NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge followed his record-setting 2022 by homering on his first swing as Yankees captain, starting New York to a 5-0 opening day win over the San Francisco Giants on Thursday.
Gerrit Cole (1-0) struck out 11 in six scoreless innings, a Yankees record for an opener, and 21-year-old Anthony Volpe went 0 for 2 with a walk, stolen base and two nice defensive plays in his major league debut.
Gleyber Torres added a two-run homer in the fourth and Judge blooped an RBI broken-bat single in a two-run seventh that included DJ LeMahieu's run-scoring single.
Logan Webb (0-1) struck out 12, the most for the Giants in an opener. Cole and Webb joined Dave McNally and Sam McDowell in 1970, and Max Scherzer and Jacob DeGrom in 2019 as the only opposing starters with double-digit strikeouts in an opener since 1901.
On the first day of the pitch clock, there was just one violation, on J.D. Davis at the plate in the ninth inning. The game was played in a brisk 2 hours, 33 minutes before a sellout crowd of 46,172 on a sunny, 39-degree afternoon.
Judge hit 62 home runs last year to break the American League record of 61 set by Roger Maris in 1961. He became a free agent and was courted by San Francisco before signing a $360 million, nine-year deal with the Yankees, who named Judge their first captain since Derek Jeter retired at the end of 2014.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone worried he would see Judge introduced on the third-base line with the Giants. Instead, Judge was in a usual outfield spot for the Bleacher Creatures Roll Call, then took a strike and hit a thigh-high cutter 422 feet into the netting above Monument Park in centre field for the first home run of the new MLB season.
Volpe, who had about 60 family members on hand, walked on a full-count pitch in the third, grounded out in the fifth and struck out in the seventh.
Cole allowed three singles and broke the Yankees strikeout record for an opener set by Tim Leary with nine in 1991. Among those he fanned was his brother-in-law, Brandon Crawford.
ATHLETICS 2, ANGELS 1
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in his season debut coming off the World Baseball Classic title before Oakland capitalized once he exited with Aledmys Díaz rallying the Athletics on a tiebreaking single in the eighth for a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday night.
Esteury Ruiz singled and Tony Kemp hit a tying double to start the rally against Aaron Loup (0-1).
Ohtani called his own pitches using the Pitchcom technology as he also did during spring training given his full repertoire of offerings and the addition of the pitch clock this year.
Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe singled in the fifth to break up a scoreless game and put the Angels ahead. Then Los Angeles right fielder Hunter Renfroe made an amazing no-look catch for the opening day highlight reels.
Ohtani raised his arms in delight from the mound and Renfroe could only grin ear to ear after robbing Oakland’s Jace Peterson with a defensive gem to start the bottom of the fifth. Running backward toward the wall, Renfroe reached his glove up and made the grab without his eyes tracking the ball and landed just in front of the warning track.
Ohtani — unfazed after walking Kemp on four pitches to start his outing — pumped his first when he retired Ramón Laureano on a 101-mph pitch to end the fourth. He walked three and allowed two hits.
Ohtani joined Dylan Cease, Gerrit Cole and Logan Webb as four pitchers with double-digit strikeouts, matching 1970 for the most on opening day since 1901.
BLUE JAYS 10, CARDINALS 9
ST. LOUIS -- George Springer had five hits and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat St. Louis 10-9 on Thursday despite the Cardinals' Tyler O'Neill tying a major league record by homering on opening day for the fourth straight season.
Making his Cardinals debut, catcher Willson Contreras left after the eighth inning because of an injured knee.
Springer was 5 for 6 with five singles in the fourth five-hit game of his big league career to go along with a six-game game for Houston at Oakland in May 2018. Springer combined with Baltimore's Adley Rutschman to become the first pair of players with five hits each on opening day since at least 1901.
Bo Bichette had four hits and Matt Chapman three for the Blue Jays, who outhit the Cardinals 19-15 and set a team record for hits in an opener.
Toronto won its fourth straight opener by overcoming a 9-8 deficit in the ninth against Ryan Helsley (0-1). Springer tied the score with an RBI single and Guerrero followed with a sacrifice fly.
ORIOLES 10, RED SOX 9
BOSTON (AP) — The last time Adley Rutschman recalls feeling this level of emotion on a baseball field was playing in front of intimate, 5,000-seat crowds in college at Oregon State.
He trumped that experience at Fenway Park on Thursday in his first career opening day start.
“This blows that out of the water,” Rutschman said.
Rutschman became the first catcher in major league history with five hits in an opener, and the Baltimore Orioles survived a wild ninth inning to beat the Boston Red Sox 10-9.
