Bryce Harper drew
big cheers, a pair of walks and a most unusual defense in his spring training
debut for the Philadelphia
Phillies.
Both times the slugger with the biggest contract in baseball
came to the plate, the Toronto Blue
Jays shifted to a four-man outfield, moved the shortstop on the
other side of second base and gave the left-handed hitting Harper a wide-open
left side of the infield.
Phillies manager Gabe Kapler didn't want to discuss shift
strategy but shared his advice for Harper.
Harper drew a loud ovation when he walked up to the plate
to Will Smith's
theme song from "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."
Wearing No. 3 on his uniform, eye black under his eyes and a
white armband with "HEART" written in red letters around it, Harper
dug into the batter's box as "In West Philadelphia born and
raised..." blared from the stadium's speakers.
Batting third as the designated hitter, Harper walked twice
before exiting.
AROUND THE GRAPEFRUIT AND CACTUS LEAGUES
BLUE JAYS 8, PHILLIES 7
Philadelphia starter Jake Arrieta gave
up three hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Rhys Hoskinshomered
for the Phillies.
Anthony
Alford hit his fourth home run for Toronto and Teoscar
Hernandez got two hits, raising his spring average to .522.
METS 10, RED SOX 2
Zack Wheeler pitched
four shutout innings in his third start for New York, allowing one hit and
striking out three. Rookie Pete Alonso hit his third home run and singled,
raising his average to .423.
Eduardo
Rodriguez made his third start for Boston, pitching four
innings and giving up one run. Matt Barnes,
in line to be the closer, was tagged in his first appearance for three runs and
hits in one inning.
ORIOLES (SS) 17, RAYS 15
Austin Hays hit
his third home run and a double for Baltimore. Starter Dylan Bundy gave
up six runs in 1 2/3 innings. The teams combined for nine errors, six by the
Orioles, and seven homers.
Tampa Bay's Andrew
Kittredge also surrendered six runs, but five were unearned. He
allowed three hits and one walk, retiring five batters.
BRAVES 6, TIGERS 4
Adam Duvall and Brian McCann had
RBI singles for Atlanta. Sean Newcomb struggled
in his third start, pitching 2 2/3 innings and surrendering three runs on three
hits and three walks.
Michael
Fulmer pitched three innings in his third start for Detroit,
allowing two runs on four hits and a walk.
ASTROS 9, CARDINALS 3
Adam
Wainwright started for a second time for St. Louis, pitching
four scoreless innings and allowing two hits and a walk. Marcell Ozuna singled
and scored, snapping a 0-for-14 start.
Houston starter Collin McHugh gave
up three runs in two innings.
TWINS 10, PIRATES 1
Martin Perez made
his second start for Minnesota, pitching four shutout innings. Adam Rosaleshomered
for the Twins.
Corey
Dickerson had two singles for Pittsburgh, raising his average
to .636.
DODGERS 2, MARINERS 0
Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager will
see a hand specialist after rolling his left wrist during a spring training
game Friday night. It's unclear if the injury will risk Seager's status for the
Mariners' season-opening series in Tokyo on March 20-21.
Enrique
Hernandez hit two home runs and Kenta Maeda worked
three no-hit innings for Los Angeles. Closer Kenley Jansen pitched
the ninth.
Dodgers newcomer Joe Kelly threw
a 30-minute bullpen session after recovering from the stiff back that kept him
sidelined for three days of workouts. Kelly's back stiffened after five hours
on his feet preparing a crawfish boil for a team dinner.
CUBS (SS) 8, GIANTS 0
Chicago starter Cole Hamels pitched
3 1/3 innings. San Francisco's Dereck
Rodriguez allowed three runs on four hits, striking out five
over 3 2/3 innings.
CUBS (SS) 11, ANGELS (SS) 4
Nick Hoerner, the Cubs' 2018 first-round draft pick, started
at shortstop and went 2 for 2 with two RBI and three runs scored. Alec Mills,
considered the team's insurance policy should any of its five starters get
injured, was scratched from the start due to back stiffness.
Jo Adell, the Angels' top prospect, suffered a left
hamstring strain and a right ankle sprain when he slipped running around second
base.
BREWERS (SS) 5, ANGELS (SS) 1
Eric Thames and Christian
Yelich homered for Milwaukee while Josh Tomlin worked
five one-hit innings in the start.
Trevor Cahill went
3 1/3 innings for the Angels. Jerry Blevins was
tagged for six earned runs on three hits and two walks while recording just one
out.
BREWERS (SS) 11, ATHLETICS 2
Brandon
Woodruff struck out five over three innings in the start for
Milwaukee and Zack Brown worked three hitless innings of relief. Keston Hiura,
the Brewers' 2017 first-round draft pick, homered for the second straight day.
INDIANS 7, ROCKIES (SS) 1
Cleveland starter Shane Bieber threw
four one-hit innings, striking out four. Reliever Tyler
Clippard was pulled because of pectoral tightness and will be
evaluated Sunday.
Despite complaining that he was coming down with a stomach
bug, Colorado starter German
Marquez struck out nine without allowing an earned run over
three innings. Marquez, who shares the major league record with eight
strikeouts to start a game, scattered a run on four hits and a walk.
WHITE SOX 12, RANGERS 2
James McCann hit
a two-run homer and Reynaldo
Lopez struck out seven over four innings for Chicago.
Edinson
Volquez allowed just two hits over his three scoreless innings
for Texas.
DIAMONDBACKS 13, ROYALS 5
Arizona's Luke Weaver gave
up six hits but allowed just one earned run over 3 1/3 innings.
Kansas City's Jakob Junis allowed
one run on three hits while fanning four in his three-inning start. Drew Storen got
one out in the eighth but allowed three earned runs on four walks.
MARLINS 2, NATIONALS 1
Curtis
Granderson ended a 0-for-10 start with a solo home run for
Miami.
Pablo Lopez pitched
four perfect innings in his first start, striking out four. The Marlins had a
perfect game going until Pedro Serverino singled with one out in the eighth
off Wei-Yin Chen.
Pedro Martinez and five Boston relievers combined for the
only previous perfect game in spring training when the Red Sox beat Toronto 5-0
on March 15, 2000.
YANKEES 6, ORIOLES (SS) 1
Gary Sanchez,
who came into the game batting .059, had an RBI single and a sacrifice fly for
New York. Gleyber
Torres doubled and scored and Greg Bird added
a run-scoring single.
Anthony
Santander had a double and is batting .458 for Baltimore. Mychal Givens,
in the mix for the closer's job, pitched a scoreless inning after allowing six
runs over 1 1/3 innings in his first two outings.
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