Abreu grand slam helps White Sox crush Tigers

Alec Brzezinski and Dejan Kalinic

Abreu grand slam helps White Sox crush Tigers image

The Chicago White Sox handed the Detroit Tigers just their second loss of the season, while the New York Yankees had a massive win.

Jose Abreu belted a grand slam in a seven-run fourth inning in the White Sox's 12-3 thrashing of the Tigers.

Also delivering a grand slam was Chris Young, his hit helping the Yankees crush the Tampa Bay Rays 9-0.

Josh Donaldson's walk-off homer saw the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 after 10 innings and the St Louis Cardinals were 5-2 winners against the Cincinnati Reds.

The Philadelphia Phillies ended a six-game losing run with a 5-3 win over the Washington Nationals and the Cleveland Indians overcame the Minnesota Twins 4-2.

Starlin Castro had a walk-off single in the 11th as the Chicago Cubs edged the San Diego Padres 7-6, while the Baltimore Orioles were 4-1 winners over the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-2.

Elsewhere, the Houston Astros got the better of the Los Angeles Angels 4-0, the New York Mets won their seventh straight by beating the Miami Marlins 5-4 and tempers flared as the Oakland Athletics claimed a 5-0 win over the Kansas City Royals.

The San Francisco Giants ended their eight-game losing streak thanks to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 6-3 and Felix Hernandez starred in the Seattle Mariners' 3-1 victory against the Texas Rangers.

IMPACT PLAYERS
Dee Gordon, Miami Marlins:
Gordon went five-from-five with three RBIs, raising his average to .400 for the season.

Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox: Abreu terrorised Anibal Sanchez and chased him out of the game in the fourth inning with a grand slam. He finished the game three-from-six with two runs and four RBIs.

Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners: King Felix fanned 12 batters in seven innings of one-run baseball as the Mariners beat the Rangers 3-1.

KEY INJURIES
The Royals placed closer Greg Holland on 15-day disabled list (DL) with a right pectoral strain.

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop was placed on 15-day DL with a partial PCL tear and sprained MCL.

Giants starting pitcher Jake Peavy has been placed on the 15-day DL with an aggravated back.

REACTION
"I reached out to him [Alcides Escobar] night in a text message, and he got it. I have the text message. I did reach out to him, and I sent a number of paragraphs and he messaged me back and he didn't really seem to care about my apology to him. He actually said it was stupid and that it was intentional." - Oakland A's third baseman Brett Lawrie on the slide that injured Escobar on Friday.

FACT OF THE DAY
Players getting their first MLB hit may not seem noteworthy, but when that player belted the most home runs in spring ball and has been hailed as the saviour of the Cubs' franchise, it is worth mentioning. Kris Bryant had a strong day on Saturday hitting two-from-three with three walks in his second game in the big leagues.

SURPRISE PERFORMER
Indians starting pitcher Danny Salazar earned a win in his season debut, and was dominant at times. He allowed just two runs in six innings while striking out 10 batters. Manager Terry Francona has already said Salazar will remain the starting rotation.

A LOOK AHEAD
Shane Greene will look to get the Detroit Tigers back to winning ways when they take on the White Sox again.

The Mets are eyeing their eighth straight win, with Matt Harvey pitching against the Marlins.

And more fireworks are expected when the A's and Royals do battle once more.

Alec Brzezinski and Dejan Kalinic