Mike Trout’s three-run home run in the fifth inning capped a rally from an early four-run deficit and helped the Los Angeles Angels to a 9-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.

Trout’s homer was one of six in the game, three by each team. Bo Bichette and Matt Chapman hit two-run shots in the third inning to give Toronto a 4-0 lead, and George Springer’s solo homer in the fifth made it 5-3.

The Angels got a home run from Luis Rengifo leading off the bottom of the fifth, setting the stage for Trout later in the inning. Trout is off to a hot start, having hit safely in seven straight, going hitless only on Opening Day.

Overall, Trout is hitting .346 with three homers, eight RBIs and a 1.297 OPS.

The Angels’ third home run of the night came from Hunter Renfroe, a two-run blast in the eighth inning that was his first of the season and first with Los Angeles.

Reliever Jaime Barria (1-0), the second of six Angels pitchers, threw one scoreless inning to earn the victory over Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios (0-2).

The Blue Jays took an early lead, scoring four runs in the third inning against Angels starter Tyler Anderson.

The Angels got one run back in the bottom of the inning against Berrios. Gio Urshela led off with an infield single, took third on an error by Bichette at shortstop and scored on a groundout by Rengifo.

The Angels added another two runs in the fourth inning after Trout walked and went to third on a double by Shohei Ohtani. Trout scored on a groundout by Anthony Rendon, and Ohtani scored on a double by Renfroe, cutting the Blue Jays’ lead to 4-3.

Springer’s homer in the top of the fifth make it 5-3, setting up the Angels’ decisive rally in the bottom of the inning.

After Rengifo’s homer cut the Angels’ deficit to 5-4, Matt Thaiss reached on an error by Berrios and Taylor Ward singled, bringing up Trout. Trout then unloaded on a fastball from Toronto reliever Adam Cimber, hitting a 427-foot shot left center to give the Angels a 7-5 lead.

–Field Level Media

Stone Garrett set career highs of four hits and five RBIs, Alex Call had two hits and two runs and the Washington Nationals held on to beat the Colorado Rockies 7-6 on Saturday night in Denver.

Garrett had a home run, two doubles and a single to power Washington’s offense. Trevor Williams (1-1) allowed two runs on five hits and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings and Carl Edwards Jr. picked up his first save for Washington.

Mike Moustakas homered, Yonathan Daza had three hits and Charlie Blackmon singled for his 1,600th career hit for the Rockies.

The Nationals got on the board in the third when Victor Robles led off with a bloop double that Daza nearly came up with in center field. He made a diving attempt and had it in his glove before it rolled out. Colorado challenged the call but it was confirmed upon review.

Robles moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by CJ Abrams, Call reached on an infield single and Garrett homered into Washington’s bullpen to make it 3-0. It was Garrett’s first homer of the season.

Abrams drew a one-out walk, Call doubled and Garrett followed with a two-run single to left to make it 5-0 Nationals in the fifth.

Rockies starter Austin Gomber (0-2) allowed five runs on seven hits and struck out five in 4 2/3 innings.

The Rockies broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Harold Castro led off with a single, went to second on a groundout, moved to third on a flyout and scored on Brian Serven’s double.

Colorado scored again in the sixth when Daza led off with a double and moved to third on a flyout. Hunter Harvey relieved Williams and allowed a sacrifice fly to Ryan McMahon before getting the third out.

Robles brought in Lane Thomas from third with a sacrifice bunt in the eighth inning before the Rockies nearly rallied in the ninth.

Moustakas hit a two-run homer, his first of the season, and Elias Diaz had a two-run single before Edwards struck out Kris Bryant to end the game.

–Field Level Media

Alek Thomas matched his career high of four hits and Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte each homered to help the Arizona Diamondbacks register a 12-8 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night in Phoenix.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had three hits and three RBIs, Marte had three hits and two RBIs and Josh Rojas had three hits and one RBI as the Diamondbacks beat the Dodgers for the second straight night. Perdomo had three RBIs and two hits as Arizona racked up season highs for runs and hits (17).

James Outman and Jason Heyward homered and Freddie Freeman had four hits for Los Angeles, which has dropped two of three to open the four-game series.

The Diamondbacks are 4-3 against the Dodgers this season after being just 5-14 against their National League West rivals last season.

Thomas was 0-for-16 this season before breaking out with the 4-for-4 outing. He had a triple, scored twice and drove in one run.

Kyle Nelson (1-0) was credited with the victory for the Diamondbacks.

Los Angeles’ Noah Syndergaard (0-1) gave up six runs and eight hits over four innings.

Arizona’s Zach Davies departed after 4 1/3 innings due to a strained left oblique. He gave up five runs and five hits, walking four and striking out three before being replaced by Nelson.

