Thursday’s action platform provided a wide range of entertainment. The games included everything from an unforgettable first major league success for Bobby Witt Jr. to an emotional return to St. Louis. Louis Cardinals for Albert Pujols and more. Friday will start with the Red Sox against the Yankees, one of MLB’s best-known rivals, bolstered by two of the league’s top aces, Nathan Eovaldi and Gerrit Cole. Robbie Ray, Walker Buehler and Sandy Alcantara are some of the other top players who took over the second day. Be sure to refresh this page early and often for our live updates and suggestions from teams playing their first games on Friday! Season preview: Power ratings Forecasts Moves that shocked the offseasonESPN +: Passan forecasts How the Inauguration Day was saved Changes 2022I’m playing: ESPN fantasy baseball: Sign up for free!
The program on Friday
1:05 pm: Red Sox (Nathan Eovaldi) at Yankees (Gerrit Cole) 13:10: White Sox (Lucas Giolito) at Tigers (Eduardo Rodriuez) (ESPN +) 2:20 pm: Brewers (Brandon Woodruff) at The Cubs (Justin Steele) 3:05 pm: Track (Frankie Montas) at Phillies (Aaron Nola) 3:10 pm: Orioles (John Means) at Rays (Shane McClanahan) 4:10 pm .m .: Mariners (Robbie Ray) at Twins (Joe Ryan) 4:10 pm: Dodgers (Walker Buehler) at Rockies (Kyle Freeland) 4:35 pm: Marlins (Sandy Alcantara) at Giants ( Logan Webb) 7:05 PM: Mets (Max Scherzer) at Nationals (Josiah Gray) 7:07 PM: Rangers (Jon Gray) at Blue Jays (Jose Berrios) 7:20 PM: Reds (Ravier Sanmartin) at Braves (Charlie Morton) 9:38 pm: Astros (Jake Odorizzi) at Angels (Reid Detmers) 9:40 pm: Padres (Sean Manaea) at Diamondbacks (Merrill Kelly)
Excerpts from Thursday’s action
Diamondbacks defeat Padres 4-2: The game of the day? Easily. Okay, put this in for the game of the year: BEER SETH HIT A WALK-OF HOME RUN ON NATIONAL BEER DAY. Good luck beating Shohei Ohtani or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or Freddie Freeman or some of you hothot rookies. Until there is a day with your name, you will not surpass what Beer did by giving the Diamondbacks a 4-2 victory over the Padres with a dramatic three-period burst on the right field at the bottom of the ninth. Beer said when his fiancée woke up he told him it was National Beer Day. “I told her, ‘Better have a good day then,’” he said. It was just the second home career streak for the rookie winner, who won 4-9 in a short championship in 2021. It gave the Diamondbacks a win in which Yu Darvish had thrown six innings without hitting the Padres. And to understand: He is the first rookie to achieve a home defeat on the Start Day in a game that his team was behind. Cheers. – David Sonfield Astros beat Angels 3-1: Shohei Ohtani did well, but his other Angels teammates did not do well enough. Sounds familiar? It turns out that the 2022 season started in the same way as the 2021 season went for the Angels, who could not do anything against Framber Valdez on the opening day. But there is a clear bright side – and that, of course, is Ohtani himself, who showed impressive fastball command, threw a clear slider and generally looked very good on his debut. Ohtani recorded 14 outs, allowed just one run and hit nine batteries before coming out with 80 pitches (Angels manager Joe Maddon wants to keep his basics around that number early to make up for the shortened spring workout). The 2021 season represented Ohtani’s first full season as a pitcher in five years. As he progressed, his location and administration improved considerably. And that has clearly been transferred to 2022. That is why some have dared to suggest that it could be even better in 2022. – Alden Gonzalez Mets Defeat Nationals 5-1: Tylor Megill tied the start of the day for the Mets after Jacob deGrom injured his shoulder and Max Scherzer improved his hind thigh snow, pushing his first start back on Friday. Megil is a right-handed 6-foot 7, recorded at 230 pounds, although, as Mets spokesman Ron Darling said, “He has not turned 230 since high school.” So he’s a big dude and as one would expect, he throws a big cheese with an upper fastball of the 90s. He is not expected to be the Mets ace or anything close to him, but the second-hand right-hander has some serious potential to break out. The biggest stadium of the night came in the third period, when the score was still 0-0 and the Nationals had runners in the corners with an out and the dangerous Juan Soto on the plate. Megil led 1-2, Soto took a quick ball 98 miles / hour one or two hairs from the plate and then Megill passed Soto with a heater 97 miles / hour. He got Nelson Cruz out and then made two more appearances, finishing with five goals without a score, six Ks and no walking. If you play fantastic baseball, choose this type. – David Sonfield The Reds beat the Braves 6-3: The Reds may not have opened the season in their usual way – at home, after a city-wide party and parade in downtown Cincinnati – but that did not matter. An important reason for their success that