HOUSTON (AP) — Charlie Morton pitched six scoreless innings, Marwin Gonzalez homered and the Houston Astros unveiled their World Series banner before defeating the Baltimore Orioles 6-1 on Monday night in their home opener.
Morton (1-0) allowed three hits and struck out six. The right-hander picked up where he left off after getting the final 12 outs in Game 7 against the Dodgers to help secure Houston’s first championship.
Brad Peacock pitched a perfect seventh and Will Harris allowed one hit in the eighth before Collin McHugh took over. The starter-turned-reliever allowed a homer to Trey Mancini and a double to Colby Rasmus before retiring the last three batters.
RED SOX 7, MARLINS 3
MIAMI (AP) — Brian Johnson gave the Red Sox their fifth solid start in five games, allowing one run in six innings.
All five Boston starters have allowed less than two runs, a franchise first to begin a season.
Hanley Ramirez and Mookie Betts each hit his first home run of the season for the Red Sox. Johnson (1-0) gave up rookie Brian Anderson’s first career homer but stranded six runners.
NATIONALS 8,
BRAVES 1
ATLANTA (AP) — Bryce Harper hit a three-run homer, helping the Nationals to the first 4-0 start in their Washington history.
Harper’s second-inning shot off Sean Newcomb (0-1) gave the Nationals a 5-0 lead. He also walked four times and scored three runs.
Washington’s Tanner Roark (1-0) pitched seven innings of one-run ball.
Newcomb allowed six runs, five earned, and five hits in 4 1/3 innings.
TIGERS 6, TWINS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Francisco Liriano pitched into the seventh inning and Victor Martinez drove in three runs to hand Ron Gardenhire his first win with the Tigers.
Gardenhire won 1,068 games as Minnesota’s manager from 2002-14. This is his first year at the helm in Detroit.
The temperature was in the mid-30s at Comerica Park for a matchup between the last two winless teams in the American League.
BLUE JAYS 4,
WHITE SOX 2
TORONTO (AP) — Russell Martin, Josh Donaldson and Aledmys Diaz connected, powering Toronto to its third straight victory.
All six runs in the game came on homers.
Welington Castillo went deep twice for the White Sox for his sixth career multihomer game and third straight against Toronto. Castillo hit five home runs against the Blue Jays in 2017, his highest total against any opponent.
PIRATES 5, TWINS 4
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Colin Moran hit a first-inning grand slam in his debut at PNC Park, Jameson Taillon tied a career high with nine strikeouts and Pittsburgh held on for the win in its home opener.
Moran, part of a trade that sent Gerrit Cole to Houston in January, sent a full-count fastball from Lance Lynn into the seats above the Clemente Wall in right field to stake the Pirates to an early lead they nursed to just their third 4-0 start in 35 years.
CARDINALS 8,
BREWERS 4
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Pitcher Miles Mikolas hit a home run and got the win in his return from a three-year stint in Japan, and the Cardinals spoiled the Brewers’ home opener.
St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong connected for the second straight game, hitting his third homer this season. Milwaukee had opened the season with a three-game sweep at San Diego.
REDS 1, CUBS 0
CINCINNATI (AP) — Rookie Tyler Mahle pitched one-hit ball for six innings, Raisel Iglesias struck out Anthony Rizzo with the bases loaded to end the eighth, and the Reds edged the Cubs for their first win of the season.
Eugenio Suarez tripled in the fourth and scored on Adam Duvall’s groundout for the game’s only run.
Cincinnati was swept at home by Washington, falling to 0-3 for the first time since 2003. It also trailed in all 27 innings — the Nationals scored in the first inning each time.
