Liriano sizzles to open season
His arm, bat lead Pirates over Cards
Francisco Liriano tied a Pirates opening day record by striking out 10 and singled home the first run of the 2016 Major League Baseball season for good measure, sending Pittsburgh past the visiting St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1, on Sunday.
It was 39 degrees when Liriano threw the first pitch of the year. He allowed just three hits and walked five in six shutout innings. His RBI hit in the second came off Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright.
“We know he’s a wild card when you send him up there,” Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. “Thought ‘let him take a couple whacks at it and see what will happen.’ ”
David Freese, the 2011 World Series MVP for the Cardinals, had two hits against his former club in his debut with Pittsburgh. Francisco Cervelli and Gregory Polanco also had two hits apiece for the Pirates.
Wainwright gave up three runs in six innings, walking three and striking out three in his first regular season start since tearing his Achilles last April.
The Cardinals tried to rally in the ninth against Mark Melancon, who led the majors in saves last year. Matt Carpenter hit an RBI single with two outs but Matt Adams, representing the tying run, flied out to end it.
Pittsburgh pointed to the honor of playing the first of the 2,430 games in the majors this season as a sign of respect for how far the franchise has come under Hurdle.
Royals 4, Mets 3: Reigning champion Kansas City picked up where it left off in November, beating Matt Harvey and visiting New York in the first opening-day rematch of a World Series.
With runners at the corners in the ninth inning, allstar closer Wade Davis struck out David-Wright and Yoenis Cespedes to preserve the win.
Edinson Volquez, who started the decisive Game 5 at Citi Field last fall, allowed two hits and three walks over six scoreless innings, his night curtailed by an inflated pitch count rather than anything the Mets did. It wasn’t until Joakim Soria came on in the eighth that New York rallied, scoring three times on Lucas Duda’s two-run single and Neil Walker’s RBI groundout.
Blue Jays 3, Rays 1: Marcus Stroman outpitched Chris Archer in his first opening day start, helping Toronto begin defense of its first AL East title in 22 years with a victory in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Stroman allowed three runs and six hits over eightplus innings for the Blue Jays, who won 93 games in 2015 before making a run to the AL Championship Series in their first playoff appearance since 1993.
Troy Tulowitzki hit the first home run of the 2016 MLB season, a two-run shot for Toronto. Edwin Encarnacion had two hits and drove in two runs after not having an at-bat in a major league exhibition all spring training because of injuries.
The Blue Jays, the highest-scoring team in the majors last year, struck quickly on Encarnacion’s two-run single in the first.
Archer struck out a Rays opening-day record12 in five innings. But Encarnacion got him early and Kevin Pillar added an RBI single in the fourth. The right-hander limited the Blue Jays to five hits, but walked three during a 107-pitch outing.