The best day of the year is over. Opening day has come and gone, and we're left with stats, highlights and memories of the first full day of MLB action in 2015.
We saw some dominant pitching performances, quite a few homers and some close games. We also saw teams playing better than we expected and teams playing worse than we predicted.
Image Credit: Thearon W. Henderson
The A’s 25-year-old ace held the Texas Rangers hitless until the eighth inning of a 8-0 win at the Coliseum, helping the A’s snap a streak of 10 consecutive losses to open the season. Gray came within six outs of throwing the second Opening Day no-hitter in major-league history before Texas’ Ryan Rua singled to right field leading off the eighth.
An announced sellout crowd of 36,067 applauded Gray and chanted “Son-ny!” as Rua rounded first base. Gray finished the inning with help from first baseman Ike Davis, who snagged a Mitch Moreland line drive and stepped on first to double off Rua, then made a diving play on Rougned Odor’s grounder to end the inning.
The A’s last win in a season opener had come April 5, 2004, and they’d scored a total of six runs in their past six openers combined. Their new-look lineup eclipsed that total on Monday night with an 11-hit blitz. New No. 3 hitter Ben Zobrist hit a two-run homer off Rangers starter Yovani Gallardo in his first A’s at-bat, and catcher Stephen Vogt added a towering three-run homer to right off reliever Phil Klein in the seventh inning.
The spotlight, though, belonged to Gray.
Gray allowed his first runner when he clipped Odor with a pitch with two outs in the third inning. With two outs in the sixth, Zobrist – playing left field because of injuries to Coco Crisp and Josh Reddick – dropped a Leonys Martin fly ball that allowed Martin to reach second base. Zobrist was given an error, keeping the no-hit bid intact.
Prince Fielder scorched a liner to right leading off the seventh inning that Craig Gentry hardly had to move to catch. Adrian Beltre then hit a sharp grounder that second baseman Eric Sogard gloved sliding to his left for a routine putout. Gray threw a 93-mph fastball past Shin-Soo Choo for the third out, bringing the crowd to its feet.
After Vogt’s homer made the game a blowout, Gray got two strikes on Rua to start the eighth inning before the Rangers’ left fielder hit a sharp grounder through the right side of the infield. Gray still became the first A’s starter to win a season opener since Tim Hudson beat the Seattle Mariners in 2003, striking out three and throwing 98 pitches in his eight innings. Evan Scribner finished the game with a scoreless ninth.
The first A’s pitcher to start consecutive season openers since Barry Zito in 2005-06, Gray was also one of only two returning starters from last year’s Opening Night lineup (Sogard was the other), matching the fewest year-to-year in Oakland history.
Mike Trout had the kind of opening-day performance that could have been legendary if the outcome of his team's game had been different. Instead, chalk it up as a great individual effort that couldn't overcome Felix Hernandez and a sprinkling of key hits by the Seattle Mariners.
The 2014 American League MVP got off to another valuable start for the Los Angeles Angels in 2015, hitting home run in the first inning against Hernandez, and preventing a home run by Logan Morrison with a leaping grab at the fence later on.
Aside from that, King Felix dominated the Angels, and Jered Weaver could not match his performance in Seattle's 4-1 victory. Hernandez improved to 6-0 on opening day.
Trout put the Mariners behind in the first inning by connecting on a 92 mph fastball to straightaway center, his third homer in 50 career at-bats against Hernandez. He did likewise in his first at-bat of 2014, too.
Image Credit: Jim Davis/Globe Staff
Hopeful No. 1 starter Clay Buchholz outpitched ace Cole Hamels, and the Red Sox beat the lowly Philadelphia Phillies into submission with five home runs in an 8-0 shutout. By night, the Sox signed Rick Porcello to a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension that locks up the right-hander through what should be his prime, specifically ages 26-30.
Dustin Pedroia, healthy for the first time in three years, went deep twice, his first multi-homer game since 2011. Not to be outdone by his former minor league double-play partner, shortstop-turned-outfielder and absolute manchild Hanley Ramirez belted two homers, including a grand slam in the ninth inning.
Then, there is 22-year-old leadoff hitter Mookie Betts, already the most dynamic player the Sox have had since Jacoby Ellsbury and now their youngest to homer on Opening Day since Tony Conigliaro in 1965.
Image Credit: John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star
Lots of doubters out there for the defending AL champs, but the Kansas City Royals looked mighty fine on opening day. They torched the Chicago White Sox by the score of 10-1. Eight of the nine batters in the Royals' lineup had hits, including newcomer Alex Rios, who had three. Yordano Ventura looked good too, before leaving the game with a thumb cramp.
Jose Abreu got the White Sox on the board in the seventh inning with a 418-foot homer to left-center. But the White Sox had a forgettable start in a season with high expectations based on their offseason maneuvers.
