Ortiz goes long and Schilling wins

David Ortiz broke out of a two-for-18 slump with his first two home runs and Curt Schilling bounced back from his horrendous season debut to help the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2, Sunday night to avoid a sweep.

Ortiz hit a homer in the first inning and a two-run shot in the third against Vicente Padilla (0-2) that put the Red Sox ahead to stay. It was his 27th multi-homer game.

Schilling (1-1) yielded one run and four hits in seven innings with six strikeouts and a walk. He retired the last 10 batters he faced and the only Texas runner who got past first base against him was Frank Catalanotto, who homered in the first inning.

In Boston’s season opener at Kansas City, Schilling gave up five runs and eight hits in four innings. That was the first time since July 2001 that the 40-year-old right-hander didn’t make it past four innings.

“Coming off the heels of an outing that was not very Schilling-like, he gave us what we needed,” Manager Terry Francona said.

Jonathan Papelbon got the last five out for his second save. The hard-throwing right-hander came on with two runners on in the eighth, getting Michael Young on a called third strike and Mark Teixeira on an infield popout.

Joel Pineiro relieved Schilling to start the eighth and walked the first two batters before Kenny Lofton reached on an infield single when trying to advance the runners with a bunt. Pinch-hitter Nelson Cruz, the only batter faced by Javier Lopez, drove in a run with a fielder’s choice grounder.

After leading the American League with a club-record 54 homers and 137 runs batted in last season, Ortiz started this season with a run-scoring double in his first at-bat. He didn’t drive in another run until the finale of the team’s season-opening six-game trip.

Catalanotto was hitless in 10 at-bats in his return to Texas before he homered. Young followed with a single, but the Rangers had only three more baserunners against Schilling.

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RESULTS

Baltimore 6, at New York 4: A day after giving up a game-ending grand slam to Alex Rodriguez, Chris Ray retired Melky Cabrera on a ground ball with a runner on base to earn a save. Paul Bako gave the Orioles a 5-3 lead with his first home run since 2004, a three-run drive in the fourth inning against Darrell Rasner. Erik Bedard (1-1), chased early by Minnesota on opening day, gave up a two-run homer to Rodriguez during a three-run first inning and then retired the next 11 batters and 20 of 22.

Toronto 6, at Tampa Bay 3: Roy Halladay won for the first time since August. “I haven’t really thought about it, but it was a tough end of the season last year,” he said. “It’s nice to have it over with.” Halladay had been winless in seven starts -- including his final six last season -- since beating Baltimore on Aug. 20.

Detroit 3, at Kansas City 2: Closer David Riske thought Ivan Rodriguez would be bunting with two runners on and no one out in the ninth inning. “That’s what I get for thinking,” Riske said. Instead of the bunt sign, Manager Jim Leyland gave Rodriguez the green light and he hit the first pitch for a three-run homer.

Minnesota 3, at Chicago 1: Justin Morneau hit a three-run homer against rookie John Danks in the fourth inning, and that was enough for Johan Santana (2-0), who shut down the White Sox on one hit -- a bloop single to right field by Joe Crede leading off the second inning -- over seven scoreless innings. He retired the last 17 batters he faced.

Boston 3, at Texas 2: David Ortiz broke out of a two-for-18 slump with his first two home runs to help the Red Sox avoid a sweep. Ortiz hit a homer in the first inning and a two-run shot in the third against Vicente Padilla (0-2).

Seattle at Cleveland: For the second day in a row, snow and cold weather forced a doubleheader between the Mariners and Indians to be postponed. The teams were snowed out of a day-night doubleheader Saturday, when they were trying to make up Friday’s game, which was postponed after they played four innings and endured nearly three hours in delays. The Mariners and Indians will try to salvage half of their four-game series by playing a doubleheader today.

Oakland 2, at Angels 1: The A’s bullpen retired the final 11 batters in order to preserve Joe Blanton’s first win against the Angels in seven decisions. It was the 21st one-run game between the teams in their last 42 meetings.

From the Associated Press