Verlander holds Twins scoreless as defending champion Astros win ALDS opener

Justin Verlander pitched six shutout innings, Yordan Alvarez homered twice and the Astros held on for a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in their American League Division Series opener Saturday in Houston.

Jose Altuve hit a leadoff home run and Alvarez had three RBIs as the defending World Series champions earned their 10th straight victory in Game 1 of a Division Series.

Verlander settled in after a shaky start and the Astros built a 5-0 lead through six innings with big swings from Altuve and Alvarez.

Hector Neris took over for Verlander to start the seventh. With two outs, Jorge Polanco hit a soaring three-run homer to right field. Two pitches later, rookie Royce Lewis launched his third homer in three playoff games to make it 5-4.

In the bottom half, Caleb Thielbar entered to face Alvarez with one out. The slugger became the first left-handed hitter to homer off Thielbar this season when he smacked an off-speed pitch off the foul pole in right to give Houston some insurance.

Bryan Abreu got four outs, striking out three, and Ryan Pressly fanned two in a scoreless ninth for the save. He struck out Lewis to end it.

The best-of-five series continues Sunday night in Houston.

Altuve pounced on Bailey Ober's first pitch for his first career leadoff homer in the playoffs. Alvarez connected off Ober on a two-run shot in the third to make it 3-0.

The 40-year-old Verlander allowed four hits and walked three to get his 17th win in 35 post-season starts. The three-time Cy Young Award winner returned to the AL West champions this summer in a trade with the New York Mets.

Diamondbacks 11, Dodgers 2

Gabriel Moreno's three-run homer highlighted a six-run first inning for Arizona, and the Diamondbacks battered Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw on the way to an 11-2 victory.

Merrill Kelly finally beat the Dodgers for the first time. Making his first career postseason start at age 34, the right-hander came in with an 0-11 record and a 5.49 ERA in 16 starts against LA.

Kelly limited the NL West champions to three hits in 6 1/3 innings, the last one coming leading off the third on Miguel Rojas' single.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Monday night in LA.

Kershaw staggered through the worst start and shortest of his 16-year career. The three-time Cy Young Award winner got tagged for six runs and recorded just one out in the 100th postseason game at Dodger Stadium.

Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Tommy Pham also homered for Arizona. Pham had four of the Diamondbacks' 13 hits.

Will Smith hit a two-run triple for Los Angeles in the eighth inning. The NL West champions finished with four hits.

Rangers 3, Orioles 2

Andrew Heaney and Dane Dunning helped Texas reach the sixth inning with a lead, and the Rangers' maligned bullpen held on through some anxious moments for a 3-2 victory over the Orioles in Game 1 in Baltimore.

Josh Jung homered and made a nice play at third base to start a critical double play for Texas, which improved to 3-0 in these playoffs — all on the road.

Heaney held Baltimore to a run and two hits in 3 2/3 innings. Dunning relieved him and went two innings for the win, allowing a run in the sixth. Will Smith, Josh Sborz, Aroldis Chapman and Jose Leclerc combined for the final 10 outs — but not without some drama.

Sborz threw seven straight balls to start the seventh but pitched around a leadoff walk. Chapman walked the first two batters in the eighth before Jung ranged to his left and snagged Anthony Santander's high bouncer on a short hop to start a 5-4-3 double play. Chapman then struck out Ryan Mountcastle with a runner on third to end the inning.

Leclerc earned the save, although he allowed a leadoff single in the ninth to Gunnar Henderson. All-star catcher Jonah Heim threw out Henderson trying to steal second, and the Orioles didn't manage another baserunner.

Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde didn't appear happy in the dugout with Henderson's decision to go.

Kyle Bradish struck out nine in 4 2/3 innings for the Orioles but allowed two runs in the fourth to take the loss. Jung and Santander traded solo homers in the sixth.

Texas has been without deGrom for a while, and the Rangers left Scherzer off their ALDS roster Saturday because of shoulder problems that have kept him out since mid-September. So far, however, the Rangers' pitching has held up.

Jordan Montgomery and Nathan Eovaldi kept the Rays at bay in the Wild Card Series, and then the Heaney-Dunning tandem gave the Rangers a chance to win again.

The Orioles won 101 games and a division title this year, but it's been a rough start to the playoffs for the AL East. Tampa Bay and Toronto were swept in the first round, and now Baltimore is trailing after its post-season opener.

Phillies 3, Atlanta 0

Bryce Harper homered, Ranger Suarez and the Philadelphia bullpen stifled baseball's most prolific offence, and the Phillies blanked 104-win Atlanta 3-0.

In a playoff rematch between division rivals, East champion Atlanta finds itself in exactly the same position as a year ago: trailing the Phillies after the opener at Truist Park in Atlanta.

The Phillies went on to a 3-1 upset of Atlanta in 2022 on an improbable run to the World Series. Now, they're up again heading to Game 2 of the best-of-five series Monday night in Atlanta.

Wild-card series hero Bryson Stott broke a scoreless tie with a run-scoring single in the fourth. Harper padded the lead with a drive over the right-field wall in the sixth off Spencer Strider, baseball's only 20-game winner.

Atlanta, which tied the major league record with 307 homers during the regular season and averaged more than 5.8 runs per game, couldn't muster anything against a parade of hard-throwing Philadelphia relievers.

The mood turned ugly in the eighth when the Phillies made it 3-0 on catcher's interference against Sean Murphy. J.T. Realmuto fouled off a pitch with the bases loaded, but his bat barely nicked Murphy's mitt to force in a run.

After the call was reviewed and upheld, there was a brief delay when a handful of fans threw trash on the field.

Many in the crowd of 43,689 — the largest turnout in Truist Park's seven-year history — headed for the exits after Trea Turner's diving stop on Ozzie Albies's sharp grounder turned into an inning-ending double play in the bottom half of the inning.

Ranger Suarez allowed just one hit in 3 2/3 innings. Still, with an off day between the first and second games, the Phillies turned quickly to their bullpen at the first sign of trouble.

Jeff Hoffman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth by striking out Michael Harris II to earn the win. Seranthony Dominguez worked around two hits in the fifth by fanning the side — including a called third strike on MVP favourite Ronald Acuna Jr. with runners at first and third.

Jose Alvarado, rookie Orion Kerkering, Matt Strahm and Craig Kimbrel shut down Atlanta the rest of the way, with Kimbrel earning a save against his first big league team.