The Dodgers have won five consecutive season openers for the first time in franchise history. The announced crowd of 53,518 was the largest for a regular-season game in all of baseball in 2 1/2 years.
Adrian Gonzalez was a triple short of the cycle. Gonzalez homered in the third inning, singled in the fifth and then doubled in the seventh, when he scored the tying run on a double by Howie Kendrick, the team's new second baseman. Kendrick, who batted cleanup, tripled and scored in the fourth inning, on a double by Carl Crawford.
Newcomer Jimmy Rollins broke a 3-3 stalemate by blasting an eighth-inning offering by Shawn Kelley into the seats by the right-field foul pole for a three-run home run. This marked the fourth time Rollins has homered on opening day. Rollins, who spent his previous 15 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, has hit safely in his last 11 season openers.
The Padres, newly dangerous, looked the part, contributing to a sub-par start for Kershaw. The left-hander struck out nine but allowed three runs over six innings. Arguably, he was out-pitched by the Padres' new No. 1, James Shields. By then, Kemp was 2-for-3, having driven in all of the Padres' runs.
The numbers told the Dodgers to put the shift on in Kemp's first official at-bat for the Padres. This is a different Dodgers club now, driven by analytics, still armed with boundless resources. So when Kemp fought off an inside fastball from Clayton Kershaw, his former, Cy Young-winning teammate, sending a nubber the other way for a run-scoring single, Dodger Stadium groaned. In his third at-bat, Kemp lashed a two-run double to left.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Jason Heyward went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a stolen base in his Cardinals debut and Adam Wainwright blanked the Cubs over six innings in a 3-0 victory on Opening Night in Chicago on Sunday. The Cubs had plenty of opportunities to score, but went hitless in 13 at-bats with runners on scoring position.
The Cardinals took an early lead with a one-out double to right field in the first inning by Heyward, followed by a Matt Holliday single, also to right field. Heyward doubled again in the third and singled in the fifth, but was stranded both times. The Cardinals scored once in the second inning on a Matt Carpenter RBI single and again in the fifth inning on another Holliday RBI single to right field to take a 3-0 lead. The Cardinals’ 1-through-3 hitters combined to go 7-for-14 with two doubles, three RBI, and two runs scored on the evening.
Cubs starter Jon Lester, making his debut with his new club after signing a six-year, $155 million contract in December, lasted only 4 1/3 innings. On 89 pitches, the lefty allowed eight hits, walked two, and struck out six. Phil Coke relieved Lester with runners on second and third and one out, sandwiching an intentional walk around two strikeouts to exit the frame.
Wainwright, meanwhile, threw 101 pitches over his six innings of work, yielding five hits and no walks while striking out six. The right-hander had minor elbow surgery in October and dealt with a minor abdominal injury shortly after pitchers and catches reported in February, but looked completely healthy facing the Cubs. He unleashed a handful of devastating curves during the course of the evening.
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Braves relievers Luis Avilan and Jim Johnson worked out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the seventh inning to protect a 2-1 lead, after starter Julio Teheran gave up three hits to start the inning. Avilan induced a 5-2-3 double-play grounder by Jarrod Saltalamacchia, with catcher Christian Bethancourt showing off his cannon of an arm on the throw to first to complete the game’s most important play. Johnson got Adeiny Hechavarria to pop up foul to end the inning and pitched a perfect eighth, and Jason Grilli pitched a perfect ninth with two strikeouts for the save.
The Braves used “small ball” to manufacture each of their first two runs of the 2015 season, something they’ve said all spring that they would focus on doing, after trying and failing with an all-or-nothing offense in 2014 that was plagued by too many strikeouts and not enough home runs. Rookie second baseman Jace Peterson played big parts in each of those two runs, singling and scoring on a Nick Markakis single in the first inning, and laying down a sacrifice bunt to move Eric Young Jr. to third base in the sixth inning before he scored on Markakis fielder’s choice grounder.
The Mets didn't have an easy start for the season. They were playing the powerful Washington Nationals, and their new $210 million ace, Max Scherzer, in front of a pumped-up crowd of Nationals fans with visions of a World Series in October.
In the Mets’ favor was that they do have a strong record on opening day — a lot better, in fact, than what they have usually done in the 161 games that followed. Still, this was, by any measure, a daunting assignment.
