CINCINNATI — Jay Bruce hit his first two home runs of the season and drove in five runs, including four in an eight-run fourth inning, as the Cincinnati Reds completed a three-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 10-6 victory on Thursday afternoon at Great American Ball Park.
Eugenio Suarez added his first career grand slam to help the Reds give rookie starter Robert Stephenson the victory in his major-league debut.
The Phillies led 2-1 after Cedric Hunter hit his first career home run in the top of the fourth, but the Reds erased that by sending 13 batters to the plate in the bottom of the inning. Bruce hit a three-run homer to put Cincinnati in front for good. Suarez hit his second home run in as many games to push the Reds’ lead to 8-2.
Bruce added an RBI single later in the inning to provide Stephenson plenty of cushion. Ryan Howard hit his first homer of the season, a two-run shot to center in the fifth for the Phillies, but Stephenson got through five innings, allowing four runs (three earned) and six hits.
White Sox 6, A’s 1
OAKLAND, Calif. — Jose Abreu hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning and Mat Latos gave up one hit in six innings to lead Chicago over Oakland.
Latos, who walked one and struck out two, won for the first time since July 21 with Miami. He has yet to allow an earned run in 15 career innings against the A’s.
Kendall Graveman took the loss despite a solid effort. He gave up two runs and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Chicago won its second straight series at Oakland Coliseum, the first time that has happened since 2008-09. It was also Robin Ventura’s 300th career win as a manager.
The White Sox broke it open with a four-run ninth. Dioner Navarro, Tyler Saladino, Melky Cabrera and Abreu each drove in a run.
Yankees 8, Astros 5
NEW YORK — Mark Teixeira hit a tiebreaking three-run homer with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning to rally New York over Houston.
The Yankees did not lead until Teixeira drove a 1-0 fastball from Ken Giles down the left-field line. Batting from the left side of the plate, it was the first baseman’s 193rd home run as a Yankee and the seventh home run by New York in the series.
Besides Teixeira’s home run, Brian McCann and Starlin Castro hit solo home runs for the Yankees, who have scored 24 runs in their two games.
Rookie Tyler White hit his first career home run, had three hits and drove in four runs for Houston. Preston Tucker also connected for the Astros.
Giants 12, Dodgers 6
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco ended Los Angeles’ shutout streak and unbeaten record, scoring 12 times in its final four times up in its home opener.
The Giants put the game away with a five-run bottom of the eighth inning capped by Hunter Pence’s grand slam.
The Dodgers came into the game having swept San Diego in a three-game series, starting the season with three consecutive shutouts (matching the 1963 St. Louis Cardinals for the major-league record) and a 25-0 scoring advantage.
Alex Wood held the Giants scoreless through four innings, extending the Dodgers’ scoreless streak to 31 innings. Only one team has gone deeper into a season before giving up a run — the 1963 Cardinals went 32 innings.
But it all unraveled in the middle innings. The Dodgers led 4-0 based mainly on two RBI doubles from Adrian Gonzalez and one from Scott Van Slyke against Giants starter Jake Peavy. That extended their major-league record for unanswered runs to start a season to 29.
Indians-Red Sox, ppd.
CLEVELAND — For the second time in four days, Cleveland and Boston had a game postponed at Progressive Field because of rain and/or cold.
The scheduled Opening Day game on Monday was postponed until Tuesday and was won by the Red Sox 6-2. Cleveland won Wednesday’s game 7-6, but Thursday’s series finale was postponed because of inclement weather. No makeup date for the game has been announced.