Jeff Samardzija walked Morales twice during his White Sox debut but also hit two Royals. He plunked Alex Gordon in the second with Morales on first, after Garcia was hit by Ventura in the top of the second. The right-hander then hit Lorenzo Cain in the fifth, on the ensuing pitch after Mike Moustakas drove out an opposite-field homer. Cain took exception to that HBP, jawing with Samardzija and catcher Flowers.
"All I know is that Moose hit a homer, [Samardzija] hit me," Cain said, "... and then we started talking."
Image Credit: Leon Halip/Getty Images North America
For the first time in eight years, somebody other than Justin Verlander was starting on opening day for Detroit.
David Price looked plenty worthy.
Price came within one out of a shutout in the Tigers' 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday, retiring the first 13 batters he faced and allowing five hits before being pulled with two on and two out in the ninth.
Joe Nathan struck out Torii Hunter for the save as the Tigers handed Paul Molitor a loss in his first game as Minnesota's manager.
"It's always big to go out there and put up zeros and pitch late into the game," Price said. "To be able to do it on opening day, that definitely makes it a little bit more special. I felt good."
The Tigers acquired Price at last year's trade deadline, and manager Brad Ausmus picked him to start the first game, snapping Verlander's seven-year streak of openers. Price struck out five without a walk.
J.D. Martinez and Alex Avila homered off Phil Hughes, and Yoenis Cespedes doubled, tripled and scored twice in his Detroit debut. Cespedes also reached above the wall in left to catch Kurt Suzuki's drive in the third.
Image Credit: AP Photo/Patric Schneider
In his final five starts of 2014, a stretch that propelled him to the top of the American League Cy Young ballot, Corey Kluber posted a 5-0 record and 1.12 ERA, with five walks and 54 strikeouts in 40 1/3 innings. The right-hander lasted at least eight frames in four of those five outings.
Kluber carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning. With two outs, Houston's diminutive hit machine, Jose Altuve, slapped a bloop single into center. Kluber said he was aware of the goose egg in Houston's hit column, but it was too early to concern himself with the potential of a historic feat, especially in a scoreless deadlock.
"I wasn't pitching to not give up a hit," Kluber said. "I was more so pitching to keep them off the scoreboard."
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The Orioles won their fifth straight opening day game on Monday afternoon, dominating the division rival Tampa Bay Rays with a 6-2 victory in front of an announced sellout crowd of 31,042 at Tropicana Field, backed by a strong performance by right-hander Chris Tillman, who was steady making his second straight season opening day start.
An Orioles team that led the majors with 211 home runs last season hit three homers Monday, a two-run blast by left fielder Alejandro De Aza and solo homers by first baseman Steve Pearce and shortstop Ryan Flaherty.
Right-hander Chris Tillman set the tone, holding the Rays to one run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking three batters.
Newcomer Travis Snider, the first Orioles player other than Markakis to start in right field since 2006, had three hits and drove in two runs, including an opposite-field single against a shift to score De Aza in the top of the first inning.
After Asdrubal Cabrera hit an RBI double off Tommy Hunter with two outs in the eighth, the Rays brought the tying run to the plate with two on and two outs, but Longoria popped up weakly to second base on the first pitch of the at bat.
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In his first game back from a year-long suspension, New York Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-2 with a walk and represented one of the few bright spots for his club in a 6-1 opening day loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
“It definitely felt good, that’s for sure,” the 39-year-old Rodriguez said after the game. “I have a lot of love for the city of New York, especially our fans. But let’s make it clear: The fans don’t owe me anything. I have to earn their cheers and their respect.”
Rodriguez’s single was one of only three hits for the Yankees against Blue Jays starter Drew Hutchison, who earned the win with six innings of one-run ball. Outfielder Brett Gardner accounted for all of New York’s scoring with a solo home run in the sixth, but it was the return of Rodriguez that seemed to draw the most attention during and after the game.
Drew Hutchison, at 24 the youngest Opening Day starter in Blue Jays' history, held the Yankees hitless until Brian McCann laced a ball just inside the first base line for a single with two outs in the fourth.
Hutchison (1-0) allowed three hits, including Brett Gardner's homer in the sixth inning, to help Toronto improve to 20-19 in openers, including 1-2 vs. the Yankees.
Ex-Yankee Russell Martin hit a two-run single in a five-run third inning against Tanaka (0-1). Devon Travis homered later in the game for his first career hit.
Kevin Pillar led off the third with a single and the Japanese star, making his first Opening Day start for New York, struggled to get an out after that.
Travis walked and Jose Reyes put down a bunt that third baseman Chase Headley threw away, allowing a run to score.
After Reyes was checked by a trainer at second base, Martin, who signed an $82 million, five-year free-agent contract this winter, singled. An out later, Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer off Masahiro Tanaka, and the Toronto Blue Jays beat the New York Yankees 6-1 in Monday's Opener.
Christine O'Connor
Twitter: ChristineeeeO
