Pirates Beat Cards in 11th, Cubs, White Sox Win

Jordy Mercer arrived at spring training without having to look over his shoulder or worry about his spot in the lineup for the first time in his career. That freedom allowed the shortstop to fine-tune his approach in search of a better start than the miserable April he endured in 2015. The early returns are promising.

Mercer singled home Gregory Polanco from second base with one out in the 11th inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Polanco, who agreed to a $35 million, five-year contract earlier in the day, drew a walk from Seth Maness (0-1) with one out and made it to second on Josh Harrison's infield single. Mercer slapped a single to right for his fourth career game-ending hit.

Mercer finished with two hits and has two RBI during Pittsburgh's 2-0 start. He hit just .197 with four RBI in 18 games last April.

"I think the spring training thing really helped me out," Mercer said. "It's kind of the first time where I didn't really have to fight for position. I could work on some things and see different pitches and do some different things. It was a different spring training for me and it's bleeding into the season as well."

Kyle Lobstein (1-0) pitched two innings of relief for the win. Andrew McCutchen had three hits for Pittsburgh.

Cubs 6, Angels 1

Last season, Jon Lester brought to the Chicago Cubs an impressive resume that included the two World Series rings he won with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and 2013.

Now he is trying to help lead the team with baseball's longest championship drought to its first pennant since 1945.

Lester pitched seven strong innings in his season debut and the Cubs got home runs from Anthony Rizzo, Dexter Fowler and Matt Szczur in a 6-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday night.

"I don't like to compare other situations and other rosters and all that stuff," Lester said. "But I like our talent and our lineup because it's deep. So if you want to take one similarity from it, I guess it's that our lineup makes pitchers work and has good, quality at-bats."

Lester (1-0) threw 93 pitches, allowing a run and four hits. The three-time All-Star, who broke Ken Holtzman's 1970 franchise record for strikeouts by a left-hander with 207 last season, fanned four and walked none in his 12th career start against the Angels.

Lester is in the second season of a $155 million, six-year contract. Last year, his first in the National League, he was 11-12 with a 3.34 ERA in 32 starts.

White Sox 5, Athletics 4

Having grown up in the Bay Area, Chicago White Sox shortstop Jimmy Rollins knew his ball might get caught up in the cool night air at the Oakland Coliseum, so he hustled around the bases as quickly as possible. He could have slowed to a trot rounding first.

Rollins hit a tiebreaking homer off closer Sean Doolittle with two outs in the ninth inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics 5-4 on Tuesday night.

Signed to a minor league deal by the White Sox in February, Rollins connected on a 2-2 pitch from Doolittle (0-1) after Chicago's bullpen blew a two-run lead in the eighth.

"I hit it good but with this thick air you just never know what's going to happen," Rollins said. "I got a good amount of backspin on it and it stayed up just long enough."

Todd Frazier also homered for Chicago, a three-run shot in the fifth. Austin Jackson added an RBI infield single and Adam Eaton had three hits.

Tuesday, April 5 Scoreboard

Houston 5, New York Yankees 3

Boston 6, Cleveland 2

New York Mets 2, Kansas City 0
    
Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 5 (F/11)
    
Detroit 8, Miami 7 (F/11)
     
Tampa Bay 3, Toronto 2
    
Seattle 10, Texas 2

San Francisco 2, Milwaukee 1
    
Arizona 11, Colorado 6
    
Chicago Cubs 6, Los Angeles Angels 1

Chicago White Sox 5, Oakland 4

Los Angeles Dodgers 3, San Diego 0

Wednesday, April 6 Schedule (All Times Central)

Toronto at Tampa Bay, 11:10 a.m.

San Francisco at Milwaukee, 11:40 a.m.

Seattle at Texas, 12:05 p.m.

Colorado at Arizona, 1:40 p.m.

Detroit at Miami, 2:55 p.m.

Boston at Cleveland, 4:10 p.m.

Philadelphia at Cincinnati, 5p.m.

Minnesota at Baltimore, 5:05 p.m.

Houston at New York, 5:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Pittsburgh, 5:05 p.m.

Washington at Atlanta, 5:10 p.m.

Los Angeles at San Diego, 7:10 p.m.

Chicago at Oakland, 8 p.m.