All-Star shortstop Jimmy Rollins made a key error as the New York Mets rallied for seven runs in the eighth inning to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 11-5 in the National League on Monday.
Carlos Delgado had three hits and two RBIs in the home opener for the Mets, who overcame Ryan Howard's three-run homer and dropped the Phillies to 1-6.
Rollins, who said during spring training that Philadelphia was the team to beat in the NL East, hit an inning-ending, double-play grounder with the bases loaded in the fourth and booted Jose Reyes' grounder in the eighth as the tying run scored.
Geoff Geary (0-1) threw a run-scoring wild pitch, Carlos Beltran added a sacrifice fly and David Wright followed with a two-run double off Jon Lieber, making his first relief appearance since 1998.
Pedro Feliciano (1-0) pitched a perfect eighth.
Cardinals 3, Pirates 0
At Pittsburgh, Albert Pujols doubled and scored the only run needed by Braden Looper (1-1), who allowed two hits over seven innings in only his second start in 574 career appearances.
Pinch-hitter Preston Wilson added a two-run double in the eighth off Damaso Marte after Ian Snell (0-1) limited St. Louis to one run over seven innings.
Astros 5, Cubs 3
At Chicago, Adam Everett broke a 3-3, eighth-inning tie with a two-run homer off Bob Howry (0-2) in the Wrigley Field home debuts of manager Lou Piniella and center fielder Alfonso Soriano.
Astros starter Woody Williams allowed two runs and six hits in six innings before the Cubs tied it with the unearned run in the seventh off Chad Qualls (1-1). Dan Wheeler pitched a perfect ninth for his first save in two chances.
Rockies 6, Dodgers 3
At Los Angeles, Jeff Francis allowed two runs in six-and-two-thirds innings to help Colorado spoil Los Angeles' home opener.
Garrett Atkins homered and drove in his first three runs of the season as Colorado snapped the Dodgers' four-game winning streak.
Marlins 5, Brewers 3
At Miami, Miguel Cabrera hit his third homer and drove in three runs, and the Marlins beat Milwaukee for the ninth time in a row.
Anibal Sanchez (1-0) allowed three runs and eight hits in six innings for Florida. Rookie Henry Owens pitched the ninth for his first career save.
Free-agent acquisition Jeff Suppan (0-2) lost for the second time in as many starts. He allowed eight hits and five runs in six innings.
Geoff Jenkins hit a two-run homer for Milwaukee.
Padres 1, Giants 0
At San Diego, pinch-hitter Geoff Blum hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning and San Diego beat former manager Bruce Bochy and San Francisco despite getting just two hits.
Chris Young (1-0), Cla Meredith and Trevor Hoffman combined on a five-hit shutout. San Diego's bullpen extended its season-opening scoreless streak to 20-and-two-thirds innings.
The Giants lost their fourth straight and dropped to 1-6. It was the third time since the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958 that they lost six of their first seven games. The other two times were 1967 and 1980.
Diamondbacks 3, Reds 2
At Phoenix, Orlando Hudson hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning and Arizona won its fifth straight game.
With two outs, Hudson hit a 2-1 pitch from Kirk Saarloos (0-1) into the left-field bleachers to break a 2-2 tie.
Daniel Cabrera allowed two runs in seven-and-two-thirds innings, Kevin Millar homered in a four-run third inning, and the Baltimore Orioles began the home portion of their schedule by defeating the Detroit Tigers 6-2 in the American League on Monday.
Melvin Mora had two hits, scored a run and drove in one for the Orioles.
Brian Roberts, who came in batting .136 (3-for-22), went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
Cabrera (1-1) gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked none. Making his first start in the majors since 2004, Chad Durbin (0-1) yielded six runs and nine hits in four-and-two-thirds innings.
Yankees 8, Twins 2
At Minneapolis, Alex Rodriguez homered for the third straight game for New York, and Carl Pavano worked seven efficient innings to get his first win since May 2005.
Bobby Abreu went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and four RBIs for New York. Johnny Damon had two hits in his first start in a week due to a calf strain.
Blue Jays 9, Royals 1
At Toronto, A.J. Burnett and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and Vernon Wells homered to help Toronto win its home opener.
Lyle Overbay hit a three-run double for the AL East-leading Blue Jays, who have averaged seven runs a game in the first six games. Toronto has won three straight.
John Buck homered off Burnett for Kansas City, which played the first of a 10-game road trip.
Burnett (1-1) allowed just three hits, struck out five and walked three in six-and-two-thirds innings.
Rangers 8, Devil Rays 4
At Arlington, Texas, Ian Kinsler went 4-for-4 and drove home the tiebreaking run in the big inning for Texas.
Kinsler's RBI single in the sixth put the Rangers ahead 3-2 and started a six-run outburst with two outs.
He was the first of six straight batters that reached against two Tampa Bay relievers who didn't record an out.
White Sox 4, Athletics 1
At Oakland, California, Scott Podsednik broke a tie with his fifth-inning solo homer and Jim Thome also homered to help Chicago spoil Oakland's home opener.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB