The Chicago Cubs have shown plenty of spirit through the early days of the 2023 season.

The Seattle Mariners already have experienced their share of frustrating moments.

Following a walk-off win in the opener of a three-game series on Monday, the Cubs will try to hand the visiting Mariners a third consecutive loss on Tuesday night.

Chicago beat Milwaukee to open the season, then lost three straight. Since then, the Cubs are 4-1 — a stretch that included two seven-run victories, a 2-0 win and Monday’s 3-2, 10-inning triumph over Seattle.

Veteran additions Dansby Swanson (.333 batting average), Eric Hosmer (.320), Trey Mancini and Cody Bellinger are contributing, along with returning stars in Ian Happ (.333) and Nico Hoerner (.341), whose third hit Monday drove home the winning run.

All together, Chicago has shown signs of swagger and confidence not often seen while losing a combined 179 games the previous two years.

“The more you size yourself up against really good players, and teams. … You see how you measure up,” Chicago manager David Ross said.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are up to the challenge on this team and are not going to back down from anyone.”

The Mariners, though, have dropped seven of their first 11 games on this follow-up to the franchise’s first playoff appearance in 21 seasons. Five of those defeats have come by one or two runs, and the past two in extra innings. Seattle had just six hits on Monday and is 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position in the last two contests.

However, Jarred Kelenic has enjoyed a solid start for the Mariners. With his tying homer in the ninth inning Monday, Kelenic is 5-for-12 with three RBIs in his last three games.

Scheduled Tuesday starter Chris Flexen (0-1, 3.00 ERA) began the season in the Mariners’ bullpen, where he allowed a run over four innings during a 9-4 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on March 31. Then, when Robbie Ray suffered a flexor strain, Flexen was put into the starting rotation, where he allowed a two-run homer, one other hit and two walks over five innings of a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on April 5.

“I’m just falling right back into a role that I’ve been in before, and the job doesn’t change,” the right-hander told the Mariners’ official website.

He appeared in 64 games and made 53 starts during the past two seasons.

“Whether it’s out of the bullpen or as a starter, it’s to compete and win a ballgame and help the ballclub,” he said.

Mancini, Hosmer and Swanson are a combined 6-for-15 vs. Flexen.

Chicago, meanwhile, will turn to right-hander Hayden Wesneski (0-0, 5.79), who got plenty of run support during its 12-5 win at Cincinnati on April 4, but the right-hander hopes for a more efficient outing Tuesday.

Against the Reds, Wesneski allowed three runs, six hits and two walks while striking out four through 4 2/3 innings.

“He’ll be better,” Ross said. “(The last outing was) probably not his best.”

Wesneski has never faced anybody on the current Seattle roster.

–Field Level Media

Atlanta right-hander Kyle Wright, who won 21 games a year ago, will come off the injured list and make his first start of the season when the Braves host the Cincinnati Reds in the second game of a three-game series on Tuesday night.

Wright, the team’s first-round draft choice in 2017, had a breakthrough season in 2022 when he went 21-5 with a 3.19 ERA and finished 10th in the NL Cy Young voting. He struck out 174 and walked 53 in 180 1/3 innings.

Wright will be opposed by Cincinnati right-hander Luis Cessa (0-0. 3.38).

Wright has been on the injured list since experiencing right-shoulder inflammation this spring. Wright made one rehab start for Triple-A Gwinnett and worked six innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. He has one career appearance against the Reds and got the win by giving up only two hits over six scoreless innings on April 9, 2022.

Getting Wright back will be a big plus for the Braves, who have been without ace Max Fried since he strained his hamstring in the season opener.

Cessa will make his second start of the season. He left his first appearance with a 3-1 lead against Chicago but became the victim of a blown save as the Cubs won 12-5 last Tuesday. Cessa pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed two runs on four hits, two strikeouts and three walks.

“They had a good game plan against me,” Cessa said afterward. “They hit some balls hard, but I had a good defense behind me. It was a tough day for the bullpen.”

Cessa joined Cincinnati’s starting rotation last August and remained there after the team lost numerous starters to injuries or trades. His last nine appearances were as a starter, and he went 1-3 with a 3.77 ERA. He played for Mexico in the World Baseball Classic this spring.

This will be Cessa’s ninth appearance and first career start against Atlanta. He is 0-0 with a 4.82 ERA in 9 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and five walks in his career against the Braves.

The Braves ended a three-game losing streak with Monday’s 5-4, 10-inning win.

Atlanta’s hero in the win was catcher Sean Murphy, who had two doubles and a two-run, game-winning home run. Murphy was acquired from Oakland in the offseason and was excited with his first homer of the season.

