Atlanta Braves

Harper homers deep for 1st Phils hit, 8-6 win over Braves

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:07 p.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper homered deep into the second deck in right-center field for his first hit with Philadelphia and celebrated with an emphatic curtain call, highlighting the Phillies' 8-6 win over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday.

Hitless over five at-bats this season after signing a $330 million, 13-year deal, Harper crushed Jesse Biddle's fastball 465 feet with two outs in the seventh. Fans gave Harper a standing ovation and chanted "MVP! MVP!"

After getting high fives in the dugout, Harper climbed out for a curtain call, throwing both fists in the air and shouting "Let's go!"

Maikel Franco and J.T. Realmuto also went deep for Philadelphia. The game was tied at 4 in the fifth when Realmuto lined a two-run drive off Wes Parsons (0-1).

Adam Morgan (1-0) faced one batter in the fifth inning.

Dansby Swanson and Charlie Culberson homered, and Freddie Freeman had four hits and drove in two for the Braves.

BREWERS 4, CARDINALS 2

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Christian Yelich became the first MVP to homer in the first three games of the following season, Josh Hader closed things out with an immaculate inning and Milwaukee beat St. Louis.

Travis Shaw and Mike Moustakas also homered off Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson, and Brandon Woodruff (1-0) struck out five while pitching five innings of two-run ball.

Yelich made a sliding catch in right field in the top of the first inning, and then took Hudson deep for a solo shot in his first at-bat.

Hudson (0-1) allowed seven hits and two walks, striking out six over 4 1/3 innings in his first career start.

MARINERS 6, RED SOX 5

SEATTLE (AP) — Jay Bruce hit his first home run for Seattle, a three-run shot to center field, and the heavy-hitting Mariners continued to dominate Boston's starting pitching.

The Mariners have hit a home run in every game this season and continued to batter Red Sox starters, with Bruce helping to chase Eduardo Rodriguez (0-1) in the fifth inning. Eight Seattle batters have hit 13 combined home runs, with nine coming against the defending World Series champions.

Red Sox starters Chris Sale, Nathan Eovaldi and Rodriguez have given up 20 hits and 18 earned runs in the series.

Bruce's homer gave the Mariners 24 runs in their first 22 innings of the series. They've scored 21 of 42 runs this season on homers.

Seattle starter Mike Leake (1-0) allowed two runs in six innings, striking out seven.

RANGERS 8, CUBS 6

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Joey Gallo hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning and Texas rallied long after Chicago's Yu Darvish flopped in the former Rangers ace's return to his first home in the majors.

Gallo's homer to center field came off reliever Carl Edwards Jr. (0-1), who didn't retire any of the four batters he faced in the first win for new Rangers manager Chris Woodward.

Texas closer Jose Leclerc pitched the ninth for the save, getting Willson Contreras on a fly out to center after Kyle Schwarber bunted away from the shift for a hit to bring the tying run to the plate.

Darvish walked seven of the first 13 batters in his first outing against his former team, failing to make it out of the third inning.

Shawn Kelley (1-0) got four outs.

RAYS 3, ASTROS 1

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Glasnow and four relievers shut down Houston after Alex Bregman's first-inning homer.

Bregman went deep on his 25th birthday, but Glasnow (1-0) was otherwise excellent, striking out four and allowing six hits over five innings. Ryne Stanek followed with two hitless innings, and Jose Alvarado pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

Astros starter Collin McHugh (0-1) struck out nine and allowed two runs over five innings in his return to the rotation. A 19-game winner in 2015, McHugh was moved to the bullpen last season due to Houston's rotation depth.

The Rays struck out 13 times, raising their total to 38 in the first three games of the series.

GIANTS 3, PADRES 2

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Reyes Moronta struck out five in two innings of lights-out relief work, including Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr., and San Francisco beat San Diego for its first victory this season.

The Giants were at risk of going 0-3 for the first time since 2012, when they won their second of three World Series in five seasons under manager Bruce Bochy, who is retiring after this season. The Padres were denied their first 3-0 start since 1984, the season they went to their first World Series, with Bochy as a backup catcher.

Nick Margevicius (0-1) pitched five-plus innings of one-run ball in his major league debut for San Diego but was the hard-luck loser. He was making the jump from Class A.

Giants starter Dereck Rodriguez (1-0) allowed two runs in five innings.

ATHLETICS 4, ANGELS 2

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Mark Canha hit a two-run homer in the fourth that held up for Brett Anderson, and Oakland beat Los Angeles.

Stephen Piscotty added a two-run single in the third. Anderson (1-0) pitched six scoreless innings in his first start of the year after the lefty signed as a free agent for his third stint with the A's. Anderson, who also pitched for Oakland last year and from 2009-2013, allowed three hits, struck out four and walked two.

Including solid outings from Mike Fiers and Marco Estrada, Oakland starters have three consecutive scoreless outings of at least six innings for the first time since Aug. 24-26, 2005, by Kirk Saarloos, Barry Zito and Joe Blanton.

