OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — When the reigning AL MVP openly regrets challenging you, that’s pretty high praise.
Center fielder Ramon Laureano threw out another Red Sox runner in a key spot, and the Oakland Athletics kept Boston stumbling with a 7-3 win on Thursday.
Laureano tossed out three runners as the A’s took three of four in the series.
“Rarely do you see three impactful plays like that in a series, because sometimes they stop running on you, but they continued to be aggressive on him, and every time he made a different play from the one before — but all big plays in the course of a game,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said.
“It’s tough to keep finding adjectives for Ramon’s throwing, but it’s one of a kind,” he said.
Mookie Betts led off the Red Sox ninth inning with a walk and tried to take third when Andrew Benintendi followed with a bloop single. But Laureano charged the ball hard and threw on the run to catch Betts, with the out call being upheld on replay.
“I should have known,” Betts said. “He’s pretty much thrown everybody out. That’s what my instincts told me to do and I should have let myself know before anything even happened that my run meant nothing.”
On Tuesday night, Laureano threw out Xander Bogaerts at third as he tried to stretch a double in the ninth inning of a game Oakland won 1-0. On Monday night, Laureano threw out Bogaerts at the plate early in a 7-0 win for the A’s.
The 24-year-old Laureano made his major league debut last year. He now has 12 assists in only 57 games in the outfield with the A’s.
“It’s a bad decision and he knows it,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of Betts’ base-running blunder.
“The three plays were bang-bang plays, but that one right there can’t happen and he knows it. He came up to me, and for how great a player he is, he makes mistakes and he owned it. He came up to me and said ‘that’s my fault.’”
Why would anyone challenge Laureano?
“They might, I don’t why they would, but they might,” Stephen Piscotty said. “I was shocked to see it … The guy’s got a cannon and he’s laser accurate.”
Piscotty led the A’s offense as he went 4 for 4 with a home run, double and five RBIs to help Oakland win for the fifth time in six games.
The Red Sox fell to 2-6, the worst start for a defending World Series champion since the stripped-down Marlins struggled in 1998. J.D. Martinez homered for Boston.
Brett Anderson (2-0) gave up three runs and eight hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings.
Anderson walked home two runs in the first inning. Martinez connected for his third home run in the third, making it 3-0.
BRAVES 9, CUBS 4
ATLANTA — Max Fried took a perfect game into the sixth inning, Nick Markakis drive in five runs with five hits that included three doubles and the Atlanta Braves beat Yu Darvish and the Cubs for a three-game sweep.
Chicago has lost five straight and is 1-5 for the first time since 2012, when it lost 101 games.
Fried (1-0), making only his 10th career start and his first this season after two scoreless relief appearances, recorded 17 straight outs to open the game. Mark Zagunis singled up the middle with two outs in the sixth.
The three-run double by Markakis was the big hit in Atlanta’s five-run fifth inning that knocked Darvish (0-1) out of the game. Markakis matched his career high for hits and doubles.
NATIONALS 4, METS 0
NEW YORK — Stephen Strasburg outpitched Noah Syndergaard, rookie Victor Robles homered for Washington’s only hit until the ninth inning and the Nationals blanked the drowsy Mets to spoil New York’s home opener.
Wilmer Difo drove in two runs, and Washington’s struggling bullpen shined after Strasburg (1-0) struck out nine in 6 2/3 innings. Matched against Syndergaard (0-1) for the second time in six days, Strasburg took a one-hitter into the seventh.
Following a 5-1 trip to start the season, the Mets got back to New York after 2 a.m. in the wake of a 6-4 victory in Miami. About 11 hours later, they were on the field again — and their offense looked a little sleepy.
YANKEES 8, ORIOLES 4
BALTIMORE — Gleyber Torres homered twice, had a career-high four hits and drove in four runs, and the New York Yankees ruined Baltimore’s home opener.
Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit also homered for the Yankees, who beat Baltimore in their own season opener last week.
Torres’ first home run of the season got New York within 3-1 in the third inning, and his three-run drive in the sixth off reliever Mike Wright (0-1) put the Yankees up 5-4. Torres also doubled.
James Paxton (1-1) struck out nine and allowed four runs in 5 1/3 innings to win his first game with New York being traded from Seattle in November.
PIRATES 2, REDS 0
PITTSBURGH — Jordan Lyles pitched five effective innings in his Pittsburgh debut and the Pirates extended Cincinnati’s scoreless streak.
A day after the Reds got three hits in a 1-0 loss to Milwaukee, they managed six hits against four Pittsburgh pitchers.
Lyles, who played for San Diego and Milwaukee last year, allowed three hits. He was activated from the injured list before the game after being out with discomfort on his right side.
Nick Kingham (1-0) pitched two innings. Felipe Vazquez escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the ninth to earn his first save of the season by striking out three.
Reds starter Tyler Mahle threw six scoreless innings in his season debut. David Hernandez (0-1) took the loss.
TIGERS 5, ROYALS 4
DETROIT — Spencer Turnbull struck out 10 in six innings, and the Detroit Tigers drew four straight walks to start the bottom of the seventh, taking the lead for good against Kansas City.
Josh Harrison stole two bases and scored three times for the Tigers in their home opener. It was tied at 3 in the seventh when Kansas City reliever Kyle Zimmer (0-1) walked Harrison, Nicholas Castellanos and Miguel Cabrera in succession. Kevin McCarthy then came on and walked Niko Goodrum on four pitches, forcing in a run.
Christin Stewart added a sacrifice fly that inning to make it 5-3. Blaine Hardy (1-0) allowed a solo homer to Alex Gordon in the eighth, his second inning of work. Shane Greene pitched the ninth for his fifth save in five chances.
Whit Merrifield singled, tripled and scored twice for the Royals, extending his hitting streak to 26 games dating to last season.
RANGERS 11, ANGELS 4
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer and Ronald Guzman added a two-run shot in the first inning, and the Texas Rangers extended their strong start with an 11-4 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.
Shin-Soo Choo got credit for a three-run double in the fifth when Brian Goodwin badly misplayed his short hit to left with the bases loaded, and the Rangers ruined the Angels’ home opener while cruising to their fifth win in seven games.
Mike Trout homered and threw out a runner at home for the Angels, who have lost five straight to drop to an AL-worst 1-6.