“My first one,” Murphy said. “I couldn’t be happier than to do it here. I was trying to get (designated runner Austin Riley) over, and I got it pretty good.”

Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said, “I’m so happy for him. You come over to a new team and you want to do good. He’s been such a great teammate, and I’m happy he could have a night like this.”

Both teams are missing players. Cincinnati’s Joey Votto (shoulder surgery), Nick Senzel (toe surgery), Tony Santillan (lower-back stress fracture), Luke Weaver (right-elbow flexor strain) and Lucas Sims (lower-back spasms) are on rehab assignments in Triple-A Louisville.

In addition to Fried, the Braves are missing Michael Harris (lower-back strain). Raisel Iglesias (shoulder) is on the injured list and catcher Travis d’Arnaud is in concussion protocol.

–Field Level Media

The 11th game of the season doesn’t have the intensity of an elimination game in a playoff series.

But the New York Mets still were glad to beat the San Diego Padres on Monday night.

The Mets will look to clinch a series win Tuesday night when they host the Padres in the middle game of a three-game set.

David Peterson (0-1, 6.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Mets against Ryan Weathers (0-0, 3.60 ERA) in a battle of left-handers.

Max Scherzer grinded through five innings and combined with four relievers on a two-hitter for the Mets on Monday night, when Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor each had a two-run double in a 5-0 win.

The game was the first between the Mets and Padres since last Oct. 9, when Joe Musgrove and a pair of relievers combined on a one-hit shutout as San Diego eliminated New York with a 6-0 win in Game 3 of a National League wild-card series.

The decisive win by the Padres symbolized the success they enjoyed last season against the Mets. Counting the wild-card series, San Diego went 6-3 against New York, outscoring the Mets 52-31.

Despite the lopsided margin of victory Monday, New York didn’t have an easy time against the Padres, who worked six walks and fouled off 32 pitches, including 25 against Scherzer.

The Mets didn’t put the game away until the seventh, when they scored three runs on four hits, two of which traveled about 150 feet combined up the third-base line. Luis Guillorme’s bunt single and Tomas Nido’s squibber bookended a sacrifice fly by Eduardo Escobar. Lindor delivered his run-scoring double with two outs.

“I think we struggled in both series against them last year and in the playoffs, so it’s nice to play well against them,” McNeil said. “They’re a really good team. We’ll probably run into them again — maybe in the postseason, we’ll see. But they’re a good team. It’s nice to get that win.”

The loss was the first shutout defeat of the season for the Padres, who entered Monday tied for second in the National League with 50 runs scored and fresh off taking three of four from the Atlanta Braves, whom they outscored 25-14.

But San Diego was 0-for-13 with runners on base Monday night. The six walks the Padres drew were their most in more than 12 years.

“Recently we’ve been pretty good about that — put some pressure on the pitcher (and) either draw some walks (or) string some hits together and get some big hits,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “We just couldn’t do it tonight.”

Peterson didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent start last Wednesday, when he gave up five runs over four innings as the Mets fell to the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6. Weathers hasn’t pitched since his season debut April 3, when he allowed two runs over five innings in the Padres’ 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Peterson gave up one run in one inning of relief in his lone regular-season appearance against the Padres last July 24. He also surrendered one run over two innings in two relief outings in the wild-card series.

Weathers has never opposed the Mets. His father, relief pitcher David Weathers, pitched for New York from 2002-04.

–Field Level Media

After feasting on inferior competition over the first three series this season, the Tampa Bay Rays played a rival American League East opponent for the first time on Monday.

The result was the same against the Boston Red Sox, but it was Rays manager Kevin Cash’s club’s toughest work of the season and the first time the Rays did not win by at least four runs.

The two teams will meet for the second time in their four-game series Tuesday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.

In a scoreless game in the eighth, Brandon Lowe slugged a solo shot to secure the Rays’ 10th consecutive win — the franchise’s best start ever to a season — in the 1-0 triumph.

It’s the first time since 1987 that a club has started a campaign with 10 straight victories.

“Every single time we play Boston, they always play us really tough,” said Lowe, who is 4-for-9 with three homers and nine RBIs in his past three games. “We always have really good games against them. We knew this one would be a battle.”

This season’s new schedule format means clubs in the same division will play six fewer times during the regular season.

“It definitely felt like a Rays-Red Sox game. I’m glad we’re not playing them 19 times,” Cash said.

Left-hander Shane McClanahan (2-0, 1.50 ERA) is one of four Tampa Bay starters with wins in both of his starts, along with newcomer Zach Eflin, Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen.

