Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 3-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored and Dylan Cease struck out 12 batters while picking up his first win as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Los Angeles Angels, 5-2, in the opener of a three-game series in Anaheim, Calif.

Guerrero extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Nathan Lukes drove in two runs and Eloy Jimenez had two hits for Toronto, which won its second straight game.

Cease (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits and two walks over five innings and took over the major league lead in strikeouts with 44 with his 12-strikeout effort. He left after throwing 110 pitches, 69 for strikes.

Jeff Hoffman struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his third save.

Nolan Schanuel had a double, a run scored and an RBI and Zach Neto reached base twice with a single and a walk, stole two bases and scored a run for Los Angeles, which struck out 18 times while suffering its third straight defeat.

Reid Detmers (1-2) picked up the loss, allowing four runs on five hits over six innings. He walked two and struck out five.

Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Schanuel hit a two-out, opposite-field double down the left field line and scored on a single by Jorge Soler.

Toronto took a 2-1 lead in the third on Guerrero’s two-run homer, a 430-foot drive to center that drove in Davis Schneider, who had opened the inning with a walk.

The Angels tied it, 2-2, in the bottom half of the third. Neto led off with a walk, went to second on an infield single by Mike Trout, and advanced to the third on the front end of a double-steal. Schanuel then drove in Neto with a sacrifice fly to center.

The Blue Jays regained the lead, 3-2, in the sixth inning when Guerrero led off with a single and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Lenyn Sosa.

Toronto extended the lead to 4-2 in the seventh on an RBI single by Lukes, and made it 5-2 in the ninth on an RBI groundout by Lukes.

–Field Level Media

Jordan Martinook made amends after an earlier overtime opportunity went awry by scoring with 6:07 remaining in the second OT, lifting the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-2 victory in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Monday at Raleigh, N.C.

Martinook scored coming down the slot to end the game and send the Hurricanes to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Logan Stankoven and Sebastian Aho scored the first two goals for Carolina. Frederik Andersen made 36 saves for the win.

Drake Batherson and Dylan Cozens had Ottawa’s goals, with Jake Sanderson assisting on both tallies. Goalie Linus Ullmark seemed dialed in to steal a victory for Ottawa, making 43 saves.

The Hurricanes appeared to win it on a Mark Jankowski goal with 2:42 left in the first overtime, but an offside ruling after a video review negated the score and reset the clock to slightly more than three minutes. Yet Martinook was awarded a penalty shot as part of the sequence, with Ullmark making the stop to extend the game.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Ottawa.

There were stretches, including in overtime, when Ullmark and Andersen seemed to take turns making game-saving stops. Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle nearly ended it in OT, but his shot bounced off the post.

Stankoven converted on the game’s first power play 6:31 into the game off a feed from Taylor Hall, who was stationed behind the net. Stankoven has scored the first goal in both games in the series. Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk was in the penalty box for roughing.

Aho’s first goal of the postseason came 7:50 into the second period in transition after he took a pass from Jordan Staal.

Ullmark’s recovery for a save on Hall’s blast prevented Carolina from taking a three-goal lead.

The Senators didn’t score for the first 90 minutes of the series, and then they notched two goals in less than a six-minute stretch.

Batherson scored by shoveling the puck into the net after a deflection ended back near his stick on the left side of the net.

Cozens pulled the Senators even with 3:20 to play in the second period.

The pace was much accelerated from Game 1, with the Hurricanes holding a 28-16 edge in shots through two periods. The Senators outshot Carolina 8-5 in the scoreless third, which was played without a penalty called.

–Field Level Media

Leody Taveras’ grand slam highlighted a five-run 12th inning, after Samuel Basallo forced extras with a two-out, opposite-field RBI single in the ninth, and the Baltimore Orioles handed the host Kansas City Royals an eighth straight loss with Monday night’s 7-5 victory.

Baltimore had three hits through 11 innings, but tripled that total in the 12th, when 21-year-old catcher Basallo broke a 2-2 tie with his second RBI single. Then with the bags full, Taveras sent a pitch from Alex Lange (0-2) over the center-field wall for his first grand slam, which helped the Orioles win for just the second time in seven contests.

The Orioles managed only Taylor Ward’s first-inning double through the first eight innings. Then in the ninth, Kansas City’s Lucas Erceg walked three batters, and with two out and runners on first and second, Basallo lined a hit to left to tie things at 1-1.

Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, who dropped his ERA to 1.15 in five 2026 starts, allowed Ward’s double, and also walked four over seven strong innings. Meanwhile, Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish yielded 10 hits and three walks, but only Jac Caglianone’s homer, while also striking out seven on 104 pitches over 5 1/3 innings.

Nick Loftin had a three-run double in the 12th, while Maikel Garcia and Salvador Perez each had three of the 14 hits for Kansas City, which stranded 16 runners, including the bases loaded in three different innings without scoring. The Royals’ eight-game losing streak is their longest since dropping 10 straight in 2023.

Kansas City filled bases with one out in the first, but came up empty after Carter Jensen grounded into a 4-6-3 double play. The Royals, though, needed only one swing from Caglianone an inning later to go up 1-0.

They loaded the bases again in the third, this time with nobody out. But Bradish got Michael Massey to ground into a pitcher-to-home force out, then fanned Caglianone and Isaac Collins.

In the sixth, the bags were filled with Royals and two out. However, Baltimore’s Rico Garcia, who has not allowed a run or hit in 11 innings of 11 appearances this season, struck out Vinnie Pasquantino.

Anthony Nunez (1-0) allowed an unearned run over two innings for the win.

–Field Level Media