Canha's first homer of the year chased starter Felix Pena (0-1).

DODGERS 18, DIAMONDBACKS 5

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Cody Bellinger hit two homers and drove in a career high-tying six runs, Justin Turner added five RBIs and Los Angeles rebounded splendidly from a 13-inning loss.

Bellinger had four hits and Joc Pederson had three after leading off the game with his third homer for Los Angeles, which pounded out 19 hits to shake off its 5-4 loss early Saturday morning in the longest regular season game in Dodger Stadium history.

Arizona backup catcher John Ryan Murphy gave up seven runs in mop-up relief, including homers by Bellinger and Austin Barnes. It was Murphy's first career outing on a big league mound.

Dodgers backup catcher Russell Martin also made his first pitching appearance, closing things out with a perfect ninth inning.

Kenta Maeda (1-0) gave the Dodgers 6 2/3 innings of five-hit ball. Maeda even chased Arizona starter Zack Godley (0-1) in the sixth with a bloop double over the head of a badly fooled David Peralta in left.

ORIOLES 5, YANKEES 3

NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Hyde earned his first win as Baltimore's manager when slow-footed catcher Jesus Sucre was aggressive on the bases to score the go-ahead run, then added three late RBIs.

Jimmy Yacabonis (1-0) allowed one run over three innings for his first win since September 2017. Mike Wright struck out Miguel Andujar with two on for his first pro save in nine seasons.

James Paxton (0-1) gave up one earned run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings of his Yankees debut.

INDIANS 2, TWINS 1

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Greg Allen hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning, then Cleveland reliever Brad Hand escaped a bases-loaded jam. It was 34 degrees for the start at Target Field.

Hand retired C.J. Cron on a flyball to end it for a save, completing a combined two-hitter.

Jon Edwards (1-0) got two outs for his first career victory. Blake Parker (0-1) threw two wild pitches that set up Allen's fly.

BLUE JAYS 3, TIGERS 0

TORONTO (AP) — Aaron Sanchez and four relievers combined to pitch Toronto's second straight shutout.

The Blue Jays threw just three shutouts all of last season, the second fewest in the majors. Detroit was last with two.

The Tigers were blanked an MLB-leading 18 times in 2018. They've scored in only one of 28 innings so far this season.

Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera left after being hit on the right hand by a pitch from Sanchez to begin the sixth. X-rays were negative.

Sanchez (1-0) allowed three singles, struck out six and walked three. Ken Giles got his first save.

Justin Smoak homered off Spencer Turnbull (0-1).

METS 11, NATIONALS 8

WASHINGTON (AP) — J.D. Davis delivered a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth inning and rookie Pete Alonso contributed three hits and two RBIs for the new-look Mets.

Jeff McNeil had four hits for the visitors. Alonso doubled twice and also had a couple of nice stretch plays at first base in the second game of his major league career. He is one of the young components of a reconstructed roster under agent-turned-GM Brodie Van Wagenen.

Another offseason acquisition, former Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, added two hits and two RBIs and scored three runs. And to top it off, new closer Edwin Diaz picked up his second save with one pitch.

Justin Wilson (1-0) threw a perfect seventh for the win. Washington reliever Trevor Rosenthal (0-1) was booed off the mound after entering a 4-all game in the eighth and allowing all four batters he faced to reach base in his return from Tommy John surgery.

ROYALS 8, WHITE SOX 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jorge Soler had three hits and three RBIs, Alex Gordon scored three runs despite not getting a hit and Kansas City used its speed to win.

Billy Hamilton got three hits and scored twice for the speedy Royals, off to a 2-0 start for the first time since their World Series-winning season in 2015.

The first pitch was delayed 30 minutes because of rain. When the game began, it was 38 degrees and felt like 28, whipped by 18 mph winds.

Jakob Junis (1-0) gave up Jose Abreu's three-run homer. Ian Kennedy pitched the ninth for the first save of his career.

Reynaldo Lopez (0-1) took the loss. Prized Chicago rookie Eloy Jimenez got his first two big league hits.

MARLINS 7, ROCKIES 3

MIAMI (AP) — Miguel Rojas and Martin Prado each had three hits and Miami won for the first time this season.

Rockies first baseman Daniel Murphy said after the game he will be out indefinitely with a broken left index finger.

Limited to a total of six hits in a pair of losses to Colorado earlier this week, the Marlins broke loose for 16 hits against starter Tyler Anderson (0-1) and four relievers.

Lewis Brinson, who scored twice, and Rossell Herrera and Chad Wallach each had two hits. Rojas doubled twice and drove in three runs.

Pablo Lopez (1-0) allowed five hits and three runs and struck out a career-high seven in 5 1/3 innings. He was lifted after retiring Trevor Story on a flyball that ended an 11-pitch at-bat.