The other 16 MLB teams will open their seasons on Friday (full schedule here). First, see Thursday’s scoreboard:
MLB Opening Day Rating
FINAL: Chicago Cubs 5, Milwaukee Brewers 4 (Box score) FINAL: Kansas City Royals 3, Cleveland Guardians 1 (Box score) FINAL: St. Louis Cardinals 9, Pittsburgh Pirates 0 (Box score) FINAL: Cincinnati Reds 6, Atlanta Braves 3 (Box score) FINAL: New York Mets 5, Washington Nationals 1 (Box score) FINAL: Houston Astros 3, Los Angeles Angels 1 (Box score) FINAL: Arizona Diamondbacks 4, San Diego Padres 2 (box score)
And now for some takeaways from the first day of the 2022 regular season.
Ohtani is writing history. Valdez dominates
Early against Astros on Thursday night, the double Angels superstar made history in the big category. He was the original Angels pitcher in the team’s first game and was the first player in Joe Maddon’s squad. This caused this: If you paid a lot of attention during his run for MVP in 2021, in which he excelled on the hill as a basic pitcher and on the plate as a basic DH of the Angels, then you are used to something like that – e.g. story from Ohtani on what seems like a nightclub. After this early achievement, Ohtani started working. He worked 4 ⅔ innings and during this time scored nine against one walk with a run allowed, while regularly hitting three-digit digits with his fastball and showing control over his breaking things. After rising as a key pitcher, Ohtani was able to stay in the game at DH thanks to the recently implemented “Ohtani Rule”. On the downside, it lasted a 0 for 4 nights on the plate. It had a lot to do with this 0 for 4 nights was Astros left Framber Valdez, who did the best performance of any Open Day starter. Valdez worked 6 ⅔ shutout frames, allowed only two hits and hit six against one walk. At one point, Valdez sat 15 Angels in a row and recorded 11 pitches a night. Alex Bregman and Jordan Alvarez each did for Houston.
D-Backs shake off Darvish’s no-hit offer to shock Padres
Padres right-hander Yu Darvish did not hit the Diamondbacks for six appearances Thursday night at Chase Field, but that was just a prelude to some heroism in the ninth inning for Arizona. As the game closed and the number of Darvis pitches increased, San Diego coach Bob Melvin chose to call it a night for Darvis among the participants. Tim Hill opened the bottom of the seventh and allowed a blow to the lead to Pavin Smith who finished the offer without hitting. If the Padres were able to complete it, then it would be just the second Opening Day without success in MLB history. The first and only one was swirled by Bob Feller in 1940. Darvish was not enough, as he had more runs (four) than hits (three), and there is no doubt that the Diamondbacks will be a bad attacking team this season. That said, it is encouraging to see 35-year-old Darvish put in zero after a disappointing 2021, by his standards. The 2-0 lead that Darvis bet on when he left modestly until the end of the ninth. In this last frame, Robert Suarez walked the first two batters, put the tie in the scoring position with a wild court and then loaded the bases through a hit batsman. Melvin at that point called on Craig Stamen to confront Seth Beer. Another wild field succeeded on Arizona’s first night and then Burr did not miss this broken ball at the bottom of the belt: Beer, playing just in his sixth game in major leagues, achieved the second home run of his career and his first home run.
Wainwright sets the tone for the Cardinals
Ideally, 40-year-old right-winger Adam Wainwright would not have started the Cardinals’ 9-0 win over the Pirates on the opening day. Jack Flaherty is the ace of St. Louis these days, but is out at least until the end of May due to shoulder problems. His health problems pushed Wainwright to the first position of the rotation and on Thursday he managed it with six innings shutouts and six strike outs against zero steps. With this effort, Wainwright joined the elite company: In vintage fashion, Wainwright did not break 90 mph all day and leaned heavily on his bob, curve and cutter. It caught four odors and 22 strikes along the way. In the fourth, he came out of the only real glazing of the day causing a double game with a final end. No, the Pirates are not a good attacking team, but Wainwright’s performance was impressive in any context. Think of it as a continuation of his work in 2021. Last season, Wainwright surpassed 200 innings (an increasing rarity) and dropped to 3.05 ERA and a 3.48 K / BB ratio with three full races to top the MLB. For his problems, he finished seventh in the NL Cy Young poll. It was one of the great 39 year olds promoting campaigns and if Thursday’s results are any guide, then Wainwright may be ready for an unforgettable 40 year old campaign. In the attack for St. Louis, Tyler O’Neill kicked and led to five, and Paul Goldsmith reached the base five times.
