UNDATED (AP) — The defending World Series champs have stumbled out of the gate.
Tyler Mahle allowed only an unearned run in five innings to outpitch Max Fried in Cincinnati’s 6-3 downing of the Braves in Atlanta. Mahle was sharp in his first opening day start, allowing only three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.
Brandon Drury hit a three-run homer off Collin McHugh in the reliever’s first appearance for the Braves.
Fried was reached for five runs over 5 2/3 innings.
Austin Riley hit a two-run homer for Atlanta off right-hander Dauri Moreta in the eighth.
Also in the majors:
— Bobby Witt Jr’s first major league hit was an RBI double that broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth inning of the Royals’ 3-1 win over Cleveland. He also scored the insurance run and Nick Lopez had an RBI for Kansas City. In a matchup of former Cy Young Award winners, Cleveland ace Shane Bieber and erstwhile Royals star Zach Greinke dueled to a 1-all stalemate before turning the game over to the bullpens.
— Ian Happ had three hits, including a tiebreaking two-run double in the seventh inning of the Cubs’ 5-4 win over the Brewers. Nico Hoerner hit the majors’ first homer of 2022 and Japanese outfielder Seiya Suzuki reached three times and scored in his first big league game.
— Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run homer and drove in five to lead the St. Louis Cardinals’ 9-0 rout of Pittsburgh. Adam Wainwright allowed just five hits over six innings of his sixth opening day start and first since 2016.
— The Mets are a major league-best 40-21 in season openers after Tyler Megill threw five shutout innings to lead a 5-1 win over the Nationals. New York became the first team to get scoreless outings from their starters on opening day in four consecutive seasons. Mets newcomers Starling Marte and Mark Canha each drove in a run.
— Seth Beer launched a game-winning, three-run homer in the ninth inning to lift the Diamondbacks over the Padres, 4-2. Beer’s blast spoiled a stellar outing by San Diego’s Yu Darvish, who threw six no-hit innings before being pulled leading 2-0 after six innings and 92 pitches.
— The Astros earned a 3-1 win over the Angels as Framber Valdez outpitched Shohei Ohtani with 6 2-3 innings of two-hit ball. Alex Bregman had an early RBI single and a late homer as the Astros won their major league record-tying 10th straight season opener.
