MLB Opening Day 2024 results: Yankees win close one in Houston; Diamondbacks score 14 runs in one inning

Here’s what happened in the bottom of the third inning in Arizona tonight. The Diamondbacks batting, the Rockies pitching:

Single

Single

Walk

Single

Double

Single

Single

Fly out

Double

Single

Single

Walk

Single

Single

Double

Sac fly

Single

Ground out

That’s 14 runs in one inning, folks. Without a home run!

Rafael Devers clocks his first homer of the season. 2-0 Red Sox. Traveled 400 feet and 104.4 mph off the bat. He adjusted the position of his hands this spring and has been in a groove at the plate early.

Oh, and for the more sartorially inclined, Tyler O'Neill and Cedanne Rafaela are making sure to rep the 'sox' part of Red Sox to the fullest.

HOUSTON — They came to see a new era, all 42,642 who gathered inside on a gorgeous day the closed roof and late-inning collapse didn’t allow them to enjoy. Joe Espada spent six weeks in spring training trying to describe his style, but words and worthless exhibition games aren’t acceptable avenues to judge it.

Espada’s emphases are straightforward. He prioritizes communication and can’t stand loafing or a lack of aggression. He does not manage a team with many moving parts, perhaps prompting wonder how much he would insert himself. “Put them in a position to succeed and I could just kind of sit back and watch them perform,” Espada said in January.

“This is a team that performs. The more hands-off you are with this team, the better they play.”

Espada’s hands are all over the first game of his Houston Astros tenure. He burned two bench players before the seventh-inning stretch, yanked his starter before finishing the fifth and sent his setup man into the game for the seventh inning.

The Astros heeded his pleas to play aggressive baseball, only to watch it backfire with a game in the balance. Third-base coach Gary Pettis waved Mauricio Dubón home from second base on a shallow ninth-inning single. Juan Soto’s throw from right field beat Dubón home by 10 feet. Dubón could not avoid Jose Trevino’s tag.

Read the full story here

Oakland, 15 minutes before first pitch.

Wyatt Langford's first MLB hit didn't show off his power, but it did showcase his other plus-plus tool: speed. Following Adolis García's game-tying home run, Langford hit what sounded like a broken-bat grounder to Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson, then hoofed it to first base. This came a few innings after he drove in his first run — a sacrifice fly to put the Rangers on the board in the fourth inning.

Adolis García saw sweeper after sweeper from Cubs reliever Yency Almonte. Then he saw one that spun over the plate and cranked it to left for a tying solo shot. He flung his bat. The place went wild.

After our Position Player Tiers ran this morning, I had a player reach out predicting that Seiya Suzuki — who we put into the Tier 5 (Above-Average Starter) bucket — will be a Tier 2 (MVP Caliber) or Tier 3 (All-Star) by season’s end.

Suzuki ripped a two-out double off Nathan Eovaldi in the sixth, and Cody “Two Strike” Bellinger curled an RBI double down the right-field line to give the Cubs a 2-1 lead.

Check out the tiers here.

LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s highly anticipated Dodger Stadium debut was so loud he didn’t want it to stop. Or at least, he couldn’t stop.

The sellout crowd greeted his introduction with cheers, a chorus that followed Ohtani into the batter’s box for his first official home at-bat with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The ovation grew louder as he dumped a base hit into right field, then rose again when Ohtani ducked his head down and motored around second base, with one issue: Third-base coach Dino Ebel had thrown up a stop sign and Mookie Betts was standing right in front of him, leaving Ohtani a sitting duck to be tagged out. Even then the crowd cheered as Ohtani retreated to the dugout, and rocked once again one hitter later when Betts scored anyway.

New times, for everyone.

“It’s a situation that I hadn’t encountered during spring training,” Ohtani said of the flub through new interpreter Will Ireton after a spring that had a little bit of everything else.

Read the full story here.

In what is very likely the last Opening Day at the Oakland Coliseum, it is perhaps only fitting that the managers of both teams are two Oakland A's fan favorites — A's manager Mark Kotsay and Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who makes his managerial debut in the stadium where he collected both his first and last major-league hits (both home runs to right).

Vogt, who spent six of his 10 MLB seasons in Oakland, expressed his love for the fans on a day that will be marked by a fan boycott and protest in the Coliseum parking lot.

“My heart goes out to the fans and the people of Oakland and obviously the organization as well," he said pregame. "They're in a tough place right now and hopefully they'll get some answers and some clarity soon.”

Kotsay, who played for the A's from 2004-2007 and was a longtime coach in the organization before becoming the A's manager in 2021, was asked what it would mean to him if this is the last home opener at the Coliseum.

"We’re still talking hypothetical in terms of whether this is the last season until it’s announced, but if this is the last opening day, I know that I’m right where I want to be and I’m very honored to be a part of it,” he said.

His team enters the season with little expectations for how they will perform on the field and more attention on the future of the franchise. He's kept his young squad focused on what they can control. Though the tone of Opening Day will be dramatically different for his club playing in front of mostly empty stadium as the fan protest takes place outside, Kotsay understands where the fans are coming from.

