MLB Tuesday scores, highlights, live team updates, news: Harper goes deep again
Plus Evan Longoria finally gets into the hit column, and everything to know about Tuesday's MLB action
Tuesday afforded the baseball enthusiast a healthy 14-game slate. Here is everything you need to know about the day in baseball ...
Tuesday's scores
- Royals 1, Tigers 0 (box score)
- Yankees 11, Rays 4 (box score)
- Mariners 6, Giants 4 (box score)
- Red Sox 4, Marlins 2 in 13 innings (box score)
- Blue Jays 14, White Sox 5 (box score)
- Mets 2, Phillies 0 (box score)
- Braves 13, Nationals 6 (box score)
- Brewers 5, Cardinals 4 (box score)
- Astros 10, Orioles 6 (box score)
- Diamondbacks 6, Dodgers 1 (box score)
- Rangers 4, Athletics 1 (box score)
- Angels 13, Indians 4 (box score)
- Padres 8, Rockies 4 (box score)
- Cubs at Reds postponed (doubleheader scheduled for May 19)
Harper hits fourth homer
Five games, four home runs for Bryce Harper so far this season. He smacked his fourth long ball of the young season Tuesday night. Check it out:
Bryce is currently in beast mode. 👀 pic.twitter.com/blK1u8E1sp
— MLB (@MLB) April 4, 2018
Through five games, Harper has four homers, seven walks, and zero strikeouts. His free agent season is off to a smashing start so far.
Ohtani hits first MLB home run
Welcome to Anaheim, Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani hit his first MLB home run in his first at-bat at Angel Stadium on Tuesday night. His three-run blast cleared the high wall in right-center field.
Not sure what's a better...Ohtani's FIRST CAREER HOME RUN or the celebration! One word: Amazing.#ShoTime@Angels@MLB@MLBONFOXpic.twitter.com/UsPcCZnIOn
— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) April 4, 2018
Yeah, that was a big time hanger by Josh Tomlin, but you can only hit the pitches thrown your way. Ohtani did exactly what he should've done with that pitch.
Villanueva hits three home runs
Less than one week into the 2018 regular season, we already have two three-homer games. Matt Davidson went deep three times on Opening Day, and on Tuesday, Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva did the same. Here are all three dingers:
Hitting 3 homers is always impressive.
— MLB (@MLB) April 4, 2018
It’s even more impressive when you do it in your 14th Major League game. 😱 pic.twitter.com/aDQIhEV3uH
Villanueva is the first Padre with a three-homer game since ... Hunter Renfroe last September. The former Rangers and Cubs prospect -- he was part of the Ryan Dempster/Kyle Hendricks trade a few years back -- seems to have found a home in San Diego after dealing with some serious injuries earlier in his career.
Beltre ties a Rod Carew record
Tuesday night, Adrian Beltre moved into the top 25 on the all-time hits list, and in doing so, he tied Rod Carew for the most hits ever by a Latin American player:
Adrian Beltre single gives him 3,053 career hits.... ties Rod Carew for most ever by a Latin American player..... 25th overall
— TR Sullivan (@Sullivan_Ranger) April 4, 2018
Beltre has a pretty good chance to jump into the top 15 all-time in hits this season, as long as he stays healthy.
Gregorius sets home opener RBI record
Chances are, when Yankees fans pick up the newspaper Wednesday morning, they'll see Giancarlo Stanton on the back page. Stanton struck out five times -- that's a new career high -- in his first game at Yankee Stadium as a Yankee on Tuesday.
The real story of the game, however, is Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius. Gregorius had four hits, reached base five times, and drove in eight runs in New York's home opener Tuesday.
Sir Didi -- he was knighted back home in Curacao, you know -- hit two three-run home runs and also had a bloop two-run single. He is the first Yankee with eight RBI in a game since Alex Rodriguez had a 10-RBI game in 2005, and he's the first shortstop to have an eight-RBI game since Nomar Garciaparra in 2002. Some other facts:
- First Yankees shortstop ever with eight RBI in a single game.
- First player ever with eight RBI in a home opener, regardless of position or team, according to the YES Network broadcast.