Witt leads KC to an Opening Day victory
The era of Bobby Wit Jr. is in progress. Witt, the No. 2 baseball contender, led the Royals to an Open Day victory with his impressive play on both sides of the ball against the Guardians. He scored his first MLB and RBI success with a double winning game in the eighth inning. Witt also made a great sliding game in the third base earlier in the game. Witt, 21, was the No. 2 pick in the 2019 draft and recorded a 0.290 / .361 / .576 line with 35 doubles and 33 home games in 124 games split between Double-A and Triple-A last year. . It was his only full season in the minor League due to the pandemic. Witt had a terrific spring workout and was forced into the Kansas City Opening Day roster. Otherwise, Zack Greinke made a hard work in his first start with the Royals. He kept Cleveland in a series of 5 2/3 appearances despite scoring only one and only five swings and missed fouls between 84 pitches. The Royals are looking for their first winning season since winning the 2015 World Series.
Megil shines at the start of Open Day
Tylor Megill, not Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer, was on the embankment for the Mets on opening day. DeGrom will miss several weeks due to a shoulder problem and Scherzer’s season debut has been postponed to Friday due to a minor hamstring problem. That pushed Megil into action and he was as good as deGrom or Scherzer could be. On Thursday, Megil scored six of five unbeaten goals against the Nationals, allowing only three basics. Not only that, but Megil came out flying louder than every time as a rookie last year. His fastball averaged 96.1 mph on Thursday, up about 2 mph from last year, to 99.1 mph. Megil dropped the eight fastest pitches of his career on Thursday. Robinson Canó had an impressive all-around game in his return from last year’s performance-boosting drug suspension. He went 2-on-3 with a ride on the plate, including placing a bun to beat the shift, and turned several pretty games ranging to his right in defense. At 39 years old and after last year’s penalty, Canó has a lot to prove this year and was strong in the first game. As for the rest of the attack, the Mets received contributions throughout the lineup. Each key had one hit except No. 9 player James McCann, who led the team to the first row of the season with bases full of shots from the field. Out-of-season additions Mark Kanha, Eduardo Escobar and Starling Marte went a combined 4 to 12 with a double. The Nationals received a solo home from Juan Soto, the 99th in his career, and not much more. This, unfortunately, seems to be an issue for Washington in 2022. It is an army of one man.
Hap and Suzuki help the Camps beat Burns
Seiya Suzuki is officially Major Leaguer and holds a base percentage of 0.750. Suzuki went 1 to 2 with two rides for the Cubs on Start Day. He recorded his first major league success against NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burns, and is the first Cubs player to reach the base three times in his MLB debut since Nico Hoerner had a three-hit game in its debut in 2019. Speaking of Herner, he won the first home streak of the MLB 2022 season, a three-row explosion against Burns. Hoerner has scored zero games in 324 appearances for adults and minors since 2020-21. The game’s big hit was Ian Happ’s double in the seventh inning. David Robertson closed the victory for the North Siders. Burns worked on his debut season. Last season he famously set a record of 58 batteries before taking his first ride in 2021. So, of course, he walked the first bat he faced in 2021. Burns was charged with three runs in five runs. In three starts against the Cubs last season, he allowed three innings in 20 innings. So Chicago already had more success against him than last year. Suzuki reached the base three times and Hap had three hits, including two doubles. Kyle Hendricks allowed a run in 5 1/3 inning for the Cubs. He scored seven and scored 14 swings and failed, two more than any game last year. The Cubs won the start of the season for the fourth time in five years.