And it grew more difficult when Scherzer carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and looked as if he might just keep the Mets hitless the entire game. But for one game at least the Mets showed that they had the talent and fortitude to stand up to a Nationals team that has bullied them around the National League East for years. The Mets capitalized on two errors by the shortstop, Ian Desmond. Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud delivered big hits. Bartolo Colon, the doughy 41-year-old starter, kept the Nationals off balance for six innings.
The Mets ended up with a 3-1 victory that reinforced the idea that this season might be the one in which all the losing finally stops and a contender actually emerges in Queens. Playing well against the Nationals was going to be a good measuring stick of the Mets’ progress. Over the last three years, the Nationals had beaten the Mets 41 times in 55 meetings and had dominated them in every aspect of the game. Then, for good measure, the Nationals added Scherzer to a rotation that was already one of the best in baseball.
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Todd Frazier hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning on Monday, overcoming another stumble by the bullpen and rallying the Cincinnati Reds to an opening 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Billy Hamilton and Joey Votto singled before Frazier connected against Tony Watson (0-1), snapping a 2-2 tie.
Johnny Cueto, the Reds' 20-game winner in the final year of a contract, opened his uncertain season with another dominating performance against the Pirates. He fanned 10 batters in seven innings before turning a 2-0 lead over to a bullpen that was a big problem last season.
Andrew McCutchen tied it with a two-run shot off newcomer Kevin Gregg.
Jumbo Diaz (1-0) got the final out in the eighth. Aroldis Chapman fanned two of the three batters he faced for the save.
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The Rockies pounded the Milwaukee Brewers 10-0 at Miller Park, getting seven shutout innings from newcomer Kyle Kendrick in the most impressive opening-day victory in club history. They cranked out 16 hits, including two-run homers by Corey Dickerson and Nolan Arenado.
"Our confidence is out the roof, for sure," said Dickerson, who drove in four runs. "I think other teams see this lineup and know it's dangerous. We are a confident team."
According to Milwaukee catcher Jonathan Lucroy, Dickerson broke his bat on his line-drive home run. Dickerson claimed otherwise, but the raw power he displayed was symbolic of the Rockies' onslaught.
For a team that limped to a 21-60 road record last season, Monday's romp was a welcome changeup. Colorado scored 10 runs or more in a road game just twice last season. Monday's game produced the most runs the Rockies have ever scored in an opening-day road game.
Kendrick, the Rockies' new $5.5 million right-hander, not only pitched seven shutout innings, he went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. He mixed and matched his pitches masterfully, relying primarily on sinkers and changeups thrown over the inside corner.
"This was great, but I just came in here thinking I'd do what I did in (Philadelphia), and that's give my team a chance to win," said Kendrick, who credited catcher Nick Hundley for devising the game plan that kept Milwaukee hitters off balance. "You don't really think about the results, you just go out and execute pitches. Today it really worked out."
Madison Bumgarner pitched seven strong innings and the San Francisco Giants opened defense of their third World Series title in five years with a 5-4 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night.
Bumgarner (1-0) was the NLCS and World Series MVP last year and was sharp to start the 2015 season, allowing a run on six hits.
The Giants lost power-hitting Pablo Sandoval during the offseason and were without injured right fielder Hunter Pence, but made up for it by stringing together 10 hits in four-plus innings against Josh Collmenter (0-2).
Angel Pagan had a pair of run-scoring singles and Brandon Crawford hit a two-run double for the Giants.
Diamondbacks pinch-hitter Jake Lamb hit a three-run double off Sergio Romo in the eighth, but Jeremy Affeldt stranded two runners to end the inning. Santiago Casilla worked a perfect ninth for the save.
Bumgarner had one of the best postseason runs in major league history, earning two wins in the World Series and a five-inning save in Game 7 on two days' rest.
Bumgarner left a pitch up in the third inning to Mark Trumbo, who hit a run-scoring triple that nearly went out in the deepest part of the park. Other than that, Bumgarner had the Diamondbacks under control, aided by double plays in the fifth and sixth.
Collmenter has been Arizona's jack-of-all trades during his four seasons in the desert, filling in wherever the Diamondbacks needed him, whether it was as a starter or long relief. Collmenter allowed five runs in 4 2-3 innings. The over-the-top-throwing right-hander was rewarded for his workmanlike efforts by getting the ball on opening day.
San Francisco's top three hitters, Nori Aoki, Joe Panik and Pagan, greeted him with one hit after another, going a combined 8 for 9 through the first five innings. Pagan had a pair of run-scoring singles, Buster Posey hit a sacrifice fly and Crawford a two-run double in the fifth to put San Francisco up 5-1.
Christine O'Connor
@christineeeeO