McClanahan — considered the club’s staff ace and the AL’s starting pitcher last season in the All-Star Game in Los Angeles — has rock-solid numbers through 12 innings so far as he prepares to face Boston.

In victories over the Detroit Tigers and Washington Nationals, he allowed two runs and nine hits. He has 12 strikeouts and five walks, with the opposition hitting .214 against him.

Across five career starts against Boston, he is 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA over 29 1/3 innings. Hitting only .222 against the lefty, the Red Sox have produced just three doubles and one homer while striking out 31 times.

Boston produced only three hits in Monday’s defeat but got a strong pitching performance from starter Nick Pivetta, who tossed five scoreless innings and gave up just three hits.

“I think overall it was a good baseball game — they pitched well, we pitched well,” Boston manager Alex Cora said. “It was good defense. Obviously, we didn’t win the game, but as far as the game, it was great. … Credit to them.”

Before the game, Cora said outfielder Adam Duvall — injured Sunday against Detroit while diving for a catch — has a fractured left wrist and is out indefinitely, but he added some good news.

“Just a fracture, that’s it. So we’re thrilled, no surgery,” said Cora. “Now it’s just put a cast on and then let it heal. He’ll be back whenever he’s ready.”

Fresh off a strong rehab outing Thursday at Double-A Portland, right-hander Garrett Whitlock will make his season debut for Boston on Tuesday.

Whitlock underwent right-hip surgery last September and started this season on the injured list.

In six career appearances (one start) against the Rays, he is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings.

Entering his third season, Whitlock is 12-6 with a 2.73 ERA in 77 appearances (nine starts). He has eight saves.

–Field Level Media

Alec Bohm arrived in spring training with about 15 extra pounds of muscle, and the bulked-up third baseman continued his torrid offensive pace in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 15-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday.

Bohm hit a three-run home run, singled twice, tied his career high with six RBI and ended the game hitting .351.

“I’m not trying to hit homers or muscle up,” Bohm said in a postgame interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia. “I’m just trying to put a good swing on it.”

The Phillies will look for their second straight win in the three-game series when they host the Marlins again on Tuesday evening.

After an inconsistent offense through the first nine games, the Phillies had 20 hits Monday, with 10 hits and nine runs against reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara.

“It’s just getting in there and competing,” Bohm said. “We did a good job of stringing together good at-bats.”

The Phillies will hand the ball to right-hander Aaron Nola (0-1, 7.45 ERA) on Tuesday. Nola is 5-8 with a 3.18 ERA in 20 career starts against the Marlins.

Phillies manager Rob Thomson inserted Bryson Stott into the leadoff spot and dropped Trea Turner to No. 2. They combined for five hits, four runs scored and an RBI.

“It really lengthens the lineup,” Thomson said of hitting Stott first. “It gets two guys at the top who get on base, steal bases and create havoc.”

Backup Garrett Stubbs started in place of catcher J.T. Realmuto but appeared to struggle running most of the game. Thomson said Stubbs strained a hamstring, and his immediate status for Tuesday and beyond is unknown.

“I told him, ‘Do not run,'” Thomson said.

The Marlins will look to rebound after a poor performance.

Yuli Gurriel had two hits, including a home run, Garrett Cooper added three hits and an RBI, and Luis Arraez chipped in with two hits for the Marlins, who fell behind 13-0 on Monday before scoring three times.

“I think he was just mechanically off. He’s human,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said of Alcantara. “Sometimes, you’re going to see games like this.”

With the game out of reach, Schumaker opted to pitch reliever Devin Smeltzer for the final four innings instead of going deeper into the bullpen.

Smeltzer gave up 10 hits and six runs, five earned, in four innings.

“That’s what he’s here for, to eat up innings when stuff like this happens,” Schumaker said.

Jesus Luzardo (1-0, 0.71 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Marlins. The left-hander is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three career starts against the Phillies.

In Luzardo’s last start, he was terrific in seven innings against the Minnesota Twins as he allowed five hits, one run and struck out 10.

“Filling up the zone and eliminating the walks — that’s something I focused on after the last outing, the four walks,” Luzardo said after his most recent outing. “Just filling up the zone, getting ahead and throwing first-pitch strikes. I feel like that’s something I struggled with last game.”

The Marlins will have right-hander George Soriano available on Tuesday. Soriano was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville, and JT Chargois was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique.

–Field Level Media

The Houston Astros stumbled into Pittsburgh having lost five of their previous seven games, but they looked more like the defending World Series champions in the series opener Monday.

