White Sox, Dodgers, Rays and Brewers take Division Series Game 1 leads
All four Division Series openers were played Saturday: Chicago blanked Cleveland, Los Angeles held off Atlanta, Tampa Bay edged New York, and Milwaukee slipped past San Diego.
White Sox 3, Guardians 0 (Cleveland): Munetaka Murakami hit a two-run homer — 440 feet at 112.2 mph — off Parker Messick in the fourth for a 2-0 lead, ESPN and Sports Illustrated reported. Grant Taylor delivered a four-inning save from the sixth on 42 pitches with six strikeouts, SI said, becoming the third pitcher since 2000 with a postseason save of four-plus innings (joining Lance McCullers Jr. in 2017 and Madison Bumgarner in the 2014 World Series) and the first four-inning save in Game 1 of a postseason series since saves became official in 1969, per ESPN Research. SI noted he was the sixth pitcher ever with a 12-out save in the MLB postseason and the first since McCullers in Game 7 of the 2017 ALCS. An insurance run in the sixth was helped when Austin Hedges mishandled a throw on a Colson Montgomery double, SI reported.
Dodgers 5, Braves 3 (Los Angeles): Tarik Skubal threw six innings, one run, two hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts in roughly 100-degree heat, retiring 15 straight at one point; his only mistake was a Sean Murphy solo homer on an elevated sinker, ESPN said. Teoscar Hernández, Kyle Tucker (a 408-foot two-run shot off AJ Smith-Shawver after Atlanta cut the deficit), and Max Muncy (his franchise-leading 17th postseason homer) went deep for Los Angeles. Ozzie Albies’ two-run homer in the ninth made it interesting but not enough. MLB’s Sarah Langs noted Skubal’s 63 career postseason strikeouts are the second-most in a pitcher’s first seven postseason appearances behind Bob Gibson’s 74, ESPN reported. Game 2 on Sunday was expected to feature Blake Snell for the Dodgers, with the Braves debating Chris Sale’s timing — possibly Game 3.
Rays 1, Yankees 0 (Tropicana Field): Jonathan Aranda’s solo home run off Gerrit Cole in the third inning accounted for the game’s only run, ESPN reported. Drew Rasmussen turned in the best start of his life with a no-hit bid into the eighth and 10 strikeouts; Austin Wells broke up the no-hitter with a line drive on the chalk in right field and was thrown out stretching a double into a triple, ESPN and SI said. Bryan Baker closed the ninth on 14 pitches, SI reported. The Yankees struck out 12 times total, 10 against Rasmussen. Cole went five innings, five hits, one earned run, one walk, and five strikeouts, ESPN said.
Brewers 3, Padres 2 (Milwaukee): William Contreras hit a go-ahead opposite-field homer in the seventh off Adrián Morejón’s 100.1 mph sinker — the 10th postseason home run on a pitch over 100 mph since 2008, per TruMedia via ESPN. In the ninth, Ty France’s ball hit the closed American Family Field roof, ricocheted to Jackson Chourio for an out — a live ball in fair territory; the Padres challenged and it was ruled out instead of a potential go-ahead homer, ESPN and SI reported. Jacob Misiorowski lasted four innings; bullpens stranded inherited runners, and Trevor Megill struck out Fernando Tatis Jr. with two on in the eighth. Game 2 Sunday was set for 4 p.m. ET (Padres at Brewers) and 8 p.m. ET (Braves at Dodgers), with ALDS Game 2s on Monday.
What this means: Every Division Series opened 1-0 for the Game 1 winner — leaving Sunday’s NL rematches and Monday’s AL follow-ups as the first real tests of whether those leads stick.