The reigning champion Kansas City Royals picked up where they left off in November, beating Matt Harvey and the visiting New York Mets, 4-3, on Sunday night in the first Opening Day rematch of a World Series.

With runners at the corners in the ninth inning, All-Star closer Wade Davis struck out David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes to preserve the win.

Edinson Volquez (1-0), who started the decisive Game 5 at Citi Field last fall, allowed two hits and three walks over six scoreless innings, his night curtailed by an inflated pitch count rather than anything the Mets did.

It wasn’t until Joakim Soria came on in the eighth that New York rallied, scoring three times on Lucas Duda’s two-run single and Neil Walker’s RBI groundout. Luke Hochevar struck out Asdrubal Cabrera to strand runners on first and second.

Davis promptly got into another jam in the ninth before holding on.

Harvey (0-1) allowed four runs — three earned — in 5? innings.

There wound up being little good about opening night for the NL East champs, still in search of their first championship in three decades. They spent nearly an hour before the first pitch reliving last year’s World Series defeat through a steady stream of highlights on the crown-shaped big screen, then had to watch the raising of the championship banner over the Royals Hall of Fame in left field at Kauffman Stadium.

Things didn’t get a whole lot better once the game began.

Cespedes, the Gold Glove outfielder whose shoddy fielding hurt the Mets in the Series, dropped an easy fly ball in the first inning that ultimately led to the Royals’ opening run.

Kansas City then strung together a couple of singles before Kendrys Morales popped a sacrifice fly to center in the fourth, and Alex Gordon and Omar Infante added two-out RBI singles in the sixth.

Volquez and the Kansas City defense had things well in hand by that point.

The righthander escaped a jam by getting Travis d'Arnaud to ground out in the second inning, then watched first baseman Eric Hosmer make a nice diving stop to escape a sticky spot in the third. All-Star catcher Salvador Perez threw out Michael Conforto trying to steal second base to end the fourth.

The biggest misstep Volquez made may have been fashion-related — he wore his spring training hat with a gold crown over the interlocking ‘‘KC’’ to start the game. He swapped it out for the proper one before taking the field for the second inning.

Blue Jays 5, Rays 3 — Marcus Stroman outpitched Chris Archer in his first Opening Day start, helping Toronto begin its defense of its first American League East title in 22 years with a win in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Stroman allowed three runs and six hits over eight-plus innings for the Blue Jays, who won 93 games in 2015 before making a run to the AL Championship Series in their first playoff appearance since 1993.

‘‘I want to finish games. That’s the mentality. That’s the motto,’’ Stroman said. ‘‘It didn’t work out, but I look forward to getting out there the next time and going nine.’’

Troy Tulowitzki hit the first home run of the 2016 season, a two-run shot for Toronto. Edwin Encarnacion had two hits and drove in two after not having an at-bat in a major league exhibition all spring because of injuries.

The Blue Jays, the highest-scoring team in the majors last year, struck quickly on Encarnacion’s two-run single in the first.

Archer struck out a Rays Opening Day record 12 in five innings. But Encarnacion got him early and Kevin Pillar added an RBI single in the fourth. The righthander limited the Blue Jays to five hits, but walked three during a 107-pitch outing.

‘‘I was happy with how I bounced back, how the team fought to the end,’’ Archer said. ‘‘Overall, I wish I could have done a better job in the first inning, probably would have helped us out later . . . The opposing pitcher was dealing. It’s tough to put up runs against anybody throwing the baseball that well.’’

Evan Longoria had two hits and drove in Tampa Bay’s first run with a third-inning single. Offseason acquisition Corey Dickerson added a solo homer off Stroman leading off the ninth and Kevin Kiermaier drove in the final run charged to the starter with a bloop single off Roberto Osuna.

Osuna got the last three outs for the save.

‘‘Stroman had everything going. He made it tough,’’ said Rays manager Kevin Cash. ‘‘Like the way Archer competed after he got through that first inning, and just kind of seemed to turn it on there. Racked up a bunch of strikeouts. But with the way [Stroman] was pitching on their end, there wasn’t a ton to be done.’’

Pirates 4, Cardinals 1 — Francisco Liriano tied a Pirates Opening Day record by striking out 10 and singled home the first run of the 2016 season, sending Pittsburgh past visiting St. Louis.

Liriano allowed just three hits and walked five in six shutout innings. His RBI hit in the second came off Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright.

‘‘Just trying to take good at-bats and put the ball in play,’’ Liriano said.

David Freese, the 2011 World Series MVP for the Cardinals, had two hits against his former club in his debut with Pittsburgh. Francisco Cervelli and Gregory Polanco also had two hits apiece for the Pirates.

Wainwright gave up three runs in six innings, walking three and striking out three in his first start since tearing his Achilles’ last April.

The Cardinals left 10 men on base, including two in the ninth against Mark Melancon. Matt Carpenter hit an RBI single with two outs but Matt Adams, the tying run, flied out to end it.

‘‘We had guys in scoring position with less than two outs more than once and that’s something we take a lot of pride in figuring out how to get it done,’’ Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. ‘‘It just didn’t happen today.’’