“To have that close game in the ninth inning and the crowd get so loud. You kind of sit there and say, ‘This is pretty cool,’” said Rutschman, the top overall pick in the 2019 draft.
Rutschman — who debuted for the Orioles last May and quickly became indispensable to the young, resurgent club — homered in his first at-bat and finished 5-for-5 with a career-best four RBIs and a walk on a chilly day at Fenway Park, with a temperature of 38 degrees at first pitch.
Ramon Urias hit a two-run homer for Baltimore, which finished with 15 hits, nine walks and five stolen bases.
Kyle Gibson (1-0) allowed four runs and six hits over five-plus innings to earn his first opening-day victory since his 2021 All-Star season with Texas. Gibson gave up an RBI groundout in the first inning before retiring nine straight Red Sox hitters.
The Orioles nearly gave the game away in the ninth.
With Baltimore leading 10-7, closer Félix Bautista walked pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia. Alex Verdugo followed with a single and advanced to second on an error by center fielder Cedric Mullins.
Rafael Devers struck out. Justin Turner then reached on an infield single to third when Urias’ throw was wide, scoring Tapia. Masataka Yoshida grounded to shortstop Jorge Mateo, who stepped on second for the force but threw wildly to first, allowing Verdugo to score.
Bautista struck out Adam Duvall on three pitches to end it and earn the save.
RAYS 4, TIGERS 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Shane McClanahan pitched six sharp innings, Jose Siri and Wander Franco homered and the Tampa Bay Rays opened their silver anniversary season with a 4-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
Miguel Cabrera, beginning what he has said will be his last season, had one of Detroit's six hits -- a seventh-inning double -- that moved him into a tie with Ichiro Suzuki for 23rd on the all-time hit list with 3,089.
McClanahan (1-0) gave up four hits, struck out six and walked one in his second opening day start.
Randy Arozarena and Luke Raley also drove in runs charged to Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1), who yielded Siri's homer in the third inning.
Franco provided added insurance with a solo homer in the eighth.
BRAVES 7, NATIONALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Atlanta Braves overcame the early exit of NL Cy Young Award runner-up Max Fried because of a bad leg Thursday with four hits by Travis d'Arnaud and three errors by Washington during a 7-2 victory over the Nationals on a sunny, chilly opening day.
The temperature was 45 degrees at first pitch, players from both teams lost balls in the bright daylight, and there were a total of five errors, three by Nationals shortstop CJ Abrams.
Designated hitter d'Arnaud capped his afternoon with a two-run double in the ninth and Austin Riley walked three times — once with the bases loaded — for Atlanta, which is coming off five NL East titles in a row. Washington finished last in the division each of the past three years.
Fried allowed one run before departing with what Atlanta said was left hamstring discomfort after wincing as he ran to cover first base for the initial out of the fourth inning.
Lucas Luetge (1-0), one of five Braves relievers, was credited with the win.
Washington lefty Patrick Corbin (0-1) picked up right where he left off the past two seasons, lasting just one batter into the fourth inning and departing with a 6.00 ERA after giving up four runs, two earned. No pitcher in the big leagues had more losses in 2022 than his 19 or in 2021 than his 16.
WHITE SOX 3, ASTROS 2
HOUSTON (AP) — With both his shoulders covered in shaving cream from the postgame celebration, Pedro Grifol couldn't stop smiling as he discussed his first win as a major league manager.
“Today was a fun day all the way around,” he said.
Andrew Vaughn’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the ninth inning lifted the Chicago White Sox to a 3-2 victory over the defending World Series champion Houston Astros in their season opener Thursday night.
Grifol won his managerial debut after spending the last 10 seasons as a coach in the Royals organization.
It snapped a streak of 10 straight wins for the Astros in openers, which was tied for the longest streak in major league history with the Boston Beaneaters from 1887-96.
Yasmani Grandal hit a tying homer for Chicago in the eighth. Ryan Pressly (0-1) walked Tim Anderson with one out in the ninth before a single by Luis Robert Jr.
Vaughn then belted a line drive that sailed over the head of leaping second baseman Mauricio Dubón and into center field to put the White Sox on top.
“It was a great game all the way around from the first inning to the last inning," Grifol said. “There was a lot of moving parts to it, even though it was just three or four moves to make, there was a lot of moving parts in the mind.”
White Sox ace Dylan Cease allowed two hits and a run with 10 strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings in his first opening-day start. Kendall Graveman (1-0) worked a scoreless eighth for the win.
Reynaldo Lopez allowed a soaring solo home run to the second deck in right field to Yordan Alvarez with one out in the ninth but finished for the save.
