Darvish victorious despite tough start
Texas Rangers righthander Yu Darvish got off to a rough start in his majorleague debut Monday, but he settled down and hung around long enough to earn the victory when his team rallied to defeat the visiting Seattle Mariners 11-5.
Darvish allowed four runs and four hits in the first inning against the Mariners but still drew chants of ‘‘Yuuuu!’’ after retiring the side. The Rangers signed Darvish, who was 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA in seven seasons in Japan, to a six-year, $56 million contract in January.
After the rough start, Darvish retired 10 consecutive batters at one point and left with an 8-5 lead. He yielded five runs and eight hits, struck out five and walked four in 5⅔ innings.
Zito turns back clock
Barry Zito (1-0) pitched a four-hitter for his first shutout since April 2003, and Pablo Sandoval hit a tworun home run to lead the San Francisco Giants past the host Colorado Rockies 7-0. The result enabled the Giants to avoid their first 0-4 start since 1950 and to ruin the Rockies’ home opener.
Best of the rest
Derek Jeter went 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and the visiting New York Yankees won for the first time this season and handed the Baltimore Orioles their first loss with a 6-2 victory. Matt Wieters went 4-for-4 with a homer for the Orioles.
The Boston Red Sox ended their season-opening three-game losing streak by roughing up former White Sox closer Sergio Santos (0-1) for three runs in the ninth inning in a 4-2 victory against the host Toronto Blue Jays.
Matt Holliday, David Freese and Yadier Molina homered in a four-run first inning, and Jake Westbrook (1-0) allowed an unearned run and three hits in seven innings as the visiting St. Louis Cardinals thumped the Cincinnati Reds 7-1.
David Murphy singled home the winning run in the ninth inning to boost the host New York Mets past the Washington Nationals 4-3. The Mets ran their record to 4-0 for the first time since 2007.