By Ron Kaplan, contributor

Mazel of the Day: Ian Kinsler hit his second home run of the young season to tie the Detroit Tigers’ game against the visiting Boston Red Sox at 1-1. The blow came in the six inning of the Tigers’ 2-1 victory and was his only hit in three official at-bats; he also walked. “At this rate,” as the pundits like to say, Kinsler will hit 27 homers this year. The Tigers improved to 4-2. Manager Brad Ausmus discussed the home run post-game:

Meanwhile, the cameras caught Kinsler doing a rally dance after teammate Miguel Cabrera got his first hit of 2017:

Danny Valencia was 0-3 with an RBI coming on a sacrifice fly as the Seattle Mariners (2-6) shut out the visiting Houston Astros, 6-0. Alex Bregman was 1-for-4 with two strikeouts for Houston.

Joc Pederson was 1-for-3 with a run scored, but the LA Dodgers (4-4) lost to the host Chicago Cubs, 3-2, on a walk-off single by Anthony Rizzo. It was a great way for the Cubs’ to celebrate their home opener.

I know they’re doing all sorts of things to tweak the game, but this?

Scott Feldman did not appear for the Cincinnati Reds (5-2) in their 7-1 win over the host Pittsburgh Pirates.

Ryan Braun‘s Milwaukee Brewers, Kevin Pillar‘s Toronto Blue Jays, and Craig Breslow‘s Minnesota Twins all had the day/night off.

Ron Kaplan (@RonKaplanNJ) hosts Kaplan’s Korner, a blog about Jews and sports. He is the author of three books, including The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games and the forthcoming Hank Greenberg in 1938: Hatred and Home Runs in the Shadow of War.

# # #

Get your Jewish Baseball News updates via e-mail