Burnes excels as Orioles stop Angels
Ohtani, Dodgers top Cardinals in home debut
BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant debut for Baltimore, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both homered as the Orioles began their AL East title defense with an 11-3 rout of the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.
Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Baltimore ace after that. Burnes (1-0) struck out 11 in six innings in his first start after the Orioles acquired the right-hander from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.
Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman, who had five hits and a walk on opening day last year in Boston, started this season off with hits in the first and second innings, then later drew a walk. He scored three runs and Santander drove in four.
Santander hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Mullins added a three-run shot in the seventh for the Orioles.
DODGERS 7, CARDINALS 1: In Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani reached three times in his home debut, and Los Angeles beat St. Louis in the Dodger Stadium opener to a season of sky-high expectations.
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman homered in the third inning, and Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings of two-hit ball for the Dodgers.
Ohtani showed no signs of distraction after a tumultuous week in which he emphatically denied betting on sports after the firing of his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
BLUE JAYS 8, RAYS 2: In St. Petersburg, Fla., George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to lead Toronto to a season-opening victory over Tampa Bay.
Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who scored five times in the sixth inning after being limited to one hit — Springer’s solo homer in the fourth — off Rays starter Zach Eflin (0-1) through five innings.
José Berríos (1-0), making his second opening-day start for the Blue Jays and fourth overall, gave up a leadoff homer and an RBI double to Yandy Díaz. The Toronto right-hander allowed two runs and six hits over six innings.
PADRES 6, GIANTS 4: In San Diego, Jake Cronenworth’s two-run double highlighted a four-run seventh inning for San Diego, which beat San Francisco to spoil Bob Melvin’s return to San Diego.
Melvin managed the Padres for the last two seasons before leaving for the Giants with a year left on his contract. He skippered the Padres into the 2022 NL Championship Series and then presided over a disappointing season.
Jung Hoo Lee hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of his first big league game to put the Giants ahead 3-2 in the seventh. But the Padres responded in the bottom of the inning.
REDS 8, NATIONALS 2: In Cincinnati, Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs in his first opening-day start, Frankie Montas pitched six shutout innings as the Reds cruised to a win over Washington.
Martini, a 33-year-old designated hitter with his fourth major league team since 2018, hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the third for a 7-0 lead off Josiah Gray (0-1). Martino became the first Cincinnati player to hit two homers on opening day since Adam Dunn in 2007.
Eddie Rosario, making his Nationals debut after being added to the major league roster, hit a two-run homer in the seventh against Emilio Pagán.
TWINS 4, ROYALS 1: In Kansas City, Mo., Pablo Lopez allowed one run over seven innings, Royce Lewis homered before leaving with an injury, and Minnesota beat Kansas City.
Carlos Correa added three hits and two RBIs to back a strong performance by Lopez, who allowed four hits and struck out seven without a walk in his first opening-day start.
The lone run Lopez (1-0) allowed was a homer to Maikel Garcia, the first batter he faced.
PIRATES 6, MARLINS 5, 12 INNINGS: In Miami, Jared Triolo hit a RBI single in the top of the 12th inning as Pittsburgh rallied to beat Miami.
Triolo’s line drive single against Marlins reliever Declan Cronin (0-1) scored automatic runner Ke’Bryan Hayes. Pirates reliever Jose Hernandez got the save, retiring 2023 NL batting champion Luis Arraez, Josh Bell and Bryan De La Cruz in his only inning of relief.
Luis Ortiz recorded the win for the Pirates.
TIGERS, 1 WHITE SOX 0: In Chicago, Tarik Skubal pitched six innings of three-hit ball and Detroit opened a promising season on a winning note, beating the Chicago White Sox.
Skubal and three relievers combined to retire the final 17 batters. The White Sox did not advance past first base and wasted a terrific start by Garrett Crochet.
Javier Báez singled and scored on Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly in the third. The Tigers finished with six hits.
RANGERS 4, CUBS 3, 10 INNINGS: In Arlington, Texas, Jonah Heim singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 10th and Texas rallied to edge Chicago hours after unveiling its 2023 World Series championship banner.
The Cubs took a 3-2 lead on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth, but Travis Jankowski belted a tying home run in the bottom of inning.
Adolis Garcia went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for the Rangers. Christopher Morel had two hits including a triple for the Cubs.
BRAVES-PHILLIES PPD: The Philadelphia Phillies announced their sold-out opener against the NL East rival Atlanta Braves was moved from 3:05 p.m. to Friday at the same time due to rain.
BREWERS-METS PPD: The New York Mets’ scheduled opener against Milwaukee was pushed back to Friday at 1:40 p.m.