Cincinnati designated hitter Kevin Newman celebrates with teammates after hitting a solo home run in the second inning Monday night against the Tampa Bay Rays in Cincinnati. Joshua A. Bickel/Associated Press
CINCINNATI — TJ Friedl drove in four runs, and Cincinnati beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-1 on Monday night after Reds right-hander Hunter Greene departed with a leg injury.
Kevin Newman homered for Cincinnati, and Nick Senzel scored two runs. The Reds won the opener of the three-game interleague series after losing 14-3 to Philadelphia on Sunday.
Tampa Bay lost for the third time in four games since its 13-0 start. Josh Lowe homered for the Rays, and Randy Arozarena and Harold Ramírez each had two hits.
Greene surrendered a leadoff double in the third before he was struck by Yandy Díaz’s comebacker. The 23-year-old right-hander stayed in after he was evaluated by a trainer and tossed a few warm-up pitches.
But Greene, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2017 amateur draft, departed after the inning. He averaged 96.8 mph for 21 fastballs, down from a season average of 99.5 mph.
Greene, who started on opening day, was diagnosed with a right tibia contusion. X-rays were negative.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
RANGERS 4, ROYALS 0: Jacob deGrom exited with a sore right wrist after pitching four spotless innings, and two relievers completed a one-hitter as visiting Texas beat Kansas City.
Josh Jung launched a three-run homer in the first inning and Marcus Semien added a solo shot in the third. Dane Dunning (1-0) struck out five and walked none in 4 1/3 innings of relief.
Matt Duffy’s one-out single in the fifth off Dunning was Kansas City’s only hit. José Leclerc got two outs to end it.
The Rangers said deGrom was removed as a precaution. He struck out five and walked one, throwing 39 of his 58 pitches for strikes.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
MARLINS 4, GIANTS 3: Jorge Soler hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the seventh inning and Miami rallied to beat visiting San Francisco.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jesus Sánchez had two hits each for the Marlins, who have won 5 of 6.
During Soler’s at-bat, third base umpire Lance Barrett signaled Giants starter Logan Webb had balked, allowing Sánchez to score from third. But the umpiring crew met and ruled no balk occurred.
Sánchez returned to third and Soler sent Webb’s next pitch over the wall in center for his second career pinch-hit homer and fifth of the season.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, CARDINALS 3: Pavin Smith hit his first career grand slam, leading Arizona to a win at St. Louis.
Ketel Marte also homered and drove in another run with a single for the Diamondbacks.
Merrill Kelly (1-2) pitched six innings, allowing five hits and a run. He struck out three and did not walk a batter. Kelly improved to 3-1 in five career starts against the Cardinals.
NOTES
ATHLETICS: Baseball’s new pitch timer finally met its match this week in the form of Oakland’s pitching staff.
The Athletics walked 17 batters in a 17-6 loss to the New York Mets on Friday night. Time of game: 3 hours, 29 minutes — and it may have felt twice that long to anyone who stayed until the end.
With the Mets in town, Oakland drew 11,102 for that contest, an improvement for a team that managed under 12,000 fans for an entire three-game series against Cleveland. It’s been a dreary start for the A’s at the box office, and the team’s performance on the field has been even worse than expected.
After being swept by the Mets, the A’s have the worst record in the majors at 3-13. Their run differential of minus-63 is the worst in the sport, and the fourth-worst of the modern era in a team’s first 16 games.
Oakland has been held to one run or fewer five times, and the A’s have allowed 11 runs or more six times. In three of their games, they did both.
Oakland does have some company. Several clubs are off to particularly poor starts. The season is 18 days old, and already seven teams have run differentials of minus-20 or worse — the A’s, Tigers (-37), Royals (-28), Rockies (-27), Marlins (-26), White Sox (-23) and Nationals (-20). After 18 days had elapsed last season, only three teams were at minus-20 or worse.
There have been four 100-loss teams in each of the past three full 162-game seasons, in 2019, 2021 and 2022. It appears there are several candidates to reach that mark in 2023.
TWINS: The Minnesota Twins and starting pitcher Pablo López agreed on a contract that adds $73.5 million over four seasons, according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal.
López’s first season with the Twins has started splendidly after he arrived in a trade with Miami that sent 2022 American League batting champion and fan favorite Luis Arraez to the Marlins. The right-hander has a 1.73 ERA through four starts with 33 strikeouts in 26 innings and only 15 hits allowed.
López was the hard-luck loser Sunday in New York, when Yankees ace Gerrit Cole pitched a two-hit shutout to beat the Twins 2-0. That was the second complete game in the major leagues this year. The first one also came at López’s expense, when 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara pitched a three-hit shutout April 4 to beat the Twins 3-0.
López is making $5.45 million this season, his second year of arbitration eligibility. The new deal will give the Twins some additional long-term stability around a rotation that has emerged in 2023 as a clear strength of the team. The Twins entered their day off Monday with a 2.58 starting pitcher ERA that was the best in the major leagues.
Sonny Gray, Kenta Maeda and Tyler Mahle are all in the final year of their contracts, eligible to become free agents in the fall. Their uncertain status for next season only underscored the team’s interest in committing to López, who posted a 3.94 ERA over 94 starts with the Marlins.
POSTPONEMENTS: The series opener between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox was postponed because of high winds and cold temperatures.
The game was rescheduled for Tuesday as part of a straight doubleheader, with the first game starting at 3:10 p.m.
• The game between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tigers was postponed because of cold temperatures and high winds in the forecast, a day after Detroit’s game against San Francisco was scrubbed.
The Tigers announced that the Guardians game was postponed “out of an abundance of caution for player safety and fan comfort” and would be played as part of a straight doubleheader on Tuesday starting at 1:10 p.m.
SUSPENSION: Former New York Yankees prospect Raimfer Salinas was suspended for 80 games under baseball’s minor league drug program following a positive test for the performing-enhancing substance Nandrolone.
The 22-year-old outfielder was released by the Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons on Thursday. He was 0 for 4 with an RBI groundout against Lakeland on April 8 in his only game this season after hitting .225 with five homers and 25 RBI in 64 games for Tampa last year.
Salinas signed with the Yankees in December 2017 for a $1.85 million bonus. He split 2018 with the Dominican Summer League Yankees and the Gulf Coast Yankees, spent 2019 with the GCL team and 2021 with the Florida Complex League Yankees.
Six players have been disciplined under the minor league program this year.
METS: Touted prospect Brett Baty was called up by the New York Mets and immediately inserted into the starting lineup against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Baty replaces slumping veteran Eduardo Escobar at third base after getting off to an outstanding start in the minors this season. A first-round draft pick in 2019, the 23-year-old Baty was batting .400 (14 for 35) with five home runs, 15 RBI and a 1.386 OPS in nine games at Triple-A Syracuse.
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