MLB opening day a homer derby
Stanton strikes two for the Yankees and Davidson goes one better for the Cubs
Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Davidson gave opening day quite a jolt.
A new baseball season began with a bang on Thursday when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs homered on the very first pitch. World Series MVP George Springer connected, Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit walk-off winners and Anthony Rizzo delivered the most emotional drive of the day.
Shohei Ohtani also got off to a nice start with a hit in his first at-bat. But a year after big leaguers launched a record 6,105 longballs, Stanton and Davidson staged their own long-distance home-run derby.
Stanton hit two hard homers and doubled in his debut with the New York Yankees during a 6-1 victory at Toronto. The reigning NL MVP led the majors with 59 home runs last year, then was traded from Miami to the Bronx.
“You want to get the first one out of the way and then you can relax,” Stanton said.
Davidson did even better, hitting three home runs for the Chicago White Sox in a 14-7 romp at Kansas City. He became the fourth player with a three-homer performance on opening day, joining Detroit’s Dmitri Young (2005), the Cubs’ Tuffy Rhodes (1994) and Toronto’s George Bell (1988).
Not every pitcher got tagged, though.
Shutout innings
Justin Verlander pitched six shutout innings for the champion Houston Astros in a 4-1 win over Texas. Luis Severino threw one-hit ball over 5 2/3 scoreless innings for the Yankees. Boston ace Chris Sale gave up just one hit in six innings, but Tampa Ray rallied for six runs in the eighth to win 6-4.
And in Seattle, Felix Hernandez used a biting curveball to outduel Cleveland ace and AL Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber. Hernandez pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings, while Kluber allowed two runs over eight in the Mariners’ 2-1 win.
In Miami, Jose Urena gave up a home run to Happ on his first pitch. Urena hit three batters in the first inning and walked two. The next inning, Rizzo earned a standing ovation after his home run at Miami. Both teams wore patches to honour the 17 people killed at his former high school in Parkland, Florida.