Nats’ young stars come through
WASHINGTON — All it took was two at-bats on his first opening day in the majors for Bryce Harper to hit two homers — and hear some “M-V-P!” chants.
The Washington Nationals’ other recent No. 1 overall draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, did his part, too, getting 19 consecutive outs at one stretch of his seven scoreless innings.
Yes, for the NL East champion Nationals — and their fans who lived through some tough times not that long ago — the present and future could hardly have looked brighter in a 2-0 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday, Game 1 of a season lame-duck manager Davey Johnson declared months ago should be defined as “World Series or bust.”
“You couldn’t draw it up any better,” Nationals first baseman Adam LaRoche said. “And to have the two youngsters go out, do what they did? ... Let Harper and Stras go to work. They didn’t need us.”
Harper, the 20-year-old left fielder coming off NL Rookie of the Year honors, hit solo shots over the out-of-town scoreboard in right-center field off Ricky Nolasco in the first and fourth innings.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Mets 11, Padres 2 at New York: Jonathon Niese Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg, who sparkled on the mound, takes off after bunting against Miami on Monday in the opening game for both teams. stepped nicely into his new role as No. 1 starter for the Mets, and Collin Cowgill capped a successful New York debut with a grand slam in a rout of San Diego.
Cubs 3, Pirates 1 at Pittsburgh: Jeff Samardzija struck out nine in eight nearly f lawless innings and Chicago held on.
The right-hander allowed just two hits and walked one as the Chicago won on opening day for the first time since 2009. Anthony Rizzo hit a tworun homer and Wellington Castillo added an RBI double for the Cubs.
Brewers 5, Rockies 4 (10) at Milwaukee: Jonathan Lucroy hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give Milwaukee a victory over Colorado, ruining the first game for new Rockies manager Walt Weiss.
Rickie Weeks sparked the winning rally when he stole second after he was hit by a pitch. Adam Ottavino then issued an intentional walk to Ryan Braun and lost Aramis Ramirez to another walk before Lucroy ended the game with a fly ball to center field.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Tigers 4, Twins 2 at Minneapolis: Justin Verlander won on opening day for the first time in six tries, pitching five shutout innings at frosty Target Field and sending the defending American League champion Detroit Tigers past the Minnesota Twins.
Verlander (1-0) had been 0-1 in his previous five openers. Phil Coke got the last two outs for the first save by the Tigers’ closer committee.
Red Sox 8, Yankees 2 at New York: Jon Lester and Boston got off to a quick start after a dreadful 2012 season, giving new manager John Farrell an opening day win over the depleted New York Yankees.
Newcomer Shane Victorino led a revamped Red Sox lineup with three RBIs and rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. walked three times and scored twice in his big league debut. Boston’s big day against CC Sabathia (0-1) came a year after it lost its first three games under Bobby Valentine and went on to a 69-93 finish
hite Sox 1, Royals 0 at Chicago: Chris Sale outpitched James Shields, Tyler Flowers homered and Chicago beat Kansas City.
Sale (1-0) allowed seven hits and struck out seven in 7 2/3 innings. Addison Reed worked the ninth for the save.
INTERLEAGUE
Angels 3, Reds 1 (13) at Cincinnati: Chris Iannetta hit a solo homer early in the game and a basesloaded single in the 13th, powering Los Angeles past Cincinnati in the majors’ first interleague season opener.
The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the 13th off J.J. Hoover, who walked two and hit Hank Conger, the Angels’ final position player. Iannetta worked the count full, fouled off a pair of pitches, then singled to left.