Gregorius powers Yankees past Rays 11-4
— Didi Gregorius hit a pair of three-run homers and drove in a career-high eight RBIs, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-4 on Tuesday in Aaron Boone’s chilly first home opener as manager.
Gregorius had four hits and walked, setting a major league record for RBIs by a player in a home opener. He also set a Yankees record for RBIs by a shortstop.
He doubled and scored in the second, and his first homer put the Yankees ahead 4-1 in the third against Chris Archer. After New York’s bullpen wasted a three-run lead for the second straight game, Gregorius drove an 0-2 pitch from Austin Pruitt (1-1) into the second deck in the seventh.
He blooped an opposite-field two-run single to left in the eighth.
New York improved to 3-2 under Boone, who took over when Joe Girardi was fired. Tommy Kahnle (1-0) got the win.
Tampa Bay has lost four straight since beating Boston in its opener.
Mariners 6, Giants 4
— Mitch Haniger hit a two-run single, helping the Mariners spoil the Giants’ home opener.
Seattle’s Marco Gonzales (1-0) allowed three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. Edwin Diaz got three outs for his third save.
Joe Panik hit a solo homer and Evan Longoria added a two-run shot for the Giants, the first with his new team.
Ty Blach (1-1), filling in for injured San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner, was done after 4 1/3 innings having allowed 10 hits and six runs.
The crowd of 40,901 marked the lowest for a Giants home opener in the 19-year ballpark’s history.
Royals 1, Tigers 0
— Jake Junis took a shutout into the eighth inning, and Kansas City earned its first victory of the season.
On a chilly, rainy day — with snow a possibility on Wednesday — the Tigers and Royals breezed through nine innings in 2 hours, 17 minutes. Jorge Soler, who still doesn’t have a major league hit since July 2, drove in the game’s only run with a sacrifice fly in the second.
Junis (1-0) allowed three hits in seven-plus innings. Kelvin Herrera struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save.
Matthew Boyd (0-1) was sharp for the Tigers, allowing a run and four hits in six innings.
Mets blank Phillies 2-0
— Matt Harvey allowed one hit over five sharp innings in his encouraging season debut, and the New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies 2-0 on a rainy Tuesday night at Citi Field.
With most seats empty in the 40-degree mist and chill, a healthy-looking Harvey gave the Mets reason to believe he can rebound this year from two terrible seasons interrupted by injury.
Though his fastball usually clocked 91-93 mph — down from the sizzling heat he used to bring — the right-hander showed much better command with all his pitches than most outings over the past two years.
Todd Frazier snapped a scoreless tie with a run-scoring double in the sixth. Travis d’Arnaud added a two-out RBI single that chased Ben Lively (0-1), who hit Yoenis Cespedes with a pitch to begin the rally.
Philadelphia put runners at the corners with one out in the ninth, but Jeurys Familia finished the three-hitter for his second save.
First baseman Wilmer Flores, who had just entered as a pinch-hitter, leaned over the dugout railing to make a nice grab of Scott Kingery’s foul popup for the second out. Pinch-hitter Andrew Knapp grounded out to end it.
Harvey struck out five, walked one and refused a jacket on the bases after his leadoff single in the third. The only hit he permitted was a leadoff single by Rhys Hoskins in the second.
Jerry Blevins (1-0) retired Odubel Herrera with two on to end the sixth.