Roundup: Price, Longoria debut for Rays in win
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) -- AL Cy Young winner David Price pitched one scoreless inning and Evan Longoria tested his surgically-repaired hamstring on the basepaths and had an RBI single Tuesday during Tampa Bay's rain-shortened 7-2 victory over a Houston Astros split-squad.
Price allowed a hit and walked one in a 19-pitch outing. Longoria singled and was thrown out trying to score from second in the first inning, then had another hit before scoring on Leslie Anderson's two-run, second-inning triple off Astros starter Jordan Lyles.
Meanwhile, Price escaped injury when Marwin Gonzalez's grounder glanced off his pitching wrist before shortstop Ben Zobrist fielded the ball and threw to first for the out.
The game was stopped by rain with the Rays batting in the bottom of the sixth.
DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Justin Morneau had two hits, including a run-scoring double, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 on Tuesday.
Morneau and teammate Joe Mauer, both taking part in next month's World Baseball Classic, made the 2 1-2 hour trip from Fort Myers.
Mauer singled and walked twice. He scored on Morneau's third-inning RBI double.
Morneau, who will be playing for Canada in the WBC, received a nice cheer when named during the announcement of pregame lineups. The first baseman hit a three-run double in Minnesota's 5-4 victory over Pittsburgh on Monday.
Both starting pitchers, Toronto's Ricky Romero and the Twins' Mike Pelfrey lasted just 1 2-3 innings in their spring training debuts.
Marlins 7, Mets 5
JUPITER, Fla. -- Giancarlo Stanton hit his first homer of spring training Tuesday to help the Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 7-5.
Stanton, who led the NL in slugging last year and had 37 home runs, homered off Hansel Robles. Matt Downs also homered off Robles.
Casey Kotchman hit a grand slam in his first at-bat of spring training against Mets starter Jenrry Mejia, who needed 30 pitches to get through his one inning and allowed five runs.
Kotchman had been sidelined for the past week after he ran into a pop-up machine during drills and needed four stitches to close a cut on his left ring finger.
Ricky Nolasco, the Marlins' likely opening day starter, pitched two scoreless innings in his first outing of spring training.
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Yu Darvish struck out two while retiring all six White Sox batters he faced Tuesday in his first spring start before Chicago scored 11 runs over the next two innings in a 14-8 win over the Texas Rangers.
Darvish, the Japanese ace who won 16 games as a major league rookie last season, threw his fastball in the mid-90s.
Nestor Molina and Brian Omogrosso, the first two White Sox pitchers, both had two shutout innings.
Chicago scored six runs in the third off 20-year-old Cody Buckel. The right-hander, the top minor league pitcher in the Rangers organization last year, walked five of the seven batters he faced.
Evan Meek, in Rangers camp on a minor league contract, allowed five runs and five hits and got only two outs in the fourth.
Diamondbacks 9, Athletics 4
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jason Kubel, Adam Eaton and Cliff Pennington each hit two-run homers and a split squad of Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Tuesday.
A's starter A.J. Griffin was sharp in his spring debut. The right-hander, who came up from the minors to go 7-1 with a 3.06 ERA in 15 starts and help the A's win the AL West last season, gave up one hit and struck out three in two scoreless innings. It was his first big league spring training start.
Josh Collmenter, sporting a magnificent beard grown in the offseason, started and pitched two scoreless innings in his spring debut for Arizona, giving up a hit and striking out two. He is projected to be the team's long-inning reliever and a spot starter.
