Michael Wacha allowed four hits in six scoreless innings, and the St. Louis Cardinals had 10 extra-base hits in their home-opening 10-1 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers.
Jeremy Hazelbaker was 4 for 4 with a triple, a double, and a sacrifice fly, lifting his average to .526, and fellow rookie Almedys Diaz had two doubles.
Yadier Molina had three hits, two RBIs, and an uncontested steal off Brewers starter Taylor Jungmann.
Pirates 7, Tigers 4 — Pittsburgh doubled five times off Detroit ace Justin Verlander and pushed his pitch count up to unsustainable levels before chasing him in the fifth inning of a win at Comerica Park.
Verlander (1-1) allowed seven runs and 10 hits over 4? innings. His 111 pitches were the most he’s thrown in an outing lasting fewer than five innings.
Pirates starter Jonathan Niese (1-0) gave up four runs and five hits in six innings.
Padres 4, Phillies 3 — Alexi Amarista’s safety squeeze in the seventh scored the go-ahead run, and San Diego benefited from a strange double play to take the win in Philadelphia’s home opener.
The Phillies trailed, 3-2, with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth when pinch-hitter Darin Ruf lofted a popup that was ruled an infield fly. But the ball drifted over shortstop Alexei Ramirez and dropped into the outfield. Odubel Herrera then tried to advance from second to third, thinking he had to when the ball dropped. But the infield fly rule states that while the batter is out, the runners can stay put or try to advance at their own risk. Ramirez picked up the ball and threw to third to nail Herrera just after Cesar Hernandez scored the tying run.
The inning, and the rally, was over, setting the stage for Amarista’s game-winning squeeze play.
Nationals 6, Braves 4 — Wilson Ramos hit four singles to help Washington cover up for a shaky start by Max Scherzer and hand Atlanta its worst start in nearly 30 years.
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. He then settled down and didn’t let Atlanta score again.
The Braves 0-6 start is their worst since 1988, when they began 0-10.
Marlins 10, Mets 3 — Giancarlo Stanton homered to cap a seven-run second inning as Miami handed New York a home loss.
Miami’s Marcell Ozuna homered and doubled to break out of an early slump, and Adeiny Hechavarria had three RBIs from the No. 8 spot.
Chris Johnson reached base four times in his first start for Miami, and J.T. Realmuto had three of the team’s 15 hits. Martin Prado had two singles and two walks in a game that dragged on for 3 hours, 45 minutes, before a sparse crowd at Citi Field.
Cubs 5, Reds 3 — Cincinnati lefthander Brandon Finnegan pitched 6? hitless innings before allowing a single to David Ross, but Addison Russell followed with a three-run homer to lead Chicago to victory in its home opener.
Ross’s single started a two-run rally, with Jason Heyward cutting the Cubs’ deficit to 3-2 with a bases-loaded single off Tony Cingrani.
In the eighth, Cingrani walked Ben Zobrist with one out and hit Jorge Soler. Russell then drove Jumbo Diaz’s first pitch out to left-center, whipping the packed crowd into a frenzy and sending the Cubs to their sixth victory in seven games, matching their best start since 1998.
White Sox 4, Twins 1 — Austin Jackson hit a two-run single in the fourth, lifting Chicago to a win that spoiled Minnesota’s home opener.
Carlos Quintana completed six smooth innings for the White Sox, who have won five of their first seven games.
The Twins, at 0-7, are off to their worst start in team history.
Astros 8, Royals 2 — Collin McHugh pitched seven scoreless innings and Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer as Houston won its home opener.
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 multihit game of the season.
McHugh allowed eight hits and struck out four to bounce back from his last start, in which he allowed six runs and walked two in a third of an inning.
