ROYALS 5, RANGERS 4
SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Rangers ace Yu Darvish left his spring training debut with tightness in his right triceps after pitching a scoreless inning in a loss Thursday to the Kansas City Royals.
Royals prospect Cheslor Cuthbert hit a two-run single off Alec Asher with two outs in the ninth inning to give Kansas City a come-from-behind victory.
Ryan Rua hit a two-run triple, and Robinson Chirinos and Carlos Peguero also drove in runs for the Rangers. Brett Eibner went deep for the Royals.
CARDINALS 4, MARLINS 1
JUPITER, Fla. -- Miami's Giancarlo Stanton was hitless in his first two at-bats in a major league game since being struck in the face by a pitch last September, and Jason Heyward singled in his first at-bat with the St. Louis Cardinals in a victory over the Marlins.
Stanton wore a helmet with a partial face mask that protected the left side of his face, where he broke his orbital bone and damaged several teeth when he was hit by a pitch from Mike Fiers that ended his season.
Heyward batted second, going 1 for 2. He scored on a two-run bloop single by Matt Adams off Dan Haren. He allowed two runs and three hits while walking one in two innings.
ASTROS 6, PHILLIES 3
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Cliff Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) pitched two scoreless innings in his first spring start before Luis Valbuena, Robbie Grossman and Marwin Gonzalez homered for the Houston Astros in a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Valbuena, the third baseman acquired from the Chicago Cubs, homered off Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez in his second at-bat with the Astros.
Grossman had two hits and scored twice. He led off the Houston fifth with a home run off Phillippe Aumont and Gonzalez followed with another home run.
YANKEES 2, PIRATES 1
BRADENTON, Fla. -- Esmil Rogers, trying to cement a spot on the New York Yankees' pitching staff, tossed two scoreless innings in a victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
First baseman Garrett Jones had two hits, including an RBI double in the fifth inning. Tyler Austin put the Yankees ahead with a towering solo home run in the eighth inning.
Left-hander Francisco Liriano and right-hander Charlie Morton each tossed two scoreless innings for the Pirates.
Alex Rodriguez did not make the trip with the Yankees.
ORIOLES 3, RAYS 2
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Wei-Yin Chen pitched two scoreless innings and a Baltimore split-squad scored three late runs to beat Tampa Bay, spoiling the Rays' spring debut under manager Kevin Cash.
Michael Almanzar snapped a ninth-inning tie with a solo home run and Mike Yastrzemski's sacrifice fly gave the Orioles a 3-1 lead. Rey Navarro's RBI single in the eighth wiped out a 1-0 lead the Rays took on Joey Butler's run-scoring double.
Almanzar homered off left-hander Robert Zarate (0-1). Butler finished 2 for 2 for the Rays, adding a solo home run in the ninth.
BRAVES 6, TIGERS 4
LAKELAND Fla. -- Julio Teheran allowed one run in a two-inning spring debut, leading the Atlanta Braves to a victory over the Detroit Tigers. He allowed three hits and walked one.
Joey Terdoslavich had a double and scored two runs for the Braves.
Alfredo Simon made his Tigers debut and didn't allow a run while striking out one in two innings. He came over to the Tigers in an offseason trade with the Cincinnati Reds, where he went 15-10 with a 3.44 ERA last season.
DIAMONDBACKS 4, ROCKIES 3
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jhoulys Chacin allowed two runs and two hits while getting five outs in his first game in more than eight months for Colorado in the Rockies' loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Chacin struck out one, walked one and had a fastball clocked in the upper 80s. He said he struggled with mechanics but was pain-free.
Mark Trumbo had an opposite-field double and Cody Ross a broken-bat RBI single in the second off Chacin, who was Colorado's top right-handed starter in 2013.
ATHLETICS 2, CUBS 2
MESA, Ariz. -- Manager Joe Maddon made his spring debut with the Chicago Cubs, a tie against Barry Zito and the Oakland Athletics.
Travis Wood pitched two perfect innings for a split-squad of Cubs, and Mike Olt hit a two-run home run in the second inning.
Zito retired his first five batters, including strikeouts of Starlin Castro and Miguel Montero. But he hit Chris Coghlan in the second and then yielded the long drive to left by Olt.
MARINERS 9, PADRES 4
PEORIA, Ariz. -- Nelson Cruz hit a two-run home run in his spring training debut with the Seattle Mariners, helping his new team to a victory over the San Diego Padres.
Cruz, who finished with two hits, curled a pitch from Ian Kennedy near the left-field foul pole in the bottom of the third to give Seattle a 4-1 lead.
Will Venable hit a two-run home run for the Padres, who lost to Seattle for the second consecutive day. Alexi Amarista had three hits and an RBI.
ANGELS 3, BREWERS 2
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Milwaukee ace Kyle Lohse and Angels rotation hopeful Hector Santiago both had solid spring training debuts in Los Angeles' victory over the Brewers.
Lohse, 13-9 with a 3.54 ERA last season, allowed one hit and one run with three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.
Lohse retired the first six batters he faced. He allowed a leadoff double to C.J. Cron in the third. He later scored on Mike Trout's infield single off reliever Ariel Pena.
DODGERS 6, WHITE SOX 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Clayton Kershaw retired all six batters he faced in his spring debut, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox.
Kershaw struck out three, including White Sox slugger Jose Abreu looking on a slow curve.
Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner at age 26, was 21-3 with a 1.77 ERA for the Dodgers last year when he also won the National League MVP.
INDIANS 9, REDS 3
GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Cincinnati's Johnny Cueto made his spring debut and allowed one hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings.
But reliever Burke Badenhop got hit hard in his Reds debut, giving up five runs while retiring only two batters and the Cleveland Indians pulled away to a victory.
Badenhop allowed Jose Ramirez's two-run single and Yan Gomez's two-run home run during Cleveland's five-run fifth inning. The reliever gave up five hits and walked a batter.
GIANTS 8, CUBS 6
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Ryan Vogelsong gave up a grand slam to Kyle Schwarber, the Cubs first pick of last June's draft, but the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat a Chicago split-squad.
Jeremy Affeldt allowed a run in one inning as the Giants won their first in three exhibition games between the teams.
Jacob Turner threw two scoreless innings in his spring debut with the Cubs. He gave up a hit, walked two and struck out a batter.
Vogelsong pitched two innings. He threw a perfect first, but gave up hits to Jorge Soler and Wellington Castro, and walked Kris Bryant ahead of Schwarber, who drilled a 1-2 delivery over the right field fence.
Sports on 03/06/2015