Baseball: The Pirates overcome snow flurries with homers to beat the Braves.
PITTSBURGH — David Freese and Francisco Cervelli hit back-to-back home runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates won their home opener in snow flurries, beating the Atlanta Braves 5-4 on Friday. Freese and Cervelli went deep off reliever Josh Collmenter leading off the fifth inning. That gave Ivan Nova the cushion he would need at PNC Park, where the game time temperature was 37 degrees.
Nova (1-0) allowed just an unearned run over six innings in his first start since signing a three-year deal in the offseason to stay with the Pirates, who acquired him from the New York Yankees last summer.
TIGERS 6, RED SOX 5
In Detroit, JaCoby Jones capped a wild eighth inning with a bases-loaded walk, and the Tigers outlasted the flu-bitten Boston Red Sox to win their ninth straight home opener.
Red Sox stars Hanley Ramirez and Mookie Betts were ill and out of the lineup. Boston also was without shortstop Xander Bogaerts and reliever Matt Barnes, who are on the bereavement list.
PADRES 7, GIANTS 6
In San Diego, rookie Manuel Margot hit his first two big league homers and Yangervis Solarte had a go-ahead tworun double in the seventh inning, helping Padres beat San Francisco in the team’s home opener.
Solarte’s double to the gap in rightcenter gave the Padres the lead again after the Giants had gone up 5-4 on Brandon Belt’s first career grand slam with no outs in the sixth. Solarte had three hits and four RBIs.
ORIOLES 6, YANKEES 5
In Baltimore, Manny Machado and Seth Smith homered, and the Orioles rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the New York Yankees.
Machado hit a three-run drive in the fifth inning to make it 5-4, and Smith completed the comeback in the seventh with a two-run shot off Tyler Clippard (0-1).
NATIONALS 7, PHILLIES 6
In Philadelphia, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Jayson Werth hit homers to back Max Scherzer and Washington held on to spoil the Phillies’ home opener.
Scherzer (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits, striking out seven in 6⅔ innings. The NL Cy Young winner waited until the fourth game to pitch after a broken knuckle set him back in spring training.
ROCKIES 2, DODGERS 1
In Denver, Kyle Freeland allowed one run in six solid innings in his major league debut, leading hometown Colorado past Los Angeles.
The Denver native became the first starting pitcher to make his big league debut in his team’s home opener in the state in which he was born since 1966. Freeland (1-0) gave up four hits with a pair of walks and struck out six, including the first batter he faced, Logan Forsythe.
MARLINS 7, METS 2
In New York, Zack Wheeler lasted just four innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, giving up Derek Dietrich’s go-ahead, two-run triple and Christian Yelich’s two-run homer in the Mets’ loss to the Miami Marlins.
Making his first big league appearance in three years, the 26-year-old righthander started strongly and was given a lead when Curtis Granderson singled in a run in the first against Wei-Yin Chen. Then, Wheeler’s adrenaline appeared to dissipate on a raw night with the temperature in the 40s. The Marlins took a 3-1 lead in the second, and Yelich broke open the game in the third when he drove a pitch off the right-field foul pole, his fourth straight game at Citi Field with a home run.
RAYS 10, BLUE JAYS 8
In St. Petersburg, Fla., Evan Longoria homered during a five-run first inning against wild Francisco Liriano and the Tampa Bay Rays went on to outscore the Toronto Blue Jays.
Liriano faced only eight batters, walking four and giving up three hits before getting pulled. The Blue Jays rallied for a 7-6 lead, but Tampa Bay overtook them by scoring three times in the sixth inning, two on a double by Steven Souza Jr. Brad Miller and Derek Norris also drove in two runs each for the Rays.
RANGERS 10, ATHLETICS 5
In Arlington, Texas, Nomar Mazara hit his first grand slam and had a career-high six RBIs to lead the Texas Rangers over the Oakland Athletics for their first victory of the season.
Mazara is hitting .588 through four games, including 3 for 5 in this one.
ROYALS 5, ASTROS 1
In Houston, Jason Vargas got his first win in nearly two years and the Kansas City Royals beat the Astros.
Kansas City got its first victory of the season after being swept at Minnesota in its first three games.
TWINS 3, WHITE SOX 1
In Chicago, Phil Hughes pitched six strong innings for his first win in almost a year and the Minnesota Twins beat the White Sox for their first 4-0 start since 1987.
Miguel Sano hit a go-ahead RBI double in the sixth, and Chris Gimenez added an RBI double in the seventh for the Twins, who led the majors with 103 losses last season after opening 0-9.
REDS 2, CARDINALS 0
In St. Louis, Amir Garrett pitched twohit ball for six innings to win his major league debut, a sharp start for the former St. John’s basketball player as the Cincinnati Reds beat the Cardinals.
Garrett struck out four, walked two and needed only 78 pitches to record 18 outs. The 6-foot-5 lefty played two seasons of hoops for St. John’s while already a Reds minor leaguer.