Padres 4, Braves 0
Fernando Tatís Jr. launched a towering, two-run home run in the first inning Tuesday to give the San Diego Padres a 2-0 lead over the Atlanta Braves.
That was all the Padres needed. Starting pitcher Michael King took it from there, with a masterful, 12-strikeout performance to lead the Padres to a 4-0 win in Game 1 of their NL wild-card series.
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King did his work in seven scoreless innings while allowing five hits and walking none. Braves batters swung and missed at 15 of his pitches. The Padres’ win capped off a busy first day of the MLB postseason that featured four games.
Mets 8, Brewers 4
The most back-and-forth game of the day saw the Brewers and Mets take the lead two times each, with the Mets walking away with an 8-4 Game 1 victory.
The bottom of the fifth inning was the decider. Entering the frame down 4-3, New York had seven straight batters reach base in what ended up being a five-run inning. Mark Vientos provided the hit to take the lead with an opposite-field single, part of a 2-for-4 day with two runs and two RBI.
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Mets starter Luis Severino wasn’t perfect, with eight hits and four earned runs allowed, but throwing six innings was massive for a New York team that played a doubleheader Monday just to reach the postseason, while the Brewers had the day off.
Royals 1, Orioles 0
It was a quick and low-scoring battle in Baltimore, but the Kansas City Royals have claimed their first playoff win in nearly a decade.
The Royals, thanks to an RBI single from Bobby Witt Jr., snuck out a tight 1-0 win over the Orioles in their Game 1 matchup at Camden Yards. That put the Royals a step closer to winning their first playoff series since their World Series run in 2015. It was also the first postseason road shutout win in Royals franchise history.
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Cole Ragans got the Royals through six scoreless innings in Baltimore, though he was pulled to start the seventh due to cramps in his left calf. The Royals finally scored for the first time in the top of the sixth when Witt hit an easy RBI single to get Maikel Garcia home.
The Orioles came close to scoring in the eighth, when Gunnar Henderson was walked and Jordan Westburg hit a single into center field, but the Royals escaped without any damage. From there, the Royals quickly closed out the ninth inning to seal their win and jump up 1-0 in the series.
Tigers 3, Astros 1
For the first time in 11 years, the Detroit Tigers have won a playoff game, topping the Houston Astros 3-1 to take Game 1 of their AL wild-card series.
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Behind a brilliant performance from AL Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal — 6 innings pitched, four hits and no runs allowed, one walk and six strikeouts — the Tigers pounced on Astros pitching early. Framber Valdez found himself in trouble in the second, giving up a walk and four hits. Valdez exited after just 4 1/3 innings.
The Astros didn’t go quietly, though. They threatened in the fourth, when Yordan Alvarez led off with a single and Skubal walked Yainer Diaz. But back-to-back strikeouts of Jeremy Peña and Victor Caratini dispatched the threat. In the ninth, Alvarez hit a leadoff double, and an Alex Bregman single put runners on the corners with no one out. Yainer Diaz then put the Astros on the board with an RBI single, Peña advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt, and Tigers manager AJ Hinch replaced closer Jason Foley with Beau Brieske. The righty got one quick out and was one strike away from ending the game before walking Chas McCormick to load the bases. Then Jason Heyward lined out to end it, and the Tigers took Game 1.
Here are the results from Tuesday: