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Max Meyer pitched six scoreless innings and struck out a career-high 14 as the host Miami Marlins cooled off the Cincinnati Reds 6-3 on Monday night. The Reds were coming off a 24-2 win over Baltimore on Sunday, but they managed just five hits and no walks against Meyer in the opener of a three-game series. Miami got a three-run, pinch-hit homer from Kyle Stowers and a solo blast from Eric Wagaman. Jesus Tinoco pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his second save of the season. The loss went to starter Nick Lodolo (2-2), who came off of paternity leave Monday. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits, two walks and three runs. Gavin Lux led Cincinnati's offense with a two-run homer. Two Marlins players made their MLB debuts Monday: catcher Agustin Ramirez, 23, and DH Ronny Simon, 25. Ramirez, who got an infield single in his first at-bat, went 2-for-3 with a double, walk, steal and run. He was also charged with a passed ball. Simon, a switch-hitter, got an RBI single in his first at-bat, driving in Ramirez. Simon finished 1-for-4. It was a long time coming for Simon, who played 558 games in seven minor league seasons. He was hitting .354 at Triple-A Jacksonville when he got the call. The Marlins have now had six players make their MLB debuts this season, and we're still in April. Reds catcher Austin Wynns was not in Monday's starting lineup. It was a routine rest day for Wynns, but it might have been the first time a player was rested after going 6-for-7 with six RBIs the previous day. Miami opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning. Otto Lopez stroked a leadoff single and stole second. Ramirez got his infield hit, and Lopez scored on Jesus Sanchez's single. Simon's RBI single capped the rally. The Marlins stretched their lead to 3-0 in the fifth on Wagaman's 407-foot homer to center. Stowers made it 6-0 in the third as he hit the first pinch-hit homer of his young career. With two outs, he went the other way and lofted his homer 363 feet to left. The Reds scored three runs in the eighth as Austin Hays produced an RBI groundout, and Lux lifted his two-run shot to center. --Field Level Media

The Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees competed in a tight five-game American League Championship Series about six months ago, and both teams are off to decent starts to create a possibility of postseason trips. For the first time since Juan Soto hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the 10th inning of Game 5 of the ALCS, the Yankees head to Cleveland for the start of a three-game series. The Yankees have started their first AL pennant defense since 2009 by winning 14 of their first 22 games and are on their best run of the early weeks. After dropping five of seven on April 6-13, the Yankees are 6-1 in their past seven games. New York is off to a strong start with outfielder Soto playing across town for the Mets, fellow slugger Giancarlo Stanton out indefinitely with elbow injuries and ace pitcher Gerrit Cole out for the season following Tommy John surgery on his elbow. Without Cole, the Yankees' rotation owns a 4.50 ERA this season, but in the past seven games, New York's starters are pitching to a 2.70 ERA. On Sunday, Max Fried allowed two hits in 7 2/3 innings of a 4-0 win over the host Tampa Bay Rays at Steinbrenner Field, where the Yankees won three of four in their spring training home ballpark. Fried allowed an infield single that was originally ruled an error by first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and gave up another hit in the eighth shortly after the initial scoring call was changed. Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham and Austin Wells homered for the Yankee while Aaron Judge reached base for the 18th straight game, though he had a homer ruled to be a foul ball. "We're playing really good as a team right now," Bellinger said. "It's fun to be a part of." The Yankees will be without Grisham on Monday after he was placed on the paternity list, while infielder Jorbit Vivas was recalled. Cleveland went 3-6 on a season-opening nine-game road trip against the Kansas City Royals, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels but is 9-3 over its past 12 contests. Seven of those wins are by three runs or less, including a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the finale of a six-game road trip on Sunday. Kyle Manzardo hit a two-run homer and added the tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th after closer Emmanuel Clase allowed three runs in the ninth. Steven Kwan also hit a two-run homer as the Guardians homered for the 19th time in their past 15 games. "We have been playing good ball," Cleveland starter Logan Allen said. "We're happy to get out of here with a sweep, and we're excited to go back home and keep it rolling." Cleveland's rotation holds a 2.77 ERA in its past 12 games and Gavin Williams (1-1, 4.58 ERA) opens the series with the Yankees. Williams earned his first win this season when he held the White Sox to one run in five innings on April 10. However, on Wednesday he was tagged for five runs in 6 2/3 innings of a 9-1 loss at Baltimore. Williams allowed three runs in 4 1/3 innings during his only previous start against the Yankees, a 6-0 loss on Aug. 22, 2024, in New York. He also allowed three runs in 2 1/3 innings when the right-hander started Game 4 of the ALCS, which New York won 8-6 though Williams got a no-decision. Clarke Schmidt (0-0, 4.76) will make his second start after opening the season on the injured list with a shoulder injury. Schmidt allowed three runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings and took a no-decision Wednesday against the Royals. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA in four career appearances (three starts) against Cleveland. He also has an 0-1 record in three postseason appearances (one start) against the Guardians, including a start in Game 3 of last season's ALCS when he allowed two runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings of a no-decision. --Field Level Media

