The Boston Red Sox delivered an MLB victory for their fans on an emotional day at Fenway Park.
David Ortiz played his first game since last summer, a 4-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals capped by Daniel Nava's three-run homer in the eighth inning.
"I try to take the positive side of things and ride with it," Ortiz said afterwards. "But I wanted to win this game badly."
The Red Sox wore white home jerseys with "Boston" on the front instead of the customary "Red Sox." The shirts will be auctioned off for a fund to support victims of the bombings.
Kansas City players and staff wore a "B Strong" patch on the front of their jerseys. Neil Diamond sang Red Sox favourite "Sweet Caroline" before the bottom of the eighth, with tributes to the victims and survivors of the Boston Marathon bombings held before the match.
"I think today was different because we haven't been through what we've been through this past week," said Ortiz.
"Driving around and looking around at people's faces, it was a very emotional day here just looking at those guys that were injured by those bombs going off and watching the news nearly every day, it was painful, very painful. Today I could see people opening their chest and letting it go."
Elsewhere, the Cleveland Indians were stunning 19-6 winners over the Astros at Houston - the visitors scored eight runs in the first and kept on going.
LA Angels were also quick out of the blocks to set up a fourth successive win.
Mike Trout smacked his first career grand slam to cap a nine-run first inning which paved the way for a 10-0 success over the Detroit Tigers which wrapped up a series victory.
The Baltimore Orioles won both games of their double-header against the LA Dodgers, following a 7-5 success in the opener with a 6-1 win.
The Atlanta Braves were beaten for the second time in as many nights, going down 3-1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park, while Vernon Wells excelled against his former team as the New York Yankees sunk the Toronto Blue Jays 5-3.
Brandon Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to centre field off Steve Cishek to score Shin-Soo Choo and give the Cincinnati Reds a 3-2, 13-inning win over the Miami Marlins at Great American Ball Park.
Ryan Doumit raced home with the winning run following Alexei Ramirez's throwing error in the 10th inning as the Minnesota Twins recorded a 2-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox.
Bryce Harper belted a two-run homer in the third inning and a go-ahead blast in the eighth to carry the Washington Nationals past the New York Mets, 7-6.
St Louis Cardinals' Lance Lynn allowed only one hit and struck out eight Philadelphia Phillies in seven dominant innings as the visitors won 5-0 at Citizens Bank Park.
Debutant Hiram Burgos allowed only one run on five well-placed hits in five innings as the Milwaukee Brewers brushed aside the Chicago Cubs 5-1 at Miller Park.
Matt Joyce's solo homer was enough to give the Tampa Bay Rays a 1-0 win over the Oakland Athletics, while AJ Pierzynski and David Murphy homered in the Texas Rangers' 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners.
The Colorado Rockies stretched their winning run to eight with a 4-3 defeat of the Arizona Diamondbacks, while Pablo Sandoval's two-run homer helped the San Francisco Giants top the San Diego Padres 2-0 at AT&T Park.
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