“My heart is with the fans," he said. "They want to keep this team here and they way express it is with passion and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Oakland A’s fans. When they do come out, they come out with support and love and they do it in full force. I think for us tonight, the focus is just going to be on the game, beginning of it as an amazing 2024 season.”

The feeling inside the stadium 90 minutes before first pitch is eerie. The stands nearly empty with stadium workers outnumbering the paying customers significantly. It is a bit like baseball during the pandemic, minus the masks, the pre-game Zooms and the cardboard cutouts in the stands.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he hopes the league’s investigation into the gambling allegations surrounding Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara will be “short.”

MLB began a formal investigation Friday after the Los Angeles Dodgers fired Mizuhara. Ohtani’s representatives accused Mizuhara of engaging in a “massive theft,” using the Dodgers star’s money to place bets with an allegedly illegal bookmaker under federal investigation.

“Given the way the story unfolded, it’s important in terms of assuring our fans about the integrity of the game that we verify the things that Mr. Ohtani has said, and it’s really that simple,” Manfred said Thursday on MLB Network’s “High Heat with Chris Russo,” per the Associated Press.

Ohtani is not currently facing discipline from the league.

Read the full story here.

Rangers third baseman Josh Jung joined the ESPN broadcast from the hot corner in the third inning. He was smooth enough to chat casually as he gobbled up two grounders and fired strikes to first base. Getting the mic’d up guy to make two of the three outs in an inning, broadcaster Karl Ravech commented on the air, was a record.

Among the topics covered:

• Befriending rookie Wyatt Langford and rooming with him in spring training
• Whether he or his younger brother, Tigers prospect Jace, would be the better player in five years (Josh voted for himself, and added, “I’m the better Fortnite player, and that’s all that really matters.“)
• The whirlwind of winning (and celebrating) the World Series as a rookie

By Sahadev Sharma and Levi Weaver

ARLINGTON, Texas — Around 30 minutes before first pitch of their Opening Day tilt against the Chicago Cubs, the Globe Life Field video board showed highlights of the Texas Rangers' run through the 2023 playoffs. A packed ballpark of fans who showed up in droves well before the start of the game roared as they watched video of Corey Seager hit one of his six postseason homers.

Rangers manager Bruce Bochy emerged from the home dugout as the reel wrapped. Next to him was reliever Josh Sborz, who threw the final pitch that clinched the title last fall, holding the Commissioner's Trophy. The duo headed for home plate, behind which the trophy would be displayed during introductions, and Bochy spoke briefly to a packed Globe Life Field.

Among the 10 banners hanging in the left field rafters at Globe Life Field, none were for a World Series Championship. Slowly, to the right of the enormous video board, their newest banner unfurled. After over 50 years in Texas, the Rangers finally had the most coveted banner of them all.

For as short and sweet as the Rangers' banner-reveal ceremony was, you'd think they were adhering to the old axiom "Act like you've been there before." Thing is, they haven't ever been here before. After winning the first World Series in franchise history, it was all new territory for the Rangers and their fans.

"Thank you," Bochy said, and then between the raucous crowd and the cavernous echo chamber acoustics of Globe Life Field, the rest of his speech was hard to discern. He acknowledged that it had been a long time coming, and how cool it was to bring a championship back to Arlington.

The whole speech lasted a breezy 31 seconds — after all, Bochy has been here before, having won three titles with the San Francisco Giants between 2010 and 2014.

Then it was time for a five-second countdown, and the crowd thundered when the banner descended from the ceiling in right field (and again when the stuck corner was released).

After that, it was the standard Opening Day fare. Team introductions — the visiting Cubs first, requiring them to stand while the Rangers' whole team, coaching staff and personnel were introduced. The biggest cheers were for the guys you'd expect: Marcus Semien, Seager, Adolis García, Nathan Eovaldi, and rookies Evan Carter and Wyatt Langford.

Then it was time to play ball. The Rangers haven't been here before, but the path to get there again is underway.

With David Bednar injured, it was lefty Jose Hernandez closing out the 12th inning in the Pirates’ 6-5 season-opening win in Miami. Hernandez had been recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis before the game as a replacement when reliever Roansy Contreras went on paternity leave. Hernandez got Luis Arraez and Josh Bell to ground out, then watched Bryan De La Cruz’s fly ball fall into right fielder Bryan Reynolds’ glove on the warning track to end the game with the tying run at third.

The Pirates clawed from behind in this one. They were trailing 5-2 in the seventh before newcomer Edward Olivares homered and Andrew McCutchen drove in another run. Oneil Cruz went oppo taco to tie it in the eighth. After both teams threatened in the 11th, Jared Triolo blooped a two-out single to right field in the 12th to bring home the winning run.

A cool moment after the Yankees’ thrilling 5-4 Opening Day win against the Astros: longtime Yankees play-by-play man John Sterling waited outside the press conference room to wish Astros manager Joe Espada good luck this season. Espada worked for the Yankees in both the front office and on the field staff from 2015-17.