BALTIMORE (AP) — Corbin Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant debut for Baltimore, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both homered as the Orioles began their AL East title defense with an 11-3 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Baltimore ace after that. Burnes (1-0) struck out 11 in six innings in his first start after the Orioles acquired the right-hander from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.
Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, who had five hits and a walk on opening day last year in Boston, started this season off with hits and the first and second innings, then later drew a walk. He scored three runs and Santander drove in four.
Santander hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Mullins added a three-run shot in the seventh for the Orioles, who brought back a young core that won 101 games last year They figure to add another top prospect soon whenever infielder Jackson Holliday comes up from the minors.
YANKEES 5, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON (AP) — Juan Soto threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of his Yankees debut after starting New York’s comeback from a four-run deficit in a season-opening win over Houston.
Oswaldo Cabrera homered and Aaron Judge doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Yankees went ahead.
Mauricio Dubón and Yordan Alvarez singled off Clay Holmes to give the Astros two on with one out in the ninth. Kyle Tucker lined a single to right and Soto, an All-Star acquired from San Diego in a December trade, made a one-hop throw slightly up the third-base line. Catcher Jose Trevino made a sweep tag and caught Dubón’s left arm just before the runner’s finger touched the plate. Umpire James Hoye’s call was upheld in a video review.
Alex Bregman grounded into a forceout as Holmes got the save.
DODGERS 7, CARDINALS 1
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani reached three times in his home debut, and Los Angeles beat St. Louis in the Dodger Stadium opener to a season of sky-high expectations.
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman homered in the third inning, and Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings of two-hit ball for the Dodgers. One week after Los Angeles began the season with two games in South Korea, the club showed off the talent throughout an expensive, star-studded roster headlined by three former MVPs at the top of the batting order.
No addition was bigger than Ohtani, who showed no signs of distraction after a tumultuous week in which he emphatically denied betting on sports after the firing of his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
BLUE JAYS 8, RAYS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to lead Toronto to a season-opening victory over Tampa Bay.
Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who scored five times in the sixth inning after being limited to one hit — Springer’s solo homer in the fourth — off Rays starter Zach Eflin (0-1) through five innings.
José Berríos (1-0), making his second opening-day start for the Blue Jays and fourth overall, gave up a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz on his fifth pitch of the day and also yielded a RBI double to the defending AL batting champion in the sixth.
The Toronto right-hander allowed two runs and six hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out six in the matchup of AL East rivals who both made the playoffs last season.
PADRES 6, GIANTS 4
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Jake Cronenworth’s two-run double highlighted a four-run seventh inning for San Diego, who beat San Francisco to spoil Bob Melvin’s return to San Diego.
While it was opening day for the Giants, the Padres began the season by splitting a two-game series last week against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea.
Melvin managed the Padres for the last two seasons before leaving for the Giants with a year left on his contract. He skippered the Padres into the 2022 NL Championship Series and then presided over a disappointing season that included reports of an irreparable relationship with general manager A.J. Preller. He was replaced by Mike Shildt.
Jung Hoo Lee hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of his first big league game to put the Giants ahead 3-2 in the seventh.
But the Padres responded in the bottom of the inning. Luis Campusano hit a leadoff single and took third on Tyler Wade’s single to right. Campusano scored on catcher Patrick Bailey’s errant throw when Wade stole second. Xander Bogaerts hit a go-ahead RBI single two batters ahead of Cronenworth’s double.
REDS 8, NATIONALS 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs in his first opening-day start, Frankie Montas pitched six shutout innings in his Cincinnati debut as they cruised to a win over Washington.
Martini, a 33-year-old designated hitter with his fourth major league team since 2018, hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the third for a 7-0 lead off Josiah Gray (0-1). Martino became the first Cincinnati player to hit two homers on opening day since Adam Dunn in 2007.
Montas (1-0) joined with Reds with a $16 million, one-year deal as a free agent and the 31-year-old right-hander allowed four hits in six innings, striking out four and walking none. He had labrum surgery last Feb. 21 while with the New York Yankees and made his only big league appearance of the year on Sept. 30.
Gray matched his career high by allowing seven runs, giving up eight hits in four innings with six strikeouts and two walks.
Eddie Rosario, making his Nationals debut after being added to the major league roster, hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Emilio Pagán.
TWINS 4, ROYALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pablo Lopez allowed one run over seven innings, Royce Lewis homered before leaving with an injury, and Minnesota beat Kansas City to begin defense of their AL Central crown.
Carlos Correa added three hits and two RBIs to back a near-peerless performance by Lopez, who picked up where he left off last postseason. The right-hander allowed four hits and struck out seven without a walk in his first opening-day start.
The lone run Lopez (1-0) allowed was a homer to Maikel Garcia, the first batter he faced.
Brock Stewart worked the eighth for Minnesota. Griffin Jax earned the save by handling the ninth.
Cole Ragans (0-1) set a Royals record for opening day with nine strikeouts in just six innings. But the 26-year-old left-hander, who arrived in a midseason trade with Texas last year, also allowed two runs on five hits and three walks.
PIRATES 6, MARLINS 5, 12 INNINGS
MIAMI (AP) — Jared Triolo hit a RBI single in the top of the 12th inning to finish Pittsburgh’s rally and beat Miami.
Triolo’s line drive single against Marlins reliever Declan Cronin (0-1) scored automatic runner Ke’Bryan Hayes. Pirates reliever Jose Hernandez got the save, retiring 2023 NL batting champion Luis Arraez, Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz in his only inning of relief.
Luis Ortiz recorded the win for the Pirates.
After Pirates starter Mitch Keller gave up seven hits, five runs (four earned), walked two and struck out three over 5.2 innings, Pittsburgh’s bullpen held the Marlins to just one hit.
Marlins starter Jesús Luzardo allowed two hits and two runs over five innings. He walked two and struck out eight — one shy of matching the club record of nine opening-day strikeouts set by Josh Beckett in 2004 and Jose Fernandez in 2014.
Left fielder Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run homer off Luzardo that briefly tied it in the third, but Pittsburgh’s hitters largely struggled against the left-hander, tallying 18 whiffs as Miami went up 5-2.
TIGERS, 1 WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO (AP) — Tarik Skubal pitched six innings of three-hit ball and Detroit opened a promising season on a winning note, beating the Chicago White Sox.
Skubal and three relievers combined to retire the final 17 batters. The White Sox did not advance past first base and wasted a terrific start by Garrett Crochet.
Javier Báez singled and scored on Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly in the third. The Tigers finished with six hits.
Skubal (1-0) picked up right where he left off last year. The 27-year-old left-hander struck out six without a walk in his first opening-day start, after going 4-0 with a 0-90 ERA in his final five outings a year ago.
Shelby Miller pitched a perfect seventh. Andrew Chafin worked 1 1/3 innings before Jason Foley earned the save by striking out Yoán Moncada and Luis Robert Jr.
BRAVES-PHILLIES PPD
The Philadelphia Phillies announced their sold-out opener against the NL East rival Atlanta Braves was moved from 3:05 p.m. to Friday at the same time due to rain.
BREWERS-METS PPD
Pete Alonso and the New York Mets were scheduled to host the Milwaukee Brewers, the Mets announced Wednesday the game was pushed back to Friday at 1:40 p.m.
