National LeagueBen Sheets gave up an early home run, then retired his next 22 batters for a two-hitter that led the Milwaukee Brewers to a 7-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers as Major League Baseball (MLB) began in earnest on Monday.
Sheets (1-0) allowed Jeff Kent's homer leading off the second and Brady Clark's double with one out in the ninth. Sheets pitched the first opening-day complete game with two hits or fewer in 15 years. The last to do it was Tom Glavine with a two-hitter for Atlanta against Houston in 1992.
Marlins 9, Nationals 2
In Washington, Miguel Cabrera homered off John Patterson (0-1) and drove in four runs and Hanley Ramirez collected four hits.
Florida's Fredi Gonzalez of Cuba and Washington's Manny Acta of the Dominican Republic were the first pair of managers born outside the US to make their big-league debuts in the same game.
Braves 5, Phillies 3
In Philadelphia, Edgar Renteria twice failed to execute a sacrifice, then hit a two-run homer in the 10th off Ryan Madson (0-1), his second homer of the game.
Reds 5, Cubs 1
In Cincinnati, Adam Dunn homered in his first two at-bats and Aaron Harang (1-0) allowed only an unearned run and six hits in seven innings.
It was a glum day all around for the Cubs, who spent more than US$300 million on players in the offseason.
Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 6
In Denver, Eric Byrnes lined a two-run single off LaTroy Hawkins in the eighth inning and the Arizona Diamondbacks rallied past the Colorado Rockies, snapping a four-game losing streak on opening day.
Pirates 4, Astros 2, 10 innings
In Houston, Jason Bay's two-run homer in the 10th gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros in front of a record crowd of 43,803 that included former US president George H. W. Bush.
Bay's hit off Chad Qualls (0-1) came with two outs on a 0-2 pitch and landed in left field.
American League
Oft-injured Carl Pavano pitched his first Major League Baseball game since June 2005 and Jason Giambi hit a go-ahead single in the seventh for his third RBI, leading the New York Yankees over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 9-5.
Blue Jays 5, Tigers 3
In Detroit, Troy Glaus hit a bases-loaded single in the 10th off Fernando Rodney (0-1), long after the Tigers raised last year's AL pennant up a center-field flag pole during a pregame ceremony.
Toronto quickly quieted the Comerica Park-record crowd of 44,297 when their first three batters scored on RBIs from Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells and Alex Rios.
Indians 12, White Sox 5
In Chicago, Grady Sizemore homered off Jose Contreras (0-1) on the game's second pitch and the Indians added four more runs in the first. The 12 runs were Indians' most on opening day since 1925.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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