Mets top the Cardinals Solarte, Pillar lead Jays past Yanks

New York — Coming off a 70-92 season, the New York Mets hired a new manager and hoped for better luck this year.

Even though it's still real early, this is what they envisioned.

Yoenis Cespedes and Travis d'Arnaud homered, Todd Frazier drove in three runs and New York beat the St. Louis Cardinals 6-2 Saturday.

Jacob DeGrom pitched effectively into the sixth inning and the Mets opened at 2-0 for the first time since 2013.

And Mickey Callaway became the first Mets skipper to win his first two games since player-manager Joe Torre did it when he took over during the 1977 season. A very solid start, so far. "That's very nice. Big win the other day and wanted to come out here and win again today," deGrom said.

Callaway showed off some flexibility, putting Asdrubal Cabrera in the leadoff spot after he batted cleanup in the opener. The Elias Sports Bureau said Cabrera was the first player since 1915 to bat cleanup on opening day and then hit leadoff the next game. Cabrera hit two doubles, too. D'Arnaud delivered in his first game of the season.

"We've got guys that haven't even played yet that can start and will start on occasion, so getting all of our players in the game and using them all, we have no qualms about that," Callaway said.

Cabrera began the first with a double off Michael Wacha, Cespedes walked and Jay Bruce grounded into a forceout. Frazier doubled into the left-field corner, with a hustling Bruce beating the throw without a slide.

"Hustling out of the box. Scoring on a base hit or a double," Frazier said. "We put pressure on other guys. We're not necessarily stealing but we're smart baserunners."

D'Arnaud homered in the fourth and Cespedes made it 4-1 with a drive in the fifth.

Toronto — With the Toronto Blue Jays struggling to score runs, Kevin Pillar found another way to create some offense. Yangervis Solarte hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and Pillar added an insurance run by stealing second, third and home to send the Blue Jays over the New York Yankees 5-3 Saturday for their first win of the season.

"Sometimes when runs are tough to come by, especially early on in the year, you've got to go out there and try to make some stuff happen," Pillar said.

The Blue Jays bounced back from two straight losses in which they totaled three runs. Tyler Austin homered twice for the Yankees.

Solarte began the eighth with a deep drive to center field off Dellin Betances (0-1) for a 4-3 lead.

"He threw me a pitch that I liked and it went out," Solarte said.

Pillar hit a one-out single and swiped his way to third. The speedy outfielder then broke for the plate with Gift Ngoepe at bat, and Betances threw wildly to the backstop as Pillar scored standing up.

"I kind of looked at him and I noticed he was a little far away from third base," Betances said. "I thought to myself I could try to come set, step off and throw, but I rushed the throw. That's a big mistake there. I can't do that."

It was Toronto's first straight steal of home since Aaron Hill did it against New York on May 29, 2007.

Betances allowed two runs and three hits in two innings. The Blue Jays stole four times in the eighth against him.

"I felt good overall but I kind of let things unravel a little bit there," Betances said.

New manager Aaron Boone said he will stick with Betances, who has allowed runs in both appearances this season after struggling last September.

Justin Smoak had three hits on his bobblehead doll day as the Blue Jays denied New York its first 3-0 start since 2003.

Ryan Tepera (1-0) pitched one inning for the win and Roberto Osuna finished for his first save.

Austin homered in consecutive at bats against Marco Estrada, the first multihomer game of his career. Austin hit a two-run drive in the fifth and a solo shot in the seventh. Both homers reached the second deck, and both tied the score. The Yankees lost two players to injuries. Outfielder Billy McKinney sprained his left shoulder when he crashed into the left field scoreboard while chasing Josh Donaldson's double in the first. After being checked by the trainer, McKinney stayed in for one more batter before being replaced by Brett Gardner. McKinney made his major league debut a day earlier.

Following the game, McKinney was put on the 10-day disabled list and infielder Miguel Andujar was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.