Cancun Playoffs Day 2: Verlander No-hitter, Pickles, Samurai, and Astros Advance

Giants 3, Pirates 0

Matt Chapman powered the Giants to an early 3-0 lead with a home run, setting the stage for a dominant performance.

Justin Verlander, fresh off a 4-11 regular season with San Francisco, delivered a no-hitter through five innings and beyond, stifling the Pirates' offense.

Tensions flared when Pittsburgh's Tommy Pham bat-flipped after drawing a walk from Verlander, nearly sparking a brawl in the late innings.

Verlander sealed the no-hitter, leading the Giants to a 3-0 shutout victory and tying the series at one game apiece.

Pickles 7, Rockies 1

Portland Pickles jumped to a 6-0 lead over the Colorado Rockies in the first inning of their Cancun Wild Card game thanks to Josh Schleichardt's home run.

Rockies fired manager Bud Black mid-game, the first such dismissal in the Cancun postseason. Orlando Arcia's solo homer narrowed the gap to 6-1 for the Rockies.

The Pickles let a random fan pinch-hit, who walked and later scored to push the score to 7-1.

Pickles secured a 7-1 victory to clinch the Wild Card series.

Samurai 23, White Sox 0

The North Japan Samurai surged to 4-0 lead against the Chicago White Sox in Cancun Wild Card Game 2 on Tony Ohtani's second home run of the series.

Ohtani, pitching for the Samurai, racked up 50 strikeouts through the first three innings, fanning Luis Robert Jr. several times in one inning.

Kazuma Okamoto blasted a solo home run to push the Samurai advantage to 12-0.

Player-manager Ichiro delivered an inside-the-park grand slam, extending North Japan's lead to 16-0 and recording the first such homer in the Cancun postseason.

Samurai dominated with a 23-0 shutout victory over the White Sox, clinching their Wild Card series.

Astros 11, Angels 2

Mike Trout hit a home run off Lil' Moto for an early 1-0 Angels lead, marking the first homer ever allowed by the Astros pitcher.

Anthony Rendon exited after fouling a pitch off his leg, and was ruled out for the remainder of the series.

Jon Singleton, signed by the Astros that day during his Cancun vacation, tied the game at 1-1 with a home run in the fifth inning.

Aaron Hicks regained the lead for the Angels at 2-1 with an opposite-field home run. Reid Detmers dominated through eight innings, allowing one run with 17 strikeouts and no walks, before returning for the ninth.

Yordan Alvarez smashed a ninth-inning grand slam, counted as 10 runs under Cancun rules, pushing the Astros ahead 11-2, which would eventually be the final score and send Houston to the Cancun ALDS.