ruined the Braves banner unveiling party at Truist Park was the work of novice Tyler Mahle. The right-hander scored seven and abandoned a lone unbeaten streak on a fairly strong 84-court, five-game field trip. For the beginning of April, it was definitely a commendable appearance – and a performance that the Reds hope he can build on. Male had the most impressive moment of the night. He completed the third inning by somehow catching a return sleeve left by Marcell Ozuna’s bat with an output speed of 104.5 mph. As for the most impressive sound moment of the night? Hands down belonged to the Reds’ first key player, Joey Votto, who was misunderstood throughout the game for ESPN and had his share of fun interactions. – Collie Harvey The Cardinals beat the Pirates 9-0: Back in the day at Busch Stadium: Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright were all in the Cardinals starting line-up for the first time since 9 September 2010. While the Cardinals Cruise In a A 9-0 win behind Wainwright’s six scoreless innings and Tyler O’Neill’s five RBIs was not the return of the Storybook to St. Louis. Louis for the Pujols that everyone wanted. “He’s back,” the Cardinals PA spokesman said during pre-game introductions, and Cardinals fans applauded the Pujols as he hugged former great Cardinals such as Mark McGwire and Jim Edmonds. In his first at-bat, Pujols wiped away a few tears as fans shouted “Al-bert! Al-bert!” – echoing the happy chorus that was heard so many times during his first 11 seasons with the Cardinals. He threw out on the left field and finished 0-for-5, reaching the errors twice. Can it help the Cardinals? This is the danger of bringing back a wonderful old man of all time. If he has difficulty, he puts novice manager Ollie Marmol in a difficult position. The Pujols started this game against a right-hander – Marmol was not going to sit him down on Start Day – but the Pujols will primarily serve as DH against left-handers. Hopefully there is enough juice left in the bat to help with this small role. – David Sonfield The Royals beat the Guardians 3-1: Before the start of today’s Open Day, the last time Zack Greinke played for the Kansas City Royals was 12 years ago and with more than 2,000 innings. As much as age changes, he can not deprive Greinke of what has always been his greatest asset, even better than fastball or slider or change: his mind. Greinke’s approach to pitching, combined with the things of his youth, made him an elite and will chart his path to the Hall of Fame. To see him on Thursday afternoon, he forms a Cleveland Guardians squad in a 3-1 victory highlighted by top contender (No. 2 on Kiley McDaniel’s top 100 list) Bobby Witt Jr’s double RBI . in the eighth period, it was to see a craftsman make art in real time. The radar gun does not light up as it once did and the blows do not oscillate and lose as before, but Greinke, through location, sequence and other trade tricks, still understands how to get out. Some lineups will prove to be more difficult to cross than others. A strikeout in 5 2/3 innings is not a long-term recipe for success, even with Kansas City’s amazing defense. And yet Greinke, now 38, left a huge round of applause on his return. The day the future of the franchise debuted, the prodigal son returned, different from before, the same as ever. –Jeff Passan The Cubs beat the Brewers 5-4: The first game of the MLB 2022 season reminded you that you never know what you’re going to see when you go on the pitch. Nico Hoerner, the Cubs’ youngest goalkeeper, scored the first home run of the 2022 season against NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes. Yes, you read that right. Herner, who had not hit a big ball in two seasons, became the first player to follow a homeless year with a meal on the opening day after Emilio Bonifacio in 2009. Burns, on the other hand, made the first shot that faced. 2022, after the Brewery ace set a major league record, scoring 58 before issuing his first ball base a season ago. Yes, you can not predict baseball. In all, Burns walked three batteries in five appearances on Thursday – including a free pass to Japanese rookie Seiya Suzuki, who walked twice, made a single and scored a streak in his MLB debut. – Jesse Rogers
The live action of Thursday
Walkoff for Arizona!
Yu Darvish put in a diamond and the Diamondbacks were hardly hit … but then Seth Beer stepped onto the plate and changed the narrative. Do you believe in fairy tales? @Beer_seth just wrote one. pic.twitter.com/Nt0CEikLce – Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 8, 2022
The trout is ready to stay healthy, to win in the playoffs
It has been six years since Mike Trout played a full, traditional season without losing time due to injury. He has noticed. “It’s my main goal,” said Trout, speaking ahead of Thursday ‘s Opening Day, when asked about the importance of playing a full season. The star center striker of the Los Angeles Angels, who spent the last …
