Ohtani leads Dodgers past Cardinals
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani reached three times in his home debut for the Dodgers, and Los Angeles beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Thursday 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 twohit ball for the Dodgers. One week after Los Angeles began the season with two games in South Korea, the club showed off the talent throughout an expensive, star-studded roster headlined by three former MVPs at the top of the batting order.
No addition was bigger than Ohtani, who 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.
After receiving a standing ovation from the raucous sellout crowd of 52,667, Ohtani doubled in his first official at-bat at Chavez Ravine since agreeing to his record 10-year, $700 million contract. The two-time AL MVP followed with a walk and a single as the Dodgers' designated hitter.
Freeman had two hits and drove in three runs, while Betts scored three runs while reaching base three times. Teoscar Hernández doubled and scored in the sixth inning of his own Dodgers home debut, while Max Muncy drove in two runs.
Glasnow (1-0) was sharp in his home debut for his hometown team, striking out five and allowing just one run over 81 pitches.
Glasnow, who also started the Dodgers' opener in Seoul last week, is expected to be a pillar for Los Angeles after its rotation was decimated by injuries and off-field troubles last season.
Ryan Yarbrough pitched three innings of one-hit relief for his first save.
Paul Goldschmidt homered off Glasnow, and Miles Mikolas (0-1) yielded seven hits and five runs for the Cardinals, who managed just three hits on their opening day.
The Dodgers' roster is the oldest in the majors, with an average of 31 years, according to MLB. It's also a remarkably talented group after a monumental offseason in which Los Angeles spent nearly $1.4 billion on five players, adding a gallery
of new stars to an already loaded roster.
Although Ohtani's deal was the headliner, the Dodgers also signed two of the top starting pitchers on the market in Glasnow (five years, $136.5 million) and Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million) while adding slugger Hernández (one year, $23.5 million) and keeping homegrown catcher Will Smith (10 years, $140 million).
The Dodgers' three MVPs then went a combined 5 for 6 with two walks, a double and two homers against Mikolas, who criticized the Dodgers this month for playing “checkbook baseball” and saying “it would be great to stick it to the Dodgers” in the opening series.
By the time Los Angeles chased him with Ohtani's single in the fifth inning, it was clear Mikolas' mouth had written a check his arm couldn't cash.
Ohtani got a standing ovation when he went to the plate in the first, and he cracked a double to right — but he was thrown out on the basepaths when Betts was held at third and Ohtani didn't see him stopping.
Victor Scott II went 0 for 3 and stole a base in his major league debut for St. Louis, playing center field and batting eighth.
REDS 8, NATIONALS 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs in his first opening-day start, Frankie Montas pitched six shutout innings in his Cincinnati debut and the Reds cruised to a win over the Nationals.
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.
Montas (1-0) joined with Reds with a $16 million, one-year deal as a free agent and the 31-year-old righthander allowed four hits in six innings, striking out four and walking none. He had labrum surgery last Feb. 21 while with the New York Yankees and made his only big league appearance of the year on Sept. 30.
Gray matched his career high by allowing seven runs, giving up eight hits in four innings with six strikeouts and two walks.
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.
Spencer Steer had two hits and two RBIs for Cincinnati.
YANKEES 5, ASTROS 4
HOUSTON (AP) — Juan Soto threw out the potential tying run at the plate in the ninth inning of his Yankees debut after starting New York's comeback from a fourrun deficit in a season-opening win over the Astros.
Oswaldo Cabrera homered and Aaron Judge doubled and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as the Yankees went ahead.
Mauricio Dubón and Yordan Alvarez singled off Clay Holmes to give the Astros two on with one out in the ninth. Kyle Tucker lined a single to right and Soto, an All-Star acquired from San Diego in a December trade, made a one-hop throw slightly up the third-base line.
Catcher Jose Trevino made a sweep tag and caught Dubón's left arm just before the runner's finger touched the plate. Umpire James Hoye's call was upheld in a video review.
Alex Bregman grounded into a forceout as Holmes got the save.
Joe Espada, in his first game since replacing Dusty Baker as Astros manager, tapped former closer Ryan Pressly to pitch the seventh in Pressly's first appearance in that inning since the 2021 World Series.
Judge greeted him with a double to the left-field corner and scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Verdugo, who like Soto was making his Yankees debut.
Chas McCormick hit a two-run single in a threerun first and Jake Meyers homered in the second off Nestor Cortes, who was limited to one major league appearance after May because of a strained left rotator cuff.
Jonathan Loáisiga (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings for the win.
Astros starter Framber Valdez was charged with three runs in 4 2/3 innings, getting double plays to end three of the first four innings. Cabrera hit a tying home run off Rafael Montero in the sixth.
Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fifth, his 214th time hit — 60 more than any other active player.
The Yankees debuted a new road uniform for the first time since 1973. It wasn't a big change but did remove the white piping from around the letters and numbers on their jerseys.
Houston reliever Bryan Abreu served the first of a two-game suspension for intentionally throwing at Texas star Adolis García in last year's AL Championship Series.