>>Cubs Blank Brewers
Jose Quintana tossed three-hit ball over six innings, Ben Zobrist homered and the Chicago Cubs finished their longest season-opening road trip in more than a century by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 on Sunday.
Albert Almora Jr. added an RBI double in the fifth for the Cubs, who took three of four games from their NL Central rivals.
Chicago finally heads home on Monday after playing its first nine games away from Wrigley Field. It was the franchise's longest road trip to open the season since a 12-game jaunt in 1899.
Quintana (1-1) struck out six and walked two while lowering his ERA in five starts against Milwaukee from 0.90 to 0.77.
His toughest jam came in the sixth after Lorenzo Cain singled and Domingo Santana walked with one out. But after Ryan Braun flied out, Quintana struck out Jesus Aguilar swinging on a 75-mph curve low in the zone.
Brandon Morrow pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.
Zobrist's solo shot off the foul pole in right against Chase Anderson in the fourth gave the Cubs the only run they would need at Miller Park. The Brewers are scuffling at the plate, having been shut out for the third time during a seven-game homestand.
They also committed an error for the seventh straight contest after pinch hitter Tommy La Stella's hard bouncer caromed off first baseman Jesus Aguilar's chest into short right, allowing Victor Caratini to score from second.
Anderson (0-1) allowed four hits and two runs over six innings.
Tyler Chatwood (0-1) gets the ball for the home opener as the Cubs welcome Pittsburgh to town. He has a 1.50 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates.
>>Diamondbacks Down Cardinals After Fiery Exchanges
Torey Lovullo set off a benches-clearing incident in his team's 4-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday by maintaining eight-time All-Star catcher Yadier Molina was earning unwarranted strike calls.
Lovullo was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons in the second inning. Lovullo was arguing a called third strike on A.J. Pollock and got into a shouting match with Molina. The catcher appeared to lunge at Luvollo and made contact as players ran onto the field.
St. Louis manager Mike Matheny stepped between Molina and Lovullo.
Lovullo had shown displeasure on a strike three call to David Peralta in the first inning, then went to the umpire after the call against Pollock.
Peralta hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer off Dominic Leone in the eighth, and Pollock went deep later in the inning. In his second year in charge, Lovullo got his 100th win and was given a post-game beer shower by his coaches.
With three losses in its last five games, St. Louis dropped to 4-5.
Archie Bradley pitched around Kolten Wong's leadoff single in the eighth, and Brad Boxberger finished for his fourth save in as many chances, retiring Jose Martinez on a game-ending, double-play grounder.
St. Louis starter Luke Weaver allowed one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts, leaving with a 1-0 lead created by Wong's RBI single in the fifth.
Nick Ahmed hit a tying RBI single off Matt Bowman in the seventh.
Chris Owings singled off Leone (0-2) starting the eighth and Peralta hit his second home run this season. Pollock followed two batters later with his first.
Miles Mikolas (1-0, 6.35) is scheduled to start Monday in the first of three games against Milwaukee and RHP Jhoulys Chacin (0-1, 7.00) start for the Brewers. Mikolas hit a two-run homer for his first major league hit in a 8-4 win over Milwaukee on April 2.
>>Tigers Sweep White Sox
Mike Fiers combined with four relievers on a three-hitter, and the Detroit Tigers took advantage of a passed ball to score an unearned run in the first inning in a 1-0 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday that completed a three-game sweep.
On an afternoon with a first-pitch temperature of 36 degrees and a 10 mph wind blowing straight in, the teams combined for just five hits - all singles - and none after the third inning.
Fiers (1-0) made his season debut after recovering from a lumbar strain and allowed three hits in six innings with six strikeouts and one walk. He pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first by retiring Nicky Delmonico on a lineout and Welington Castillo on a groundout.
Alex Wilson walked Delmonico leading off the seventh, then got Castillo to ground into a double play.
Daniel Stumpf retired his only batter, Joe Jimenez pitched a perfect eighth and Shane Greene overcame an error by third baseman Jeimer Candelario on Avisail Garcia's leadoff grounder in the ninth to get his second save in as many chances. Jose Abreu grounded into a double play, and Greene threw a called third strike past Matt Davidson.
Leonys Martin blooped a single to left in front of Delmonico starting the game, stole second, advanced on Castillo's passed ball and came home on Miguel Cabrera's sacrifice fly.
With the White Sox wearing 1983 replica uniforms, Reynaldo Lopez (0-1) allowed the unearned run, two hits and five walks in seven innings and struck out five.
Miguel Gonzalez (0-1, 9.00 ERA) and Rays RHP Chris Archer (0-0, 6.65 ERA) are to start the opener of a three-game series in Chicago. Archer has 14 strikeouts in 11 innings.
