Ohtani doubles, walks, singles in home debut
Shohei Ohtani reached base three times in his Dodgers debut as the Dodgers ripped the Cardinals 7-1 on Thursday in their home opener to a season of skyhigh expectations.
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman homered in the third inning, and Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings of two-hit ball for the Dodgers. One week after they began the season with two games in South Korea, the club showed off the talent throughout an expensive, starstudded roster headlined by three former MVPs at the top of the batting order.
No addition was bigger than Ohtani, who showed no signs of distraction after a tumultuous week in which he emphatically denied betting on sports after the firing of his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
After receiving a standing ovation from the raucous sellout crowd of 52,667, Ohtani doubled in his first official at-bat at Chavez Ravine since agreeing to his record 10-year, $700 million contract. The two-time AL MVP followed with a walk and a single as the Dodgers’ designated hitter.
Soto’s throw keys Yanks’ win
Juan Soto threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of his Yankees debut after starting his team’s comeback from a four-run deficit in a 5-4 victory over the host Astros.
Oswaldo Cabrera homered and Aaron Judge doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Yankees went ahead.
Mauricio Dubón and Yordan Alvarez singled off Clay Holmes to give the Astros two on with one out in the ninth. Kyle Tucker lined a single to right and Soto, an AllStar acquired from the Padres, made a one-hop throw slightly up the third-base line. Jose Trevino made a sweep tag and caught Dubón’s left arm just before the runner’s finger touched the plate.
Burnes shines in Birds debut
Corbin Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant six innings, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins homered as the host Orioles began their division-title defense with an 11-3 rout of the Angels.
Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Orioles ace after that. Burnes struck out 11 in his first start after they acquired him from the Brewers.
In other games
George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to lead the Blue Jays over the host Rays 8-2. Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Jays.
† Jake Cronenworth’s tworun double highlighted a fourrun seventh for the Padres, who beat the Giants 6-4 to spoil Bob Melvin’s return to San Diego.
† Jared Triolo hit an RBI single in the top of the 12th inning to finish the Pirates’ rally and beat the host Marlins 6-5.
† Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs as the Reds cruised to an 8-2 victory over the visiting Nationals.