Season starts
LA Dodgers erupt late to beat San Francisco
Yankees top World Series champions Nationals in opener
WASHINGTON: Gerrit Cole allowed one hit in five stellar innings before a rain delay, and Giancarlo Stanton homered and drove in three runs as the New York Yankees recorded a 4-1, rain-shortened victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday night in the season opener of the abbreviated 60-game campaign.
The game was halted with one out in the top of the sixth inning, when the Yankees had runners at first and third, and play never resumed. The result was declared official nearly two hours later.
Cole (1-0) allowed only a homer to Adam Eaton with one out in the first and finished his Yankees debut with five strikeouts and one walk in a 75-pitch complete game.
The only other Nationals, the World Series champions, to reach against Cole were Eric Thames, hit by a pitch in the second inning, and Asdrubal Cabrera, who walked in the fifth.
Cole struck out Andrew Stevenson and Victor Robles after the walk to end the fifth — and his night.
Stanton hit a two-run homer off Max
Scherzer (0-1) in the first, driving a 1-1 fastball an estimated 459 feet over the left-centre-field fence.
He added an RBI single in the fifth after the Yankees loaded the bases on two walks and a bunt single by
Tyler Wade.
New York’s Aaron Judge contributed an RBI double that scored Wade from first base with one out in the third.
The game started with the Nationals raising their 2019 World Series championship banner, along with players and coaches on both sides taking a knee before the national anthem as a video recorded by actor Morgan Freeman was played.
However, none of the players kneeled during the anthem.
At Los Angeles, Mookie Betts’ first hit with his new club led to the go-ahead run, and the Dodgers erupted late for an 8-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Betts, who played six seasons with the Boston Red Sox before he was traded to the Dodgers in the offseason and subsequently signed a 12-year extension, delivered a single to left field in the seventh inning in his fourth at-bat.
He moved to third base on a double by Cody Bellinger and scored on a ground ball to second base by Justin Turner despite a drawn-in infield as Los Angeles broke a late 1-1 tie.
Enrique Hernandez had a home run among his four hits and drove in five runs for the Dodgers, who are the solid betting favourite to win the World Series in a season that was reduced to 60 games because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Giants scored the first National
League run of the season in the third inning.
Catcher Tyler Heineman led off the third inning with a single and eventually came home on a sacrifice fly from Pablo Sandoval.
The Dodgers tied it 1-1 on Hernandez’s bloop RBI single to left-centre in the fourth. Hernandez added a two-run single to right field two batters after Betts scored the go-ahead run as Los Angeles scored five times in the seventh inning.
Hernandez capped his night with a two-run home run to left in the eighth.
The Dodgers had an eventful lead-in to the game. Betts agreed to a 12-year, US$365 million contract extension on Wednesday, before even playing a game in a Dodgers uniform, while scheduled starter Clayton Kershaw went on the injured list hours before the contest due to back stiffness.
Rookie Dustin May was recalled to take Kershaw’s spot on the roster.
All players and coaches from both teams took a knee in a pregame ceremony as a nod to racial unity.
RESULTS
(Home team in CAPS) Yankees 4 NATIONALS 1 DODGERS 8 Giants 1