So far this season Gregorius is 8 for 18 (.444) with four doubles, one triple, two homers, and one single. New manager Aaron Boone has been batting Gregorius between Stanton and Gary Sanchez to split up the righties, and so far the move is paying major dividends.
Longoria finally gets a hit, Giants finally get some runs
Four games into the season, the Giants scored two total runs on Joe Panik solo homers. In their fifth game of the season Tuesday, the Giants scored their third run of the year, on yet another Panik solo homer. That set some obscure history:
According to Elias, the Giants are the first team in MLB history whose first three runs of a season came on solo home runs by the same player.
— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) April 3, 2018
A few innings later, the Giants finally scored some runs on non-Panik homers. Evan Longoria broke his season opening 0-fer with a homer to left field. It was his first hit as a Not Ray.
Alas, the Giants still fell to the Mariners despite Panik's and Longoria's heroics. They have six runs in 45 offensive innings so far this year.
Harvey makes first start of 2018
Between injuries and crummy performance, the 2017 season was a total mess for erstwhile Mets ace Matt Harvey. He pitched to a 6.70 ERA in 92 2/3 innings, and basically no one knew what to expect coming into 2018. On Tuesday, Harvey made his first start of the year, and he pitched well:
Matt Harvey's 2018 debut is in the books:
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 4, 2018
5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 86 pitches.
It's just the third time Harvey has delivered a scoreless outing since the start of 2016. #Mets
Harvey no longer looks like the dominating ace he was back in the day -- his fastball averaged 91.7 mph and topped out at 93.4 mph Tuesday -- but the stuff was plenty good enough to get outs. His command didn't look as good as the stat line would lead you to believe, but it was cold and rainy at Citi Field, so I'm inclined to give him a pass for that.
All things considered, the Mets should be happy with what Harvey showed in his 2018 debut. He looked more effective than he did at any point last year.
Ozuna, Yelich hit first homers of 2018
The Cardinals revamped their outfield over the winter, and on Tuesday, their prized new addition went deep for the first time this season. Marcell Ozuna crushed a 479-foot dinger against Brewers righty Chase Anderson. It is the longest Cardinals homer of the Statcast era:
Well, that didn’t take long!
— #Statcast (@statcast) April 4, 2018
Marcell Ozuna’s first @Cardinals HR is the club’s hardest-hit (117.2 mph) AND longest (479 ft) big fly since #Statcast arrived in 2015. 💪 pic.twitter.com/9eeLDkthue
Stanton went deep Opening Day and Ozuna went deep in the third inning Tuesday. That meant it was Christian Yelich's turn to go deep to complete the "former Marlins outfielders hitting homers with their new teams" cycle. He hit a game-tying two-run home run against Ozuna's Cardinals on Tuesday, setting the stage for Ryan Braun's walk-off dinger.
RYAN BRAUN WALKS IT OFF! pic.twitter.com/vxWYs3fgQQ
— FOX Sports Wisconsin (@fswisconsin) April 4, 2018
Stanton, Ozuna, and Yelich have now combined for four home runs in the early going. Marlins outfielders have one home run so far (Derek Dietrich).
Quick hits
- Blue Jays 3B Josh Donaldson and the White Sox seem to be engaged in a whistle war.
- The Mariners have placed DH Nelson Cruz on the 10-day DL with a sprained right ankle.
- The Rangers have signed C Cameron Rupp to a minor-league contract.
- The Mets have placed RHP Anthony Swarzak on the 10-day DL with a strained left oblique.
- The Royals have requested unconditional release waivers on RHP Kyle Zimmer, who's a former No. 5 overall pick and was a consensus top-100 prospect as recently as two years ago.
- Veteran INF Stephen Drew is reportedly retiring.
- Yankees OF Jacoby Ellsbury has developed a hip issue and will not be activated from the DL on Thursday as initially planned.
- The Cardinals have placed INF Jedd Gyorko on the 10-day DL with a hamstring strain.
- The Yankees have acquired OF Trayce Thompson off waivers from the Dodgers.
- The Angels have placed RHP Matt Shoemaker on the 10-day DL with a forearm strain.

