TWINS 2, ROYALS 0
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Twins manager Rocco Baldelli leaned forward in his visiting office, turned over his lineup card for opening day against the Royals and began reading the blue marker scribbled down the back.
“There were a lot of highlights today,” Baldelli said. “I had to make a list.”
It began with Pablo Lopez.
The right-hander dominated Kansas City in his Minnesota debut Thursday, outpitching former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke by allowing just two hits while lasting into the sixth inning. Lopez's bullpen took over from there, holding the Royals without another hit to finish off a 2-0 victory at breezy Kauffman Stadium.
“Obviously, I was aware of what the Twins gave up to bring me and the other guys,” said Lopez, acquired from Miami in January along with two other players for All-Star second baseman and fan favorite Luis Arraez.
“The team is putting this much trust in me,” Lopez said. “I'm going to make the most of it. That's how I look at it.”
Lopez walked three and struck out eight before leaving after 5 1/3 innings. By that point, Trevor Larnach and pinch-hitter Donovan Solano had driven in runs to give Minnesota the lead, and a trio of relievers carried it into the ninth inning.
Jhoan Duran worked around a walk to earn the save, closing out a game played in a tidy 2 hours, 32 minutes.
CUBS 4, BREWERS 0
CHICAGO (AP) — Dansby Swanson had three hits in his Chicago Cubs debut and Marcus Stroman worked six scoreless innings, breezing past baseball's first pitch-clock violation on his way to a 4-0 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday on opening day.
Swanson's first hit with his new team was an RBI single that sparked a four-run third. He tacked on two more singles and played his usual solid defence at shortstop.
Swanson signed a $177 million, seven-year contract with Chicago in free agency, leaving the Atlanta Braves after seven seasons. The addition of Swanson was the marquee move in a busy offseason for the Cubs after finishing third in the NL Central with a 74-88 record.
Milwaukee was limited to singles for rookie Brice Turang, Willy Adames, Brian Anderson and William Contreras. It also was a tough day for Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, who allowed four hits and issued three walks in five innings.
Stroman struck out eight and walked three in the first start of his second season with the Cubs. Keegan Thompson and Brad Boxberger each got three outs before Michael Fulmer finished the four-hitter.
RANGERS 11, PHILLIES 7
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Robbie Grossman and Brad Miller homered in a big comeback for Texas after prized acquisition Jacob deGrom struggled in his debut, and the Rangers beat the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies 11-7 in the season opener Thursday.
Grossman, a free-agent addition who earned the starting left field job in spring training, hit a three-run homer that tied the game at 5-5 in the middle of a nine-run outburst in the fourth inning. An inning later, Miller became the first Rangers player in 11 years to homer in consecutive season openers. His two-run shot made it 11-6.
While deGrom struck out seven without a walk, the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner allowed five runs on six extra-base hits in his 3 2/3 innings. He threw 49 of 73 pitches for strikes. DeGrom signed a $185 million, five-year contract in free agency and made his fourth career start on opening day _ he threw 17 scoreless innings in his three openers for the New York Mets, his team for the past nine seasons.
Aaron Nola, the 29-year-old right-hander making his sixth and maybe final opening-day start for the Phillies, also allowed five runs in 3 2/3 innings. Nola is in the final year of his contract and discussions about an extension ended just before the start of the season.
PIRATES 5, REDS 4
CINCINNATI -- Oneil Cruz homered shortly after a pitch clock violation and later drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates open the season by beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Thursday.
The game was played in 3 hours, 2 minutes under new rules this season designed to speed things up. There were a combined 15 walks and 26 strikeouts which contributed to the game's length.
There were two pitch-clock violations in, committed by Reds starter Hunter Greene in the third and Pirates starter Mitch Keller in the fourth. Both at-bats ended with home runs.
METS 5, MARLINS 3
MIAMI -- Brandon Nimmo broke a seventh-inning tie with a two-run double, sending Max Scherzer and the New York Mets past the Miami Marlins 5-3 on Thursday.
Scherzer (1-0) coughed up a three-run lead but threw six solid innings in a matchup with NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara as the Mets improved to 41-21 on opening day -- the best record in baseball.
Garrett Cooper tied it 3-all in the sixth with a two-run homer off Scherzer. Jacob Stallings led off the inning with a single and scored on Luis Arraez's double.
Nimmo had three RBIs from the leadoff spot after re-signing with the Mets in the offseason for $162 million over eight years. He ripped a low slider from reliever Tanner Scott (0-1) into center field to put New York ahead 5-3 in the seventh, propelling the Mets to their 41st win in the past 53 openers.
