Major League Baseball

Cubs 9, Angels 0

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:11 a.m. ET

foxsports

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Jake Arrieta began the 2016 season pitching like the Cy Young Award winner he was last year.

The Cubs right-hander threw seven scoreless innings, leading Chicago to a 9-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in the season opener at Angel Stadium.

Arrieta gave up a single to Kole Calhoun in the second inning and a single to Daniel Nava in the seventh and nothing else. He helped the Cubs flip the script after they were shut out on Opening Day in each of the previous two seasons.

He had plenty of help from the Cubs' offense, which knocked Angels starter Garrett Richards out of the game after five innings. Dexter Fowler compiled three hits, a walk and three runs, and Miguel Montero had a two-run home run and an RBI single. Matt Szczur added a three-run double in the ninth for good measure.

Arrieta (1-0) wasn't overpowering, his fastball typically in the 93 mph range. However, he struck out six, including Mike Trout twice, and walked only one while preventing any Angels baserunner to get into scoring position while he was in the game.

Richards, making his first Opening Day start after Jered Weaver started the previous six for the Angels, struggled with his command and paid for it. He walked only three but needed 97 pitches just to get through five innings.

Richards gave up three runs and six hits while striking out seven. The Angels bullpen was tagged for six more runs.

Justin Grimm (eighth inning) and Travis Wood (ninth) completed the shutout for the Cubs.

Fowler sparked the Cubs at the outset, hitting a double into the right-field corner on Richards' second pitch of the game. Fowler moved to third on a groundout but was still at third after Richards struck out Ben Zobrist for the second out of the inning.

Fowler, though, came home when Anthony Rizzo grounded a two-out, RBI single up the middle to put the Cubs up 1-0.

The Cubs threatened again in the third inning, putting runners on first and second with no outs. However, Richards escaped by striking out Jason Heyward and getting Zobrist to hit into a double play.

Richards, though, couldn't work his way out of trouble in the fourth inning after walking Rizzo and Kris Bryant to start the inning. Both came around to score in the inning, Rizzo on a single by Jorge Soler and Bryant on an infield single by Montero, giving the Cubs a 3-0 lead.

NOTES: Angels RHP Jered Weaver will throw four innings of a simulated game Tuesday at extended spring training in Arizona. Weaver, bothered for much of spring because of a sore neck, could start Sunday or Monday if he comes out of Tuesday's outing OK. ... Jorge Soler got the start Monday for the Cubs as the designated hitter, despite hitting just .145 (8-for-55) in the spring. Three of his hits were home runs. ... The game was only the fifth interleague Opening Day game in major league history. The Angels also played in one of the other four, beating the Reds in a 2013 opener. ... The Cubs opened the season without a rookie on their roster, though they had four players (3B Kris Bryant, SS Addison Russell, LF Kyle Schwarber and Soler) in the Opening Day lineup under the age of 25.