The Dodgers scored four runs in the first on Max Muncy’s RBI single, J.D. Martinez’s sacrifice fly and Outman’s two-run homer. The blast was Outman’s third of the season.

Gurriel’s run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning got Arizona on the board. The Diamondbacks moved ahead with four second-inning runs as Perdomo and Marte each smacked two-run homers. The blasts were the first of the season for both players.

Gabriel Moreno had an RBI single in the third to put Arizona up 6-4. The Dodgers answered in the fourth when Mookie Betts walked with the bases loaded against Davies.

Thomas’ run-scoring single in the fifth gave the Diamondbacks a 7-5 lead. Los Angeles moved back within one in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Betts and Freeman.

Arizona increased its lead to 9-6 in the sixth as Gurriel ripped a run-scoring triple and scored on Christian Walker’s sacrifice fly.

The Diamondbacks tacked on three runs in the seventh on a run-scoring double by Perdomo and run-scoring singles from Rojas and Gurriel.

Heyward homered in the eighth for the Dodgers, his third in his past four games. Will Smith had a run-scoring single in the ninth for Los Angeles.

–Field Level Media

Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zach Davies departed Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning due to a strained left oblique.

Davies winced after striking out Will Smith for the first out of the inning. He then threw a curveball for a strike to Max Muncy and was visibly affected and dropped into a crouch on the mound. He eventually walked off the field.

Left-hander Kyle Nelson entered and induced Muncy to fly out two pitches later to finish the at-bat.

Davies left with the Diamondbacks leading 6-5. He gave up five runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out three.

Davies, 30, is 0-0 with a 5.79 ERA in two starts this season, both against Los Angeles.

–Field Level Media

The streaking Tampa Bay Rays have swept aside everything in their path to open the 2023 season.

The Rays have won all eight of their contests so far, and they can tie the 2003 Kansas City Royals for the hottest start in the MLB wild-card era with another victory Sunday against the Oakland Athletics in St. Petersburg, Fla.

The Rays enter the game with a plus-46 run differential after winning their first eight games by four runs or more.

That run differential through eight games is the largest in the modern era of MLB, eclipsing the plus-40 marks recorded by the 1955 Chicago White Sox and tied by the 1999 Cleveland club.

The Rays also are on their longest winning streak since May 2021, when they won 11 games in a row.

Tampa Bay has outscored its opponents 64-18 in their season-starting blitz — although they’ve faced the Detroit Tigers, Washington Nationals and the A’s, teams which combined for winning percentage of just .372 in 2022.

“You never set your expectations this high,” Tampa Bay hitting coach Chad Mottola told Tampa Bay’s WDAE radio. “But our hitters are feeding off of each other right now.

“They’re getting better pitches to drive and accepting the walks when they’re given. Things are definitely clicking right now.”

The Rays hit three more home runs Saturday in their 11-0 rout of Oakland, giving them 21 for the young season. When slugging second baseman Brandon Lowe connected for a three-run shot in the sixth inning Saturday, he became the 11th Ray to go deep in 2023.

“That goes to show that everyone one-through-nine has been driving the ball,” Mottola said. “But it’s a bit surprising when a guy with that much power (Lowe) is our 11th guy to hit a home run.”

Right-hander James Kaprielian (0-0, 9.00 ERA) — a former first-round pick of the New York Yankees — will take the ball as the A’s hope he can slow Tampa Bay’s juggernaut offense.

“Next man up,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay told A’s Cast. “We’ve got a lot of young arms, and it might take some time for those young arms to reach their maturity.”

In his most recent start, on April 3, Kaprielian was tagged for five runs on seven hits in five innings in a wild 12-11 loss against the Cleveland Guardians.

The A’s have started by losing two of three games to both the Los Angeles Angels and the Guardians before dropping the first two games of this series against Tampa Bay.

Drew Rasmussen (1-0, 0.00), a right-hander, will start for the Rays on Sunday. He held the Nationals to two hits over six shutout innings with seven strikeouts and no walks in a 6-2 win on April 3.

In his only career start against Oakland, Rasmussen earned the victory on May 2, 2022, giving up one run and throwing five innings of one-hit ball.

–Field Level Media

Matthew Boyd was a starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers from 2015-21.

After one season with the Seattle Mariners, he is back in the Tigers’ rotation.

The left-hander will make his first start at Detroit’s Comerica Park since Aug. 29, 2021, on Sunday in the finale of a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

Boyd, who is 0-0 with a 4.15 ERA this season, underwent surgery that September to repair the flexor tendon in his left arm. He signed with San Francisco as a free agent after the 2021 season but was traded to Seattle before his season debut. He made 10 relief appearances for the Mariners, going 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in 13 1/3 innings.

