Orioles demolish Red Sox, 11-3
KYLE Stowers had three hits, including two doubles and a careerhigh four RBIs, Ryan Mountcastle also had three hits and the Baltimore Orioles cruised to a 11-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Monday.
Cedric Mullins added a two-run triple as Baltimore scored five runs in the fourth off Boston’s Cooper Criswell (2-2) to help open the series with its fifth consecutive win.
Cole Irvin (5-2) pitched five shutout innings in a return to the rotation spurred by the Orioles placing John Means and Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list last week.
Criswell allowed seven runs — six earned — over four innings as Boston lost its third out of four overall and fourth straight against Baltimore. Five of the Orioles’ six hits off the right-hander went for extra bases.
Romy Gonzalez hit a three-run triple in the eighth off Baltimore’s Thyago Vieira, who let all five batters reach in his club debut.
Twins 6, Royals 5
In Minneapolis, Joe Ryan pitched seven smooth innings for Minnesota, who got a two-run homer by Jose Miranda and a three-run shot from Trevor Larnach and hung on to beat Kansas City in the opener of a four-game series.
Ryan allowed one run and four singles while lowering his teamleading ERA to 2.96. The right-hander struck out nine and walked none.
Ryan (4-3) has pitched at least into the sixth in each of his 11 starts this season.
Alex Kirilloff’s two-out RBI single in the eighth inning gave the Twins (29-24) enough insurance to improve to 5-1 since a seven-game losing streak.
Hunter Renfroe’s two-out RBI double in the ninth off Cole Sands put men on second and third and the tying run on deck for the Royals (34-21), before Jhoan Duran was summoned for the final out.
Blue Jays 5, White Sox 1
In Chicago, George Springer, Bo Bichette and David Schneider homered, and Toronto beat the Chicago White Sox.
Chris Bassitt struck out seven in five scoreless innings as Toronto stopped a three-game slide. Bassitt (5-6) allowed five hits and walked none against his first major league team.
Springer connected in the second inning after Daulton Varsho reached on a two-out walk against Nick Nastrini. It was Springer’s fourth homer of the season.
Bichette led off the fourth with his fourth homer, a 419-foot drive to center.
Nastrini (0-4) allowed three hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked four.
Last-place Chicago lost its sixth consecutive game. It dropped to 15-40 for the worst 55-game start in franchise history.
Reds 3, Cardinals 1
In Cincinnati, Nick Lodolo came off the injured list to pitch 5 1/3 innings of one-run ball, Jeimer Candelario homered and Cincinnati won a season-high fourth straight game, over St. Louis.
Lodolo, who missed his last two starts while nursing a groin injury, allowed a first-inning home run to Paul Goldschmidt but otherwise stayed out of trouble against the hot-hitting Cardinals. The 26-yearold lefty allowed five hits, struck out three and did not issue a walk.
Reliever Fernando Cruz struck out all five batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings. Sam Moll fanned two more Cardinals in the eighth, and Lucas Sims retired the side in order in the ninth to get his first save.
St. Louis had a five-game win streak snapped after coming off a 7-1 homestand.
The Cards got solid pitching from starter Lance Lynn, who allowed three runs (one earned) and five hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked three.