Pirates' Nick Kingham Nearly Perfect In Debut Win Over St. Louis; Ryan Healy's 2 HRs Lead Seattle Over Cleveland, 10-4

Players of the Day for Sunday, April 29, 2018

American League

Healy is heating up

Winning their second straight, the Seattle Mariners took three of four in Cleveland with a 10-4 win the in series finale Sunday.

Cleveland might have kept the game closer if they had only been able to get out leadoff hitter Dee Gordon and the guy in the nine hole, first baseman Ryon Healy.

Gordon Lashed four singles, drove in a Healy with a run and scored another, while Healy doubled and homered twice, driving in four runs and scoring three to lead the Mariners' offense.

Activated off the DL just four days ago, Healy has hit safely in all four of his starts, and has homered in the last two, with six RBI.

Healy got things going in Seattle's second, driving in a run with his two-bagger and scoring on Gordon's single. His solo shot in the sixth put Seattle up, 6-4, and his two-run belt in the eighth put the game away.

The win left the Mariners tied with the Angels - who play the late Sunday game against the Yankees - two games back of Houston, in second place in the LA West.

The Mariners get a day off Monday as they return home to host a series with the A's, beginning Tuesday.

National League

Kingham: Impressive debut

Pittsburgh's Nick Kingham made his major league debut a memorable one, accomplishing a feat only one other pitcher in the past 100 years had done.

Kingham carried a perfect game into the seventh inning to lead the Pirates to a 5-0 home win over the St. Louis Cardinals. He joined Johnny Cueto in 2008 as the only pitchers in the past 100 years with one hit allowed, at least nine strikeouts and no walks in an MLB pitching debut.

Paul DeJong ended Kingham's bid at absolute baseball immortality when he singled with two outs in the seventh. Getting Marcel Ozuna on a groundout to third finished the inning and Kingham's first assault on major league hitters.

A week ago, Kingham was throwing in AAA for Indianapolis, where he had put together a 2-1 record with a 1.59 ERA in four starts, but the Pirates thought it was time to bring him up to the big club.

They were right. Kingham fanned seven and didn't walk a batter, throwing 72 of 98 pitches for strikes.

The Pirates maintained their slim lead in the contentious NL Central, holding off the Cubs by 1/2 game. St. Louis and Milwaukee are a joint 1 1/2 off the lead.

The Pirates head out of town, to Washington, opening a series with the Nationals at 7:05 pm EDT on Monday.