Now the Astros will be looking to win three in a row for the first time this year when they continue their three-game series with the host Pirates on Tuesday night.

“That’s two in a row, and, hopefully, we can add to that (Tuesday),” Houston manager Dusty Baker said.

The Astros have been without star second baseman Jose Altuve, who had surgery for a broken right thumb after he was hurt in the World Baseball Classic.

Altuve is with the club in Pittsburgh, but that is not considered to be any sort of indication that anything has changed.

In the meantime, Baker, after using shortstop Jeremy Pena to bat leadoff in Altuve’s place, has switched to center fielder Chas McCormick after Pena hit .171 in that spot.

Baker said he wanted “to take some pressure off” Pena.

So far, so good.

McCormick is 3-for-9 the past two games atop the lineup. He had four RBIs Sunday against Minnesota, and a day later, he got on base twice with a double and a walk and was successful on a sacrifice bunt.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Dubon, who is filling in for Altuve at second, was 3-for-5 Monday with an RBI single and extended his hitting streak to six games.

Pittsburgh had won five of six before Monday, but found the defending champs difficult to handle.

The Pirates also were dealing with the news that budding star shortstop Oneil Cruz is expected to miss up to four months after having surgery on Sunday night for a broken ankle he suffered in a collision at home plate earlier in the day.

On Tuesday, Houston right-hander Cristian Javier (1-0, 3.27 ERA) is scheduled to start opposite Pittsburgh right-hander Mitch Keller (1-0, 3.86).

Javier is coming off a strong performance Wednesday against Detroit. He picked up the win after allowing one run and five hits in six innings, with five strikeouts and no walks.

Javier has never faced Pittsburgh.

Keller, who likewise has never faced the Astros, parlayed a strong second half of 2022 into a spot not only in the Pittsburgh rotation but also as the team’s Opening Day starter.

He didn’t win that first start, but came back Wednesday to beat the Boston Red Sox to finish a Pirates series sweep, giving up one run and four hits in seven innings, with seven strikeouts and two walks.

It was a bonus considering the Pittsburgh bullpen was a little overtaxed that day.

“Mitch was outstanding,” Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. “For him to give us seven strong and finish was really important. Outstanding work from him.”

Only two Red Sox players reached base in Keller’s first five innings, and he struck out the side in the fifth, part of a stretch where he retired 12 hitters in a row.

“Just attacking the zone,” Keller said. “The cutters to lefties were great. Sinkers were great to righties, too. Just filling it up, trying to throw as many strikes as possible.”

–Field Level Media

The Cleveland Guardians will try to win their third straight game overall and take the series against the visiting New York Yankees on Tuesday.

The Guardians opened the three-game set with a 3-2 win on Monday in which they mustered just four hits but drew nine walks and got a solid outing by Shane Bieber.

Josh Naylor hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning for the decisive run before Cleveland’s bullpen took care of the rest. Bieber (1-0) allowed five hits to go along with four strikeouts and three walks before being relieved by James Karinchak to start the eighth.

Karinchak gave up a triple to Gleyber Torres, but he induced Aaron Judge to pop out before striking out Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton to escape unscathed. Emmanuel Clase pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.

Torres went 2-for-3 with a run and a walk for New York, but no other Yankee had more than one hit.

With the game tied 2-2 in the seventh, Steven Kwan led off with a walk before stealing second. Amed Rosario walked before being forced out at second on Jose Ramirez’s groundout to shortstop. But Naylor followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Kwan.

Mike Zunino went 3-for-3 with three doubles, an RBI and a walk, while Myles Straw was the only other Guardian to record a hit.

Yankees reliever Ian Hamilton (0-1), who gave up the decisive run in the seventh, allowed a hit with three strikeouts and three walks over two innings.

The Yankees hope they get a much better outing from Tuesday’s starter, Gerrit Cole (2-0, 0.73 ERA), than they got out of Domingo German on Monday. German struggled mightily with his command, as he allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits to go along with five walks and no strikeouts in just three innings.

Cole was fantastic in each of his first two starts of the season. The right-hander pitched six shutout innings with 11 strikeouts and two walks in a 5-0 win over the San Francisco Giants on March 30. He then gave up just a run on three hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in 6 1/3 innings in a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies this past Wednesday.

“Well, he’s Gerrit Cole,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said after Cole’s last start. “He walks out there with a lot of equipment but I feel like he’s been in a good spot since Day One of spring training and he’s carried it right into the season.

“He had a little bit of everything going today. I thought his fastball was really good, command-wise. He was sharp, and he’s throwing the ball real well.”

