SteemSports Presenter:
SteemSports Editor:
There were a couple of marque match-ups in the American League yesterday, starting with the Twins hosting the defending World Series Champions the Houston Astros. It was a matchup of a pair of teams that both made the postseason last year and Minnesota got a terrific outing from Jake Odorizzi to help propel them to the victory. In the AL East, the Red Sox thrashed their longtime rivals by a score of 14-1. Boston has now won 9 straight after an opening day loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Twins got a pair of runs in the bottom of the first, and each team scored a run in the second before pitching took over in yesterday's showdown from Target Field. Both teams were blanked the rest of the way, until the bottom of the 8th, where Minnesota tacked on one more insurance run for the 4-1 victory. Longtime Twins leader Joe Mauer went 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs and a pair of walks to lead the way for Minnesota. The veteran is now hitting .407 on the young season with a .543 on-base percentage.
Mauer did it with the bat, and right-hander Jake Odorizzi did it with pitching. Odorizzi went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and just 1 earned run to get the win. He did walk 5 batters, but was excellent on working around base-runners all night long and getting outs. The Astros were unable to take advantage with their scoring opportunities, going 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Houston took the first game of the series Monday night, 2-0, setting up today's rubber match in the 3-game series.
Over in the AL East, long-time rivals the Yankees and Red Sox squared off in Boston in the first game of a 3-game set. The Red Sox got 1 in the first, 3 in the second, and another in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 lead through 4 innings. They then blew the game wide-open with a 9-run 6th inning to cap the scoring and win going away 14-1.
Right-fielder Mookie Betts led the barrage for Boston, going 4 for 4 in the game, and drawing a walk in his other at-bat, to make it a perfect 5-for-5 reaching base on the night. He scored 5 runs and finished the scoring with a Grand Slam in the bottom of the 6th to finish with 4 RBIs. Betts also had a pair of doubles in the game, as he raised his average all the way up to .432 to start the season. Hanley Ramirez also went 2 for 2 with a walk and 3 RBIs.
Left-hander Chris Sale also pitched great for Boston, breezing through 6 innings while striking out 8 and walking none. Sale has been one of the top strikeout pitchers in the American League for a few years now and he's already logged 23 strikeouts and just 3 walks in his 3 starts thus far on the year. He did give up 8 hits, but New York could only convert that offense into one run. It was a dominant win for the Red Sox, it will be interesting to see how the Yankees bounce-back later today in game 2 of their 3-game series.
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