alonso, whose throw to second for a force was wide to the right field side for an error.
“Felt like I was calm, cool, and collected,” Alonso said. “Just missed the throw, and as a result that kind of put the team in a really bad hole.”
Juan Soto grounded to Alonso, who threw home for a forceout.
Cruz, who put the Nationals ahead in the first inning with his first home run for Washington. grounded a fastball up the middle and just past shortstop Francisco Lindor for a 4-2 lead.
“Pitching was there. Defense was there. We got some clutch hits in some really important situations,” Cruz said. “Total win.”
Kyle Finnegan (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth, and Tanner Rainey worked around Mark Canha’s leadoff single in the ninth for his first save.
Fox, 24, found out Saturday night he was going to debut Sunday. He woke at 6 a.m., then again at 7 a.m., both times thinking he was late to the field.
“It was an amazing time,” Fox said. “It was a dream come true.”
New York had been trying for its fifth 4-0 start, its first since 2012. The Mets have not swept the Nationals in Washington since 2018.
Erick Fedde became Washington’s first starter to pitch five innings, allowing two runs and five hits. Lindor’s first homer tied the game in a 34-pitch fifth, when Canha hit a go-ahead single.
Mets starter Carlos Carrasco retired 15 consecutive batters after allowing a first-inning single to Josh Bell. Carrasco allowed two hits, struck out five and walked none in 5 2/3 innings.
“We pitched well the whole series,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said. “If we can continue to do that, we’re going to be in good shape.”
Texas 12, Toronto 6
Corey Seager capped a six-run fourth inning with a go-ahead single, and the Texas Rangers rallied from a five-run deficit to overcome Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 467-foot home run and beat the Toronto Blue Jays 12-6 on Sunday.
“We did a really good job,” Rangers manager Chris Woodward said. “Offensively, that was our best game.”
Guerrero’s third-inning home run off Spencer Howard, the longest of Guerrero’s career, built a 6-1 lead. Guerrero’s home run had an exit velocity of 117.9 mph.
After blowing a seven-run advantage in a 10-8 loss in Friday’s opener, Texas turned this game around with its biggest road inning since a six-run first at Baltimore on Sept. 7, 2019. Brad Miller had four RBIs to key the Rangers, and Nick Solak scored four runs and homered.
“It’s great to get our first win of the season,” Solak said. “To be down and come back is big, too.”
Andy Ibáñez started the comeback with an RBI double, and Charlie Culberson and Jonah Heim followed with run-scoring singles that chased Hyun Jin Ryu.
Miller pinch hit and sliced the second pitch from Julian Merryweather (0-1) up the left-center gap for a two-run double that tied it 6-6 and, one out later, Seager dumped an opposite-field, broken-bat single into left.
Pinch-hitter Nathaniel Lowe’s RBI single and Miller’s sacrifice fly built a 9-6 lead in the fifth off Ross Stripling. Heim and Miller hit back-to-back homers in the seventh against Taylor Saucedo, the first a two-run drive.
Brock Burke (1-0) struck out five in two innings, one of five Rangers relievers who combined for six shutout innings Texas avoided its first 0-3 start since 2017.
The win was the first of Burke’s major league career.
“The stuff looked good. It was beating some really good hitters,” Woodward said. “That fastball was getting on them.”
Heim praised the work of the bullpen, which struck out nine and walked none.
“Six shutout innings is special, especially against those guys,” Heim said. “They put up runs, they know how to swing the bat.”
Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer, and Guerrero, George Springer and Danny Jansen all had solo shots for Toronto, which has not started 3-0 since 1996. Springer’s was the 44th leadoff homer of his career and his 12th against Texas, tying Rickey Henderson against Cleveland for most against one opponent.
Ryu retired nine of his first 11 batters, allowing a two-out homer to Solak in the second. Ryu gave up six runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings.
“I just fell apart,” Ryu said through a translator.
Howard allowed six runs and six hits in three innings.
