Associated Press
The American League roundup …
ARLINGTON, Texas ó Pinch-hitter David Murphy delivered a tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth inning and the Texas Rangers rallied for a 9-5 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Friday after raising their American League championship flag.
Murphy’s slicing liner off Daniel Bard (0-1) kicked up chalk when it landed on the left-field line. That sent Rangers newcomers Mike Napoli and Yorvit Torrealba home to break a 5-all tie. Murphy scored on a double by Elvis Andrus before another double by AL MVP Josh Hamilton.
White Sox 15, Indians 10
CLEVELAND ó Carlos Quentin homered and drove in five runs, Adam Dunn homered and had four RBIs in his debut for Chicago and the go-for-broke White Sox built a huge lead and held off Cleveland’s scrappy comeback in their season opener.
The White Sox splurged during the offseason in an attempt to win the AL Central after finishing second to Minnesota in 2010, and the club’s $125 million payroll looks like money well spent ó so far.
Chicago built a 14-0 lead after four innings for starter Mark Buehrle (1-0) and roughed up Cleveland ace Fausto Carmona (0-1) for 10 runs and 11 hits in three innings.
Royals 2, Angels 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ó Kila Ka’aihue hit Michael Kohn’s second pitch of the ninth inning for a game-ending home run, lifting Kansas City over Los Angeles.
Kohn (0-1) relieved Jordan Walden to start the ninth and was ahead 0-1 in the count when Ka’aihue, who had struck out twice, slammed the ball 393 feet to right.
Joakim Soria (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win.
Blue Jays 13, Twins 3
TORONTO ó J.P. Arencibia homered twice and drove in five runs, Jose Bautista and Adam Lind also went deep and Toronto handed Minnesota its third straight season-opening loss.
Arencibia, who also hit two homers in his major league debut last August, tripled home two runs in the fifth.
Bautista, baseball’s reigning home run king, went back-to-back with Lind in the fifth as the Blue Jays, who led the majors with 257 home runs last season, wasted no time in resuming their power-packed attack, much to the delight of a sellout crowd of 47,984.
Twins slugger Justin Morneau, playing for the first time since sustaining a season-ending concussion during a game in Toronto last July 7, went 0 for 4 and grounded into a double play.
Ricky Romero (1-0) improved to 3-0 with a 2.48 ERA in four career starts against Minnesota.
Orioles 4, Rays 1
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. ó Jeremy Guthrie allowed three hits in eight shutout innings while outpitching David Price, and Baltimore opened the season with a victory over Tampa Bay.
Taking up where they left off during a nice two-month stretch to end last season under manager Buck Showalter, the Orioles ruined a festive evening in which the defending AL East champions hoisted their latest division title banner at Tropicana Field.
And, they did it with Guthrie (1-0) outdoing last year’s AL Cy Young Award runner-up. Rays newcomers Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon, meanwhile, each went 0 for 4.
Brian Roberts hit a two-run triple off Price (0-1).