Davis’ homer keeps Orioles unbeaten

BOSTON — Chris Davis hit a tiebreaking, threerun homer off new Boston closer Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning and drove in five runs, carrying the Baltimore Orioles over the Red Sox 9-7 Monday in David Ortiz’s final home opener.

Kimbrel (0-1), the AllStar reliever acquired in an offseason trade from San Diego, entered with the score 6-6. He walked Caleb Joseph with one out and Manny Machado with two outs, then gave up Davis’ home run to center on a 97 mph pitch.

Mookie Betts homered off Zach Britton leading off the bottom half, and Boston had two on and no outs when Ortiz grounded into a double play. Britton then struck out Hanley Ramirez for his third save.

Brad Brach (2-0) pitched a perfect eighth. The Orioles improved to 6-0 and remain the lone unbeaten team in the major leagues.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

White Sox 4, Twins 1 at Minneapolis: Austin Jackson hit a two-run, two-out single in the fourth inning, one pitch after just missing a grand slam, and Minnesota dropped to 0-7 with a loss in its home opener. It is the worst start for the franchise since the original Washington Senators lost their first 13 games in 1904, according to STATS.

Jose Quintana (1-0) completed six smooth innings with one run allowed for the White Sox.

Astros 8, Royals 2 at Houston: Collin McHugh bounced back from the shortest start of his career by pitching seven scoreless innings and Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer as Houston won its home opener over Kansas City.

Carlos Correa had three hits and two RBIs for Houston, Jose Altuve had three hits and rookie Tyler White added a pair of hits for his fourth multi-hit game this year.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Padres 4, Phillies 3 at Philadelphia: Alexi Amarista’s safety squeeze in the seventh scored the goahead run in Philadelphia’s home opener.

Wil Myers hit a solo homer for the Padres, who benefited from a strange double play and two video reviews going their way.

Kevin Quackenbush (10) struck out the only batter he faced, and Fernando Rodney pitched the ninth for his first save.

Aaron Nola (0-2) allowed four runs and six hits, striking out a careerbest nine in seven innings.

Nationals 6, Braves 4 at Washington: Atlanta fell to 0-6 for the first time in nearly 30 years, losing to Washington, which used Wilson Ramos’ four singles and two RBIs to help cover up a shaky start by Max Scherzer.

Scherzer (1-0), pitching on a full week’s rest, won despite allowing two-run doubles to A.J. Pierzynski and Nick Markakis in the first two innings. The righty wound up going six innings and didn’t let Atlanta score again in front of a sparse crowd announced as 18,119.

Daniel Murphy hit a two-run shot off Bud Norris in the first. He is hitting .471 with two homers and seven RBIs in the first season of a $37.5 million, three-year contract.

Marlins 10, Mets 3 at New York: Giancarlo Stanton homered to cap a seven-run second inning against Steven Matz, and Miami handed the rookie his first regular-season loss.

Marcell Ozuna homered and doubled to break out of an early slump, and Adeiny Hechavarria had three RBIs from the No. 8 spot in the lineup. By the sixth inning, every Marlins starting position player had a hit and scored a run.

Cubs 5, Reds 3 at Chicago: Reds left-hander Brandon Finnegan pitched 6¦ hitless innings before allowing a single to David Ross, but Addison Russell hit a three-run homer while Chicago roughed up Cincinnati’s bullpen in the Cubs’ home opener.

Ross’ single started a two-run rally, with Jason Heyward cutting the Cubs’ deficit to 3-2 with a basesloaded single off Tony Cingrani.

INTERLEAGUE

Pirates 7, Tigers 4 at Detroit: Gregory Polanco had two of Pittsburgh’s six doubles, and the Pirates chased Justin Verlander during the fifth inning. Verlander (0-1) allowed seven runs and 10 hits — five of them doubles — in 4¥ innings.

Jonathan Niese (1-0) gave up four runs — three earned — and five hits in six innings. Matt Melancon pitched a one-hit ninth for his third save.