He re-signed with Detroit during the offseason on a one-year, $10 million contract.

“We love Matt Boyd,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “Even though he was only a year away, it felt like a long time since he had been back. This is a different team and different organization than it was when he was a Tiger previously.”

The Tigers brought back Boyd to provide another veteran in the rotation. In his season debut, Boyd allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings at Houston on Monday.

“He’s got real weapons,” Hinch said. “He can get both sides (lefties and righties) out. The swing and miss in the spring was really good. He’s another starter than we’re trying to ramp into the season a tick slow to preserve the transition from his injury to the bullpen and back to the rotation. But I feel good the day he pitches.”

Boyd is 2-2 with a 5.18 ERA in five career starts against Boston.

The Red Sox will counter on Sunday with right-hander Kutter Crawford (0-1, 15.75 ERA), who was battered in his season debut by Pittsburgh on Monday, giving up seven runs in four innings.

“I thought it was pretty awful,” Crawford said. “Physically I felt good, but just didn’t command the ball like I need to. Didn’t execute pitches when I needed to. … Just not a good performance on my part.”

Crawford has thrown only one-third of an inning in his career against the Tigers, giving up three runs and three hits.

The Red Sox have won the first two games of this series, thanks to the big bats of Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall. Devers has three homers in the series, including a pair on Saturday in a 14-5 Boston romp. Devers hit his fifth career grand slam to highlight a six-run second inning, and Duvall added a pair of doubles in the game.

Duvall is batting .483 with four homers and 14 RBIs this season.

“That’s my job, just to slug and drive runners in,” said Duvall, who signed a one-year, $7 million contract with Boston as a free agent during the offseason. “So it feels good to come in and do your job. We had some extra base hits today, and we’ve just got to keep the bats rolling.”

Detroit started a left-hander, Joey Wentz, on Saturday, so Red Sox manager Alex Cora will use a similar lineup against Boyd for the series finale. He has Rob Refsnyder, who drove in two runs on Saturday, in the leadoff spot against lefties.

“We’ve got to mix and match with lefties,” Cora said. “We’ve got a lot of them coming up — one tomorrow, three in Tampa and three more against the Angels. We’ve just got to find ways to mix and match, and it starts with Ref. You put Ref in the leadoff spot in front of those (sluggers) and he’s going to do everything possible to get on base.”

–Field Level Media

Right-hander Michael Wacha surrendered just two hits over six shutout innings while matching his career high of 10 strikeouts on Saturday night to lead the visiting San Diego Padres to a 4-1 win over the Atlanta Braves.

Wacha also issued a walk in running his record to 2-0. Josh Hader rallied from a two-on, no-out jam with three straight strikeouts to pick up his second save in as many nights and his third of the season.

Juan Soto gave the Padres a 1-0 lead in the third with a solo homer to right off Braves starter Charlie Morton (1-1), who gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits with three walks and six strikeouts over five innings.

The Padres then scored two runs thanks to a pair of Atlanta errors in the fourth — and had a third taken off the scoreboard. The Padres scored their final run in the ninth on a wild pitch.

Jake Cronenworth opened the fourth with a single off Morton, stole second with one out and moved to third on catcher Travis d’Arnaud’s throwing error. Cronenworth then broke for the plate on Rougned Odor’s sharp grounder to second and scored ahead of Ozzie Albies’ throw to the plate. Ha-Seong Kim followed with a double inside the third base bag, moving Odor to third.

What followed was one of the stranger plays of the young season.

Trent Grisham hit a sharp grounder to Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson, who threw home in an attempt to keep Odor from scoring. But d’Arnaud could not handle Olson’s throw, and the ball went to the backstop with Kim following Odor to the plate — apparently making it 4-0.

But plate umpire Chad Fairchild never ruled Odor safe. The Braves appealed, d’Arnaud stepped on the plate with the ball and Odor was ruled out for failing to touch the plate — reducing the score to 3-0.

The Braves got a run back in the bottom of the eighth when Sam Hilliard’s grounder up the middle off Luis Garcia hit the second base bag and rolled into shallow center for a double. Hilliard scored on Olson’s third hit of the game.

The Braves’ rally ended when Padres third baseman Manny Machado made a diving stop of Austin Riley’s sharp grounder and threw to second from his knees to get an inning-ending forceout.

Odor opened the Padres ninth with a double off Danny Young, moved to third on a single by Grisham and scored on a wild pitch by Kirby Yates.

–Field Level Media

Nolan Arenado hit his 300th career home run and Jordan Montgomery allowed three hits over seven scoreless innings to propel the visiting St. Louis Cardinals to a 6-0 victory at Milwaukee on Saturday night, snapping the Brewers’ six-game winning streak.

