NATIONAL LEAGUE
Bryce Harper homered in his first two at-bats and Stephen Strasburg retired 19 batters in a row at one stretch as defending NL East champions the Washington Nationals opened the season with a 2-0 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday.
For Strasburg, it marked the start of what should be his first full season in the majors, with zero pitch or inning limits. The All-Star ace was dominant against a trade-depleted Marlins lineup that features Giancarlo Stanton and little else. The right-hander went seven innings, matching his career high, and allowed three hits.
Photo: AFP
DODGERS 4, GIANTS 0
In Los Angeles, Clayton Kershaw launched his first career home run to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, then finished off a four-hitter that led the Los Angeles Dodgers past the San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw became the first pitcher to throw a shutout and hit a home run in an opener since Bob Lemon for Cleveland in 1953, STATS said. Kershaw struck out seven, walked none and retired World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval on a grounder to end it.
Photo: AFP
Matt Cain made his first career opening day start for the Giants in the loss. He allowed four hits in six scoreless innings, struck out eight and walked one.
METS 11, PADRES 2
In New York, Jonathon Niese stepped nicely into his new role as No. 1 starter for the Mets and Collin Cowgill capped a successful New York debut with a grand slam in a rout of the San Diego Padres.
Handed the opening day assignment in place of injured Johan Santana, Niese enjoyed a big afternoon with both his arm and bat. He breezed into the seventh inning against a Padres lineup missing slugger Chase Headley (broken thumb) and catcher Yasmani Grandal, suspended for the first 50 games after testing positive for testosterone.
Marlon Byrd had a pair of RBI singles and fellow Mets newcomer John Buck was in the middle of three rallies as New York improved baseball’s best opening day record to 34-18, despite dropping their first eight openers.
CUBS 3, PIRATES 1
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jeff Samardzija struck out nine in eight nearly flawless innings and the Chicago Cubs held on for a victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The right-hander allowed just two hits and walked one as the Chicago won on opening day for the first time since 2009. Anthony Rizzo hit a two-run homer and Wellington Castillo added an RBI double for the Cubs.
Kyuji Fujikawa got a save in his major league debut after closer Carlos Marmol struggled.
A.J. Burnett, making the first opening day start of his lengthy career, gave up three runs on six hits in 5-2/3 innings, striking out 10.
BREWERS 5, ROCKIES 4
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jonathan Lucroy hit a sacrifice fly in the 10th inning to give the Milwaukee Brewers a victory over Colorado, ruining the first game for new Rockies manager Walt Weiss.
Rickie Weeks sparked the winning rally when he stole second after he was hit by a pitch with one out. Adam Ottavino then issued an intentional walk to Ryan Braun and lost Aramis Ramirez to another walk, before Lucroy ended the game with a fly ball to center field.
A big “Luuuuuuc” thundered down from the Miller Park crowd of 45,781 as Weeks came home with the winning run and Lucroy was mobbed by his jubilant teammates.
BRAVES 7, PHILLIES 5
In Atlanta, Georgia, Freddie Freeman drove in three runs with three hits, including the first of three Atlanta home runs, as the Braves beat Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies.
Dan Uggla and Justin Upton, making his Braves debut, also homered for Atlanta, who led National League teams with 49 in spring training.
Hamels (0-1) struggled in his first opening day start. He gave up five runs on seven hits, including the three homers, with five strikeouts and one walk in five innings. The three homers allowed matched his high from last season.
DIAMONDBACKS 6, CARDINALS 2
In Phoenix, Arizona, Ian Kennedy struck out eight in seven strong innings as the Arizona Diamondbacks used 15 hits to beat the St Louis Cardinals.
Kennedy (1-0) allowed two runs on five hits with one walk. St Louis’ Adam Wainwright (0-1) went six innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on 11 hits. He struck out six with no walks.
Arizona’s Gerardo Parra matched his career best with four hits, three of them doubles. Rookie A.J. Pollock was three for four, including a two-run double, and Martin Prado doubled twice with an RBI and two runs scored for the Diamondbacks.
INTERLEAGUE PLAY
ANGELS 3, REDS 1
In Cincinnati, Ohio, Chris Iannetta hit a solo homer early in the game and a bases-loaded single in the 13th inning, powering the Los Angeles Angels past the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 in the majors’ first interleague season opener.
The Angels loaded the bases with two outs in the 13th off J.J. Hoover, who walked two and hit Hank Conger, the Angels’ final position player. Iannetta worked the count full, fouled off a pair of pitches, then singled to left.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
In AL play, it was:
‧ Red Sox 8, Yankees 2
‧ White Sox 1, Royals 0
‧ Mariners 2, Athletics 0
‧ Tigers 4, Twins 2
INJURY TURMOIL: Despite stunning French Open champions Paolini and Errani to advance, Chan was forced to pull out after her partner’s tearful women’s singles defeat Last year’s mixed doubles champions Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and Poland’s Jan Zielinski on Monday crashed out of the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, leaving the Taiwanese star focused on pursuing a fifth women’s doubles title in London, while a partner injury forced compatriot Chan Hao-ching to give up on her doubles campaign. Hsieh and Zielinksi, who last year also won the Australia Open title, narrowly lost their opening set 7-6 (9/7), before Britain’s Joe Salisbury and Brazil’s Luisa Stefani stunned the former champions 6-3 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. The Taiwanese-Polish duo had been dominant in the first two
Real Madrid’s FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final against Borussia Dortmund had taken three crazy turns during nine minutes of second-half stoppage time when Marcel Sabitzer chested the ball and sent a right-footed volley toward Thibaut Courtois’ post. Courtois leapt to his right, extended the long arm on his 2m frame and just managed to get his gloved fingertips on the ball, knocking it down. Courtois hit the ground as the ball bounded up. He looked skyward, planted his right hand to regain his balance, grabbed the ball with both hands on the second bounce and fell onto it with his chest. Sabitzer turned
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has overturned French Olympic fencer Ysaora Thibus’ four-year suspension for doping, ruling that her positive test for a banned substance was caused by kissing her then-boyfriend, American fencer Race Imboden. Thibus, a silver medalist in team foil at the Tokyo Games, had tested positive for ostarine, a prohibited muscle-building substance, during a competition in Paris in January last year. However, CAS concluded there was no intentional wrongdoing, finding it scientifically plausible that repeated kissing over several days with Olympic medalist Imboden — who was taking ostarine at the time — led to accidental contamination. The court
‘SU-PENKO’: Hsieh and Ostapenko face a rematch against their Australian Open final opponents, the same duo Hsieh played in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday survived a near upset to the unseeded duo of Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya, setting up a semi-final showdown against last year’s winners. Despite losing a hard-fought opening set 7-6 (7/4) on a tiebreak, the fourth seeds turned up the heat, losing just five games in the final two sets to handily put down Cirstea and Kalinskaya 6-3, 6-2. Nicknamed “Su-Penko,” the pair are next to face top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in a reversal of last
RSS