The Red Sox are off to their worst start since 1945, when they lost a team-record eight straight. Boston, favored by many to win the World Series, returns to Fenway Park for its home opener Friday against the New York Yankees.
Asdrubal Cabrera’s suicide-squeeze bunt off Daniel Bard (0-2) put the Indians ahead in their fourth straight victory.
David Ortiz drew a two-out walk in the Boston ninth and McDonald ran for him. J.D. Drew bounced a single that ricocheted off pitcher Chris Perez and went to third baseman Adam Everett .
McDonald rounded second base too far, fell down and tried to scramble back to the bag. Everett, who had come in to field the carom, made a snap throw to second baseman Orlando Cabrera that nailed McDonald.
Rafael Perez (2-0) retired two batters in the eighth. Chris Perez pitched the ninth for his second save.
Starting pitchers Fausto Carmona of the Indians and Jon Lester each pitched seven shutout innings.
Orioles 9 Tigers 5: In Baltimore, Adam Jones homered and drove in three runs, Mark Reynolds also had three RBIs, and Baltimore used a five-run seventh inning to beat Detroit.
Vladimir Guerrero hit his first home run with the Orioles, who took two of three from the Tigers after opening the season with a three-game sweep in Tampa Bay.
Alex Avila homered for the Tigers, who host Kansas City on Friday after going 2-4 on the road to open the season.
Baltimore sent 10 batters to the plate in the seventh. After Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis reached against Brad Thomas (0-1), Guerrero singled in a run off Enrique Gonzalez and Jones hit a sacrifice fly for a 6-5 lead. Reynolds followed with a two-run double and Cesar Izturis capped the uprising with an RBI single.
Jim Johnson (1-0) pitched 1 2-3 innings of one-hit relief for Baltimore.
White Sox 5 Rays 1: In Chicago, Edwin Jackson struck out a career-high 13 and the Chicago White Sox took their home opener by sending the winless Tampa Bay Rays to their sixth straight loss.
The AL East champion Rays extended the worst start in team history — they haven’t even held a lead yet this year. Tampa Bay has scored exactly one run in five of its defeats.
Jackson (2-0), who pitched a no-hitter against Tampa Bay last season while with Arizona, allowed four hits in eight innings. David Price (0-2) took the loss.
At 0-6, the Rays have totaled only eight runs and 27 hits. They are tied for the worst record in the majors with Boston, the only other winless team in the major.
Rays slugger Manny Ramirez missed the game because of a family matter but should be ready for Friday night’s game.
Yankees 4 Twins 3: In New York, Derek Jeter passed Rogers Hornsby for 33rd place on baseball’s all-time list with two hits, and the New York Yankees’ relievers held off the Minnesota Twins in their first game since blowing a big lead.
The Twins lost heralded Japanese import Tsuyoshi Nishioka to a broken left leg when Nick Swisher slid into him at second base while breaking up a double play. Swisher slid well to the left of the bag as Nishioka tried to make the turn.
The Twins said the play was clean, and Swisher apologized to Nishioka for the hard slide. Nishioka was put on the 15-day disabled list and there’s no timetable for his return.
A.J. Burnett (2-0) improved to 7-0 in 12 April starts for the Yankees, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings.
With the Yankees up 4-3, Rafael Soriano pitched a scoreless eighth two days after he surrendered a 4-0 lead in a game Minnesota won in extra innings. Mariano Rivera closed for his fourth save.
Francisco Liriano (0-2) allowed four runs on four hits and three walks in five innings.
Athletcs 2 Blue Jays 1: In Toronto, Trevor Cahill pitched eight strong innings for his first win of the season, Conor Jackson singled home the go-ahead run and the Oakland Athletics beat the Toronto Blue Jays.
Cahill (1-0) came in 0-2 with an 8.04 ERA in three starts against Toronto, but kept the Blue Jays in check. He allowed one run and three hits, walked none with seven strikeouts.
Brian Fuentes closed it out for his first save as the Athletics avoided a three-game sweep.
Oakland trailed 1-0 going into the eighth when Andy LaRoche led off with a double and advanced to third on Cliff Pennington’s sacrifice. Jason Frasor (1-1) replaced starter Ricky Romero and fanned Coco Crisp , but strike three was a wild pitch that bounced away from J.P. Arencibia , allowing LaRoche to score and Crisp to move safely to first.
Crisp stole second and third before scoring on Jackson’s single.