Nimmo also had a sacrifice fly that scored Daniel Vogelbach for a 1-0 lead.
Before the opener, the Mets placed Justin Verlander on the injured list with a strained upper back muscle, sidelining the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner before his first appearance with the team.
MARINERS 3, GUARDIANS 0
SEATTLE (AP) — J.P. Crawford's walk helped by a pitch-clock violation on James Karinchak sparked an eighth-inning rally that was capped by Ty France's three-run homer, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Guardians 3-0 on Thursday night.
Opening day was a dramatic pitchers' duel between Cleveland ace Shane Bieber and Seattle’s Luis Castillo that lacked any offence until the wild eighth inning.
Crawford walked on a 3-2 pitch but only after being gifted a ball when Karinchak (0-1) committed the lone pitch-clock violation of the game with the count 0-2. Kolten Wong was hit by a pitch with one out and France went opposite field with a pitch out of the strike zone and cleared the wall down the right-field line.
France doubled off the wall in right-center earlier in the game and finished a triple short of the cycle.
Seattle reliever Andrés Muñoz ran into trouble in the ninth, giving up a single to Amed Rosario and a double to José Ramírez with two outs before getting Guardians newcomer Josh Bell to ground out for the save.
ROCKIES 7, PADRES 2
SAN DIEGO (AP) — C.J. Cron homered twice and drove in five runs for the Colorado Rockies, who beat San Diego 7-2 on Thursday to dampen opening night of the most anticipated season in Padres history at chilly, wet Petco Park.
Cron hit a go-ahead, three-run homer with one out in the fifth inning and added a leadoff shot in the seventh for his 17th career multi-homer game. Elehuris Montero followed with another homer off reliever Domingo Tapia. The Rockies had 17 hits, with the heart of the order collecting 10 — four by Cron and three apiece by Kris Bryant and Charlie Blackmon.
Expectations are so high for the superstar-laden Padres, who made a stirring run to the NL Championship Series last year, that some in the sellout crowd of 45,103 booed when left fielder Juan Soto let Bryant's fly ball fall in for an RBI single in the sixth. There were more boos when Cron and Montero went back-to-back in the seventh.
Xander Bogaerts, who signed a $280 million, 11-year free agent deal in December, went 3 for 4 with two doubles in his Padres debut. Manny Machado, who finished second in NL MVP voting last year, had a sacrifice fly and a single. Soto, acquired last year at the trade deadline from Washington, went 0 for 4.
The Padres' fourth superstar, Fernando Tatis Jr., is eligible to be activated on April 20 after finishing an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Blake Snell (0-1), making his second career opening-day start, struck out nine through four innings before allowing singles to Yonathan Daza and Blackmon and leaving with a 2-1 lead in the fifth. Nabil Crismatt relieved and gave up Cron's shot to left field.
Germán Márquez (1-0) held San Diego to two runs and five hits in six innings.
DODGERS 8, DIAMONDBACKS 2
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Smith went 3 for 5 and drove in three runs, James Outman homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-2 on Thursday night in their season opener.
Julio Urías (1-0), last year’s NL ERA leader at 2.16, got the victory in his first career opening-day start. The left-hander allowed four hits and two runs in six innings. He struck out six.
All three of Smith's hits went to right field in a game that lasted 2 hours, 35 minutes under new rules this season designed to speed things up.
The game-time temperature was 55 degrees — 15 degrees lower than Los Angeles’ average of 70 in March. Batting practice was rained out and the tarp covered the infield. But the clouds cleared before first pitch, revealing rare snow atop the San Gabriel Mountains that frame the outfield.
The Dodgers won a franchise-record 111 games last season only to lose to the rival San Diego Padres in their National League Division Series. They bid farewell to Trea Turner, Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger in the offseason, helping make the roster a bit younger.
Outman is part of that youth movement, having made the opening-day roster off a strong spring showing. The 25-year-old center fielder hammered a two-run shot to left-center in the sixth, extending the lead to 7-2. Outman went 2 for 3 with three runs, a walk and a strikeout in his first career game at Dodger Stadium.
Mookie Betts made the defensive play of the game in the sixth. Ketel Marte singled to right, Betts picked up the ball barehanded and in one motion made a two-hop throw to get Marte stretching at second.
The Dodgers broke open a 2-all game in the fifth. Smith had an RBI single, J.D. Martinez's RBI single chased Zac Gallen, and David Peralta singled off Cole Sulser to give Los Angeles a 5-2 lead.
Gallen (0-1) gave up six hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked three.