Cole is 5-2 with a 3.15 ERA with 60 strikeouts and 13 walks in eight career starts spanning 54 1/3 innings against Cleveland.

The Guardians will counter with right-hander Hunter Gaddis (0-0, 3.72 ERA), who allowed just one hit to go along with four strikeouts and two walks over six scoreless innings in a 6-4 win in 10 innings over Oakland last Wednesday.

“He was tremendous. He really pitched well,” Cleveland manager Terry Francona said. “We’ll take that every time. That was really fun to watch. He was fired up, as he should be.”

Gaddis will be making just the fifth start of his career and his first against the Yankees.

–Field Level Media

Max Muncy busted out of a season-long slump with a grand slam and a three-run home run, Julio Urias threw six sharp innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers opened a three-game road series against the rival San Francisco Giants with a 9-1 romp Monday night.

Muncy also singled, all after Mookie Betts had led off the game with his second homer of the season for the Dodgers, who snapped a three-game losing streak.

Wilmer Flores homered for the Giants, his second of the year, but couldn’t prevent a third loss in the last four games for San Francisco and the third consecutive season-opening defeat for ace Logan Webb.

Thanks to Betts’ homer, which came on the game’s sixth pitch, the Dodgers led 1-0 entering the third before two singles set the stage for Muncy’s first homer, a three-run shot.

Flores got the Giants within 4-1 in the fourth, but the visitors broke the game open in the seventh when, with two outs, Betts singled in James Outman, who had walked.

Freddie Freeman and Will Smith followed with singles to load the bases, and Muncy in turn emptied them and made it a blowout at 9-1 with his third career grand slam to complete the game’s scoring.

The two homers raised his career total at Oracle Park to nine, the second most at the site of any opponent. He has 13 career homers at Coors Field in Denver.

Muncy finished 3-for-3 with a walk after having gone 1-for-13 with five strikeouts in his previous four games. For the season, he’d been 4-for-33 (.121) with one homer and two RBIs.

Urias (3-0) limited the Giants to one run and four hits in his six innings. He walked two and struck out eight.

Webb (0-3) also was pulled after six innings, during which he served up four runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out six.

Betts had three hits, two RBIs and scored three times for the Dodgers, who outhit the Giants 10-7. Freeman scored twice after two hits.

J.D. Davis had two of the Giants’ seven hits on a night when Flores’ homer was their only extra-base hit.

–Field Level Media

The Washington Nationals got at least one hit from everyone in the starting lineup while their pitching staff held the Los Angeles Angels hitless after the third inning on the way to a 6-4 victory Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.

Five hitters each had two hits of the Nationals’ 14 hits as they rallied from an early 4-1 deficit. Four Nationals relievers followed starter Patrick Corbin and combined to shut down the Angels offense over the final four innings. Kyle Finnegan pitched the ninth for his second save of the season.

Corbin (1-2) got the victory over Angels reliever Tucker Davidson (0-1).

Angels third baseman Gio Urshela doubled home Luis Rengifo with one out in the third inning to give Los Angeles a 4-1 lead. But the Angels did not get another hit.

The Nationals, meanwhile, piled up 12 singles and two doubles, getting two hits each from Alex Call, Jeimer Candelario, Joey Meneses, Dominic Smith and Victor Robles.

The game started promisingly for the Angels as they put pressure on Corbin at the outset. They loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the first and cashed in on a two-run single by Rengifo for a 2-0 lead.

The Nationals got one run back against Angels starter Jose Suarez in the second inning after Smith led off with a single. Two outs later, Smith went to second on a single by Robles and then scored on a single by CJ Abrams.

The Angels increased their lead to 4-1 in the third inning on Hunter Renfroe’s solo homer and Urshela’s double, but the Nationals rallied in the fourth when things fell apart for Suarez.

Michael Chavis led off the inning, and with a full count, Suarez was called for a pitch clock violation, allowing Chavis to be credited with a walk. Two outs later, Chavis was on third base when Call reached on a bunt single up the third-base line. Chavis, however, stayed on the bag at third.

With a chance to escape, Suarez got Lane Thomas to hit a slow chopper to second. But the second baseman Rengifo, in his haste to make the throw to first, bobbled the ball as he took it out of his glove and then threw the ball away.

Thomas was given an infield single and Rengifo was tagged with a throwing error that allowed Thomas to take second. It also opened the door for Candelerio, who followed with a two-run single to tie the game at 4-4.

The Nationals took their first lead of the night at 5-4 in the fifth inning against Davidson after Keibert Ruiz led off with a double and later scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Abrams.

–Field Level Media