BALTIMORE — Matt Wieters led off the 10th inning with a home run off Stolmy Pimentel to give the Baltimore Orioles a 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and a doubleheader sweep Thursday night.
In the opener, Steve Pearce had three hits and two RBIs in his return to the Orioles, who got a home run from Nick Markakis in a 5-1 win.
The single-admission doubleheader followed consecutive rainouts on Tuesday and Wednesday. The rain lingered long enough to delay the fifth inning of the opener by 21 minutes, and the start of the nightcap was stalled 46 minutes by rain.
The second game marked the season debut of Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, who had left knee surgery in October. After sitting out the opener, Machado received a warm ovation from the crowd of 28,290 before the second game and went 0 for 5.
RAYS 2, RED SOX 1, GAME 1
RAYS 6, RED SOX 5, GAME 2
BOSTON — Yunel Escobar homered off closer Koji Uehara leading off the ninth inning to propel Tampa Bay to a 6-5 win and a day-night doubleheader sweep of Boston.
Escobar crushed the second pitch from Uehara (0-1) over the Green Monster in left field for his second homer of the year, and Grant Balfour recorded the final three outs for his second save of the day and sixth of the season.
Sean Rodriguez and Desmond Jennings also went deep for Tampa Bay, which won for just the third time in nine games.
Jake McGee (2-0) earned the win with one inning of scoreless relief.
Tampa Bay won the opener, 2-1. David DeJesus had a homer and drew a bases-loaded walk, and the Rays’ bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
DODGERS 9, TWINS 4, GAME 1
DODGERS 4, TWINS 3, GAME 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Scott Van Slyke and Drew Butera homered in the 12th inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers held on to beat the Minnesota Twins to earn a sweep of the day-night doubleheader on Thursday night.
Adrian Gonzalez also homered for the Dodgers, who stranded 16 runners in the 5 hour, 11-minute game.
Yasiel Puig tied a career high with four hits in Los Angeles’ Game 1 win and added two more in the nightcap. Before grounding out in the fifth, Puig had reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances.
Joe Mauer had three hits for the Twins, who walked 12 in the second game and 18 in both games.
Van Slyke led off the 12th and lined a 2-1 pitch from Brian Duensing (0-1) into the bullpen in left-center field. Butera hit his first homer since July 12, 2012, two batters later.
Jamey Wright (2-1) didn’t allow a run in three innings of relief.
MARINERS 4, YANKEES 2
NEW YORK — Robinson Cano doubled and drove in two runs, Roenis Elias struck out 10 in seven impressive innings and Seattle beat New York.
Michael Saunders had three hits, including an RBI double, to help the Mariners win for the fifth time in six games following an eight-game skid. Seattle won both games in a rain-shortened series that marked Cano’s return to New York after signing a $240 million, 10-year contract with the Mariners during the offseason.
The All-Star second baseman was booed again and finished the series 2 for 9 with three RBIs.
BLUE JAYS 7, ROYALS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mark Buehrle pitched into the seventh inning, Juan Francisco and Colby Rasmus each went deep and Toronto avoided a series sweep.
Francisco and Rasmus each drove in a pair of runs for the Blue Jays, as did Anthony Gose, who was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo to start in place of injured outfielder Melky Cabrera.
Buehrle (5-1) worked through plenty of trouble to last 6 2-3 innings, allowing two earned runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. It was a solid bounce-back performance after the left-hander was hammered for seven runs last Friday night against Boston.
MARLINS 5, BRAVES 4
MIAMI — Giancarlo Stanton and Casey McGehee hit consecutive run-scoring singles off David Carpenter during a two-run rally in the seventh inning that led the Miami Marlins over the Atlanta Braves 5-4 Thursday night for a three-game sweep of the NL East leader.
Miami has won six straight home games for the first time at Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. It is the longest home winning streak for the team since the Marlins won eight in a row from June 20 to July 1, 2009.
REDS 8, BREWERS 3
CINCINNATI — Brayan Pena’s second career pinch-homer started Cincinnati’s five-run, eighth-inning rally.
Tucker Barnhart led off the fifth with his first career homer and Todd Frazier added a two-run drive in the sixth off Marco Estrada, who gave up six hits and four walks in six innings.
Pena had homered during a 9-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. He hit for Bailey with the score tied at 3 in the eighth and connected on the first pitch from Jim Henderson (2-1) for a two-run homer.
ROCKIES 7, METS 4
DENVER — Carlos Gonzalez homered before leaving with a finger injury, Juan Nicasio pitched seven scoreless innings and drove in three runs, and Colorado beat New York.
Corey Dickerson had three hits, including an RBI triple and Nolan Arenado singled leading off the third to extend the majors’ longest active streak to 21 games. He’s tied for the fourth-longest hitting streak in Rockies team history.