Arenado’s two-run shot, his first of the season, triggered a four-run third inning that put the Cardinals up 6-0. Paul Goldschmidt opened the frame with a double and Arenado then extended his hitting streak to eight games, sending a 1-0 changeup 394 feet to left.

Montgomery (2-0) struck out nine and walked two for the Cardinals’ first quality start of the season.

The Brewers loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth against Zack Thompson, but he fanned Luke Voit to end the threat. Drew VerHagen finished with a perfect ninth.

Brewers starter Eric Lauer (1-1) was tagged for six runs on seven hits in four innings, striking out four and walking three in a 93-pitch outing.

Rookie Jordan Walker, who also has hit safely in all eight games, hit his second homer of the season in the third, a two-run shot to left.

Montgomery retired the first seven hitters before rookie Joey Wiemer’s one-out double to right in the bottom half of the third. The Brewers loaded the bases on a single and walk, but Montgomery got Christian Yelich on an inning-ending bouncer to second.

The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first. Tommy Edman led off the game by beating out an infield single. He advanced on Dylan Carlson’s single, took third on Goldschmidt’s fly to right and came home on Arenado’s sacrifice fly to center. Willson Contreras’ bloop single to shallow right scored Carlson.

Arenado just missed a home run earlier in his first at-bat when his drive with two aboard curved just outside the left field foul pole.

–Field Level Media

Giancarlo Stanton homered and four New York Yankees pitchers combined on a four-hitter in a 4-1 road victory against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday night.

The series is even at one game apiece after the Orioles won Friday in their home opener.

New York starting pitcher Jhony Brito (2-0) lasted five innings to secure the victory. He gave up one run, three hits and two walks and struck out two.

Michael King worked two innings, followed by an inning each from Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes, who was credited with his second save.

Stanton went 2-for-4 and was the only player in the game with more than one hit. New York finished with seven hits and won despite matching its second-lowest run total of the season.

The Orioles scored first in the first inning on Anthony Santander’s sacrifice fly following singles by Cedric Mullins and Adley Rutschman.

The Yankees, who won on the road for the first time in two outings this season, tied the game in the fourth inning on Aaron Hicks’ two-out single.

Rookie Anthony Volpe tripled and scored on DJ LeMahieu’s double to open the fifth. Cole Irvin’s wild pitch put LeMahieu at third base, where he came home on Aaron Judge’s sacrifice fly.

Stanton’s third home run of the season was a solo shot that greeted reliever Austin Voth in the fifth for what turned out to be the game’s final run.

Irvin (0-2) was the losing pitcher. He lasted 4 2/3 innings and was charged with three runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts.

No Baltimore batter had more than one hit, though Rutschman reached base three times because he walked twice. The Orioles left seven runners on base.

Volpe had his first career triple. It marked his fourth hit of the season and the first that went for extra bases.

–Field Level Media

Luis Robert Jr., Yasmani Grandal, Oscar Colas and Elvis Andrus each drove in two runs and the visiting Chicago White Sox scored five in the seventh inning en route to an 11-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday.

Andrew Benintendi and Tim Anderson added an RBI each for the White Sox, who had lost five of seven.

Chicago starter Mike Clevinger (2-0) gave up four runs, eight hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out one.

Carlos Santana hit two RBI singles among his three hits and Andrew McCutchen homered and doubled for the Pirates, who had won four straight.

Pittsburgh starter Vince Velasquez (0-2), facing his former team, allowed five runs, six hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out one.

Pittsburgh took a 1-0 lead in the first. McCutchen doubled and scored when Santana singled.

The White Sox tied it in the second. Andrew Vaughn singled and later came home on Colas’ base hit.

In the third, Chicago sent nine batters to the plate and bagged four runs. Anderson doubled and went to third on Robert’s flyout. Benintendi drove Anderson home with a single and stole second. An out later, Vaughn and Gavin Sheets walked to load the bases. Benintendi scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-1, and Vaughn and Sheets scored on Grandal’s single to up it to 5-1.

Pittsburgh got one back in the third. Oneil Cruz singled with one out, stole second, went to third on Clevinger’s errant pickoff attempt to second and scored on Bryan Reynolds’ sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.

In the fifth, the White Sox loaded the bases when Vaughn walked, Sheets singled and Grandal was hit by a pitch. An out later, Vaughn scored on Andrus’ sacrifice fly to make it 6-2.

The Pirates narrowed it to 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth. Cruz walked, Reynolds singled and McCutchen drove in Cruz with a sacrifice fly. Reynolds stole second and came home on Santana’s base hit.

Chicago blew it open in the seventh, with Robert driving in two and Colas, Andrus and Anderson one each to make it 11-4.

McCutchen homered to right, his first of the season, in the ninth.

–Field Level Media