Baseball Roundup: Bucs Make the Most of Home

Pittsburgh — David Freese and Francisco Cervelli hit back-to-back home runs, Ivan Nova pitched six strong innings and the Pittsburgh Pirates eased by the Atlanta Braves 5-4 in their home opener on Friday.

Freese and Cervelli went deep off reliever Josh Collmenter leading off the fifth to give Nova the cushion he would need at chilly PNC Park. Nova (1-0) struck out four and didn’t walk a batter in his first start since signing a three-year deal in the offseason to stay with the Pirates, who acquired him from the New York Yankees last summer. Tony Watson worked the ninth for his first save.

Andrew McCutchen added three hits and an RBI for Pittsburgh. Starling Marte drove in two runs as the Pirates won their fourth straight home opener.

Mike Foltynewicz (0-1) walked three in 3⅔ innings to end a five-game winning streak dating back to last season. Brandon Phillips drove in two and Ender Inciarte added an RBI double for the Braves.

Rockies 2, Dodgers 1

Denver — Kyle Freeland allowed one run in six solid innings in his major league debut, leading hometown Colorado past Los Angeles.

The Denver native became the first starting pitcher to make his big league debut in his team’s home opener in the state in which he was born since 1966. Freeland (1-0) gave up four hits with a pair of walks and struck out six, including the first batter he faced, Logan Forsythe.

Colorado’s bullpen again came up big as Carlos Estevez and Scott Oberg each threw a scoreless inning before Jake McGee struck out the side in the ninth for his first save of the season. Hyun-Jin Ryu (0-1) was the loser.

Nationals 7, Phillies 6

Philadelphia — Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Jayson Werth hit homers to back Max Scherzer and Washington held on to spoil Philadelphia’s home opener.

Scherzer (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits, striking out seven in 6 2/3 innings. The NL Cy Young winner waited until the fourth game to pitch after a broken knuckle set him back in spring training.

Aaron Altherr hit a two-run homer off Sammy Solis in the seventh to get the Phillies to 7-4 and Freddy Galvis hit a two-run shot off Blake Treinen in the ninth. Vince Velasquez (0-1) struck out 10, but allowed four runs in four innings.

Padres 7, Giants 6

San Diego — Rookie Manuel Margot hit his first two big league homers and Yangervis Solarte had a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning, helping San Diego beat San Francisco in the Padres’ home opener.

Solarte’s double to the gap in right-center gave the Padres the lead again after the Giants had gone up 5-4 on Brandon Belt’s first career grand slam with no outs in the sixth. Solarte had three hits and four RBIs.

San Francisco’s bullpen troubles continued when George Kontos (0-1) walked Travis Jankowski opening the seventh and allowed a single to Wil Myers before Solarte doubled them in. Solarte advanced on a fly out and scored on Austin Hedges’ sacrifice bunt to make it 7-5.

Orioles 6, Yankees 5

Baltimore — Manny Machado and Seth Smith homered, and Baltimore rallied from a four-run deficit to beat New York.

Machado hit a three-run drive in the fifth inning to make it 5-4, and Smith completed the comeback in the seventh with a two-run shot off Tyler Clippard (0-1).

Donnie Hart (1-0) earned his first major league victory by getting the final out in the New York seventh. Brad Brach struck out the side in the eighth and Zach Britton got three straight outs for his second save.

Rays 10, Blue Jays 8

St. Petersburg, Fla. — Evan Longoria homered during a five-run first inning against wild Francisco Liriano and Tampa Bay went on to outscore Toronto.

Liriano faced only eight batters, walking four and giving up three hits before getting pulled. The Blue Jays rallied for a 7-6 lead, but Tampa Bay overtook them by scoring three times in the sixth inning, two on a double by Steven Souza Jr.

Marlins 7, Mets 2

New York — Zack Wheeler lasted just four innings in his return from Tommy John surgery, giving up Derek Dietrich’s go-ahead, two-run triple and Christian Yelich’s two-run homer in New York’s win over Miami.

Making his first big league appearance in three years, the 26-year-old right-hander started strongly and was given a lead when Curtis Granderson singled in a run in the first against Wei-Yin Chen.

Royals 5, Astros 1

Houston — Jason Vargas got his first win in nearly two years and Kansas City beat Houston.

Kansas City got its first victory of the season after being swept at Minnesota in its first three games.

Twins 3, White Sox 1

Chicago — Phil Hughes pitched six strong innings for his first win in almost a year and Minnesota beat Chicago for its first 4-0 start since 1987.

Miguel Sano hit an RBI go-ahead double in the sixth, and Chris Gimenez added an RBI double in the seventh for the Twins, who led the majors with 103 losses last season after opening 0-9.

Rangers 10, Athletics 5

Arlington, Texas — Nomar Mazara hit his first grand slam and had a career-high six RBIs to lead Texas over Oakland for its first victory of the season.

Mazara is hitting .588 through four games, including 3 for 5 in this one. Rougned Odor hit his third homer of the season and had two hits. Texas was swept by Cleveland in its three-game opening series, also at home.

Reds 2, Cardinals 0

St. Louis — Amir Garrett pitched two-hit ball for six innings to win his major league debut, a sharp start for the former St. John’s basketball player as Cincinnati beat St. Louis.

Garrett struck out four, walked two and needed only 78 pitches to record 18 outs. The 6-foot-5 lefty played two seasons of hoops for St. John’s while already a Reds minor leaguer.

Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias combined for three innings of hitless relief. Iglesias went two innings to earn his second save.

Joey Votto hit an RBI double off Mike Leake (0-1), who went eight innings. Scott Schebler homered in the ninth.

There were no strange plays at Busch Stadium, a day after a pitch that bounced got stuck to Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina’s chest protector.