Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Stanton homers twice in debut
Giancarlo Stanton homered twice, doubled and had four RBIs in his Yankees debut, a 6-1 win Thursday over the Toronto Blue Jays that gave Aaron Boone in a win in his first game as a professional manager.
Luis Severino (1-0) pitched 5.2 scoreless innings for the Yankees, who won their opener for the first time since 2011.
Acquired from Miami after leading the majors with 59 homers, Stanton hit a tworun homer in the first off J.A. Happ (0-1), an RBI double in the fifth and hit a solo homer in the ninth off Tyler Clippard. Matt Davidson became the fourth player in major league history to homer three times on opening day, Tim Anderson homered twice and Jose Abreu went deep for the White Sox.
Davidson became the fourth player with a threehomer performance on opening day, joining Detroit’s Dmitri Young (2005), the Cubs’ Tuffy Rhodes (1994) and Toronto’s George Bell (1988). Chicago’s matched the record for home runs on opening day, set by the New York Mets in 1988.
Ian Happ became the second player to homer on the first pitch of the major league season, and Anthony Rizzo made his emotional homecoming even more memorable with a home run.
Rizzo homered into the upper deck in the second inning — an unscripted tribute to the victims of last month’s shooting at his former high school in Parkland, Florida. As he crossed home plate, Rizzo patted his chest and pointed to the sky. Marcus Semien singled into an empty center field with one out in the 11th inning, beating Los Angeles’ fiveman infield.
Shohei Ohtani connected on the first pitch he saw for a single in a much-hyped major league debut for the Japanese two-way star. Batting eighth as designated hitter, Ohtani swung at the first pitch and grounded a hard single to right field off Kendall Graveman in the second inning. He grounded out his next three times up before a strikeout in the 11th.
Joe Panik homered off Clayton Kershaw in the fifth inning, and San Francisco dealt the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner his first loss in his franchise-record eighth consecutive opening day start.
World Series MVP George Springer hit a leadoff homer in the opener for the second year in a row and Justin Verlander (1-0) pitched six scoreless innings as Houston started its championship defense.
Springer hit a 2-0 pitch off Cole Hamels (0-1), becoming the only player in MLB history with leadoff homers in consecutive season openers, according to Elias. Yoenis Cespedes drove in three runs and newcomer Adrian Gonzalez hit a go-ahead double.
Noah Syndergaard (1-0) struck out 10 and walked none in six innings after missing most of last season with a torn lat muscle.
Denard Span made a huge splash in his debut for his hometown team, lining a bases-loaded triple to highlight a six-run rally in the eighth that sent Alex Cora to a loss in his first game as a major league manager.
Adam Jones homered on the first pitch from Fernando Rodney (0-1) starting the bottom of the 11th inning, and Baltimore won its eighth straight opener.
Orlando Arcia singled in JiMan Choi with two outs in the 12th off Adam Cimber (01), who was making his big league debut. hours before the start of their season, the Cardinals found a closer. Greg Holland and the Cardinals agreed to a $14 million, one-year contract, according to a person familiar with the deal.
A three-time All-Star, Holland was a free agent after leading the National League with 41 saves last year for Colorado. been put on the 60-day disabled list because of bone spurs in his right heel, retroactive to March 28. Tulowitzki suffered a seasonending ankle injury last July 28 and has not played since.