Edgar Quero and Andrew Vaughn each drove in two runs as the visiting Chicago White Sox scored six runs over the final three innings to rally for an 8-4 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday afternoon. Vaughn highlighted his 2-for-5 performance with a two-run home run in the eighth, helping the White Sox break a six-game losing streak and end an 0-8 start on the road this season. The White Sox also won when trailing after six innings for the first time since the 2023 season -- as they went 0-79 when trailing after six innings in 2024. Chicago's Matt Thaiss went deep in the first inning as part of a three-hit day while Luis Robert Jr. singled and scored twice. Brandon Eisert (1-0) pitched 1 2/3 innings in relief of Massachusetts native Sean Burke to nab the win. Wilyer Abreu hit a three-run homer and Kristian Campbell went 2-for-4 with a double for Boston, which had won three straight and four of five. The White Sox flipped the score during a three-run seventh, loading the bases with nobody out following Lenyn Sosa's leadoff single and two hit batsmen by Boston reliever Zack Kelly (1-1). After Justin Wilson came out of Boston's bullpen, Brooks Baldwin's sacrifice bunt plated a run and Quero's pinch-hit, two-run single through the drawn-in infield put Chicago back in the lead at 5-4. In the eighth, Robert ripped a leadoff single and Vaughn crushed a two-run homer over the Green Monster in left-center against Boston's Liam Hendriks, who made his first major league appearance since June 2023 following Tommy John surgery. Baldwin hit a one-out single and scored a ninth-inning insurance run when Thaiss was hit by a pitch with the bases full. The visitors tagged Boston starter Tanner Houck with a pair of two-out runs in the first. After Robert drew a walk, Thaiss skied a two-run shot that scraped over the right-field wall. The Red Sox answered quickly with a three-run spot in the latter half of the inning. After Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman reached base on consecutive errors, Abreu deposited a three-run homer into the right-field bullpen. Two-out offense helped Boston extend its lead to 4-2 in the second. Blake Sabol knocked a double into the right-field corner before scoring on Jarren Duran's knock through the right side. Burke walked Devers and hit Bregman, but stranded the bases loaded to keep the game close. Houck settled in to finish six innings of two-run, three-hit ball with seven strikeouts while walking two. The Boston righty did not allow a hit after the second, retiring the final five batters he faced. It was a similar finish for Burke, who allowed just two hits over the last three of his five innings. --Field Level Media

One of the greatest rivalries in 21st-century baseball continues on Sunday when Justin Verlander and the San Francisco Giants close out a three-game road series against Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif. The teams have split the first two games of the set, each winning a pitchers' duel. One day after the Angels got a combined shutout from Tyler Anderson and three relievers, the Giants overcame two home runs by Trout with a combined six-hit effort of Landen Roupp and two teammates. Trout's homers, both solo shots, were his seventh and eighth of the season. They came after he had gone 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in the series opener. Trout debuted for the Angels in 2011, six years after Verlander threw his first big-league pitch for the Detroit Tigers. They have shared American League All-Star Game appearances five times. Each won the Rookie of the Year award, and while Trout has earned three MVP trophies, Verlander has one to go with three Cy Youngs. Trout has gone head-to-head with the right-hander 53 times with just five hits and eight walks, a .116 average that is the slugger's lowest against any pitcher he has seen more than 24 times. Trout has struck out 11 times in those plate appearances; only nine pitchers have fanned him more often. Trout has two homers in the matchup versus Verlander. They haven't faced off since Verlander hung an 0-for-3 on his rival in April 2022 while pitching for the Houston Astros. Verlander (0-1, 6.75 ERA) has yet to have that kind of success against most hitters this season. He has failed to finish the sixth inning in any of his four starts and suffered his first loss as a Giant when he allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings at Philadelphia on Tuesday. The 42-year-old had a lead mid-game in each of his last two starts but couldn't hold onto it. "You feel like things aren't quite going your way," he said after his start against the Phillies, "and then you find yourself in a situation where the team kind of gives you a chance to win. Then, you give up a couple of singles that aren't really well-struck, and the wheels kind of fall off a little bit. It's tough." The Giants have won two of his four starts, but both were high-scoring affairs - 10-9 over the Seattle Mariners and 8-6 over the Cincinnati Reds. He's gone 17-11 with a 3.51 ERA in 34 career starts against the Angels. Still in search of career win No. 263, Verlander is scheduled to duel Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (0-3, 4.13), who also has yet to win for his new team. The 33-year-old is coming off his best effort of the season in a 4-0 road loss to the Texas Rangers, limiting the hosts to one run and three hits in six innings. All four of his outings so far for the Angels have been on the road. Kikuchi, signed as a free agent in the offseason after pitching last season for the Toronto Blue Jays and Astros, sees a positive in his recent form. "I've spent the week reviewing my data and footage to adjust my pitching form," he said of his preparation for the loss at Texas. "I had my fastballs traveling in a satisfactory way. That's one thing I've been working on that is starting to click." Kikuchi has faced the Giants just twice in his career, going 0-0 with a 3.38 ERA. -Field Level Media