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

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.

LOS ANGELES — Sales for Shohei Ohtani’s home white No. 17 jersey skyrocketed from the moment the Los Angeles Dodgers announced his signing in December.

No one seemed in a rush to exchange that fashion choice on Thursday.

Ohtani heard nothing but raucous ovations during the Dodgers’ 7-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The designated hitter was cheered when he was introduced, cheered before his first at-bat and cheered even when he got thrown out at third after running through a stop sign on his first-inning double.

Consider it a symbol of how the Dodgers fan base seems to view its new star and the scandal that engulfs him.

Awkward first steps or not, until further notice they are Team Ohtani.

“Betting is a serious issue in sports, and I’m 100 percent for the integrity of the game,’’ said Thomas Zamorano of Whittier, Calif., who attended the game with his father. “If it turns out he was betting on baseball … he’s gotta go. Until then, I’m still going to cheer for the guy.”

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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.

Red Sox manager Alex Cora reminisced about starting the season in Seattle in 2019 and mentioned how tired he was at the start of that year coming off of the 2018 World Series Championship. This year, he said he’s feeling refreshed and that he feels good about a young athletic group. "One thing I can tell you is we’re ready," he said.

Back and forth the Fish and Bucs go. They’re tied, 5-5, after 11 innings in Miami.

The Pirates hoped they could sneak home a run in the top of the 11th when Bryan Reynolds bounced a grounder to first baseman Josh Bell. Bell threw a strike to the plate to cut down Michael A. Taylor. Pirates manager Derek Shelton challenged whether catcher Nick Fortes had blocked the plate, but the call was upheld.

The Marlins seemed ready to walk things off in the bottom half, putting runners on the corners with one out. But pinch-hitter Jonah Bride hit it to the wrong man — Gold Glove third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes — and that turned into an inning-ending, rally-ending, extras-extending double play.

We got our first signature Juan Soto Yankees moment, and it was … a game-winning outfield assist. Who’d have guessed!

The Yanks trailed 4-0 in the opener until Soto’s RBI single in the fifth, which was followed by a run-scoring walk and a run-scoring single. Oswaldo Cabrera tied the ballgame with a solo jack in the sixth, and newcomer Alex Verdugo put the Yankees ahead with a sac fly in the seventh. For as bad as this one looked early, as the Astros jumped on Nestor Cortes, it couldn’t have ended any better for the Yanks, who won 5-4.

BALTIMORE — The phrase was everywhere. On placards placed on the seats, the Orioles’ scoreboard and all over the team’s website: The Next Chapter.

For Baltimore, that’s exactly what Thursday’s Opening Day represented, as a new ownership group — led by Baltimore native David Rubenstein — was officially unveiled to the press, making a day always charged with emotion one the city will perhaps never forget.

The reigning American League East champions, with reigning Manager of the Year Brandon Hyde and reigning Executive of the Year Mike Elias, had new ace Corbin Burnes on the mound, the kind of frontline starter the Orioles have long craved. The days of a downtrodden franchise, one that lost 100-plus games thrice in four seasons from 2018-21, feel like yesteryear. The Angelos family said goodbye officially Wednesday to three decades of ownership, first by a unanimous vote by the other 29 MLB owners and later, in a private, emotional changing of the guard.

This is the Orioles’ “Next Chapter” and it’s scary how good it looks.

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A leadoff homer did not portend disaster for the Twins' No. 1 starter. Pablo López lasted seven innings, giving up just four hits while striking out seven Royals in Kansas City.

The Orioles are about to win big in Baltimore, the Reds are demolishing the Nationals in Cincinnati, the Blue Jays are pulling away from the Rays in St. Petersburg, and the Dodgers are beating the Cardinals by five in Los Angeles. Those are the early lopsided games.

But the Yankees have come back from an early deficit to tie things in Houston, the Tigers and White Sox have been locked in a one-run game in Chicago, and the Padres have scored a couple of runs in the fifth to pull ahead 2-1 against the Giants.

The Orioles are absolutely demolishing the Angels on this chilly Opening Day at Camden Yards. Mike Trout looked vintage in hitting a home run in the top of the first inning. But Corbin Burnes and the O's haven't allowed a hit since. It has been a tough week for the City of Baltimore after a tragic bridge collapse early on Tuesday morning. But this team has given the community a reason to rally. The day started with the introduction of new owner David Rubenstein. On the field, the O's offense has delivered 11 runs in six-plus innings. Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both hit long homers. The Angels, meanwhile, should be thankful that this is only one game.

Nick Martini is making his first-ever Opening Day one to remember, homering in each of his first two plate appearances this season, a two-run homer in the second and a three-run shot in the third as the Reds have taken a 7-0 lead over the Nationals at Great American Ball Park.

Martini, 33, first made his big-league debut with the A's in 2018 as a 27-year-old. The left-handed hitting outfielder played 55 games as a rookie for Oakland and six more the next season before the Padres picked him up off of waivers and he played 26 games there. He spent 2021 with the Cubs organization, appearing in 25 games for his hometown team before spending 2022 in Korea.

Last season the Reds signed him to a minor-league deal and he spent most of the year in Triple A before he was called up in August.

With the Reds, Martini found a spot as a pinch-hitter, going 5 for 11 in that role. After hitting three home runs in his previous 112 career big-league games, he had six for the Reds in just 29 games.

This spring Martini made his first Opening Day roster and Thursday he was in the lineup.

While Reds manager David Bell reveled in telling Martini he'd made the roster in Arizona, Wednesday he nonchalantly told Martini that he'd be in the lineup Wednesday, starting as the team's DH and batting eighth.

"I didn't wait around for the reaction, I just told him and walked away," Bell said.

Bell noted that "there was an argument" for Martini to hit higher than eighth in the order.

Martini had never played a big-league game before May before Thursday, so when he came up with one out and one on in the second inning, it was his first-ever March or April plate appearance.

Martini hit Josiah Gray's 2-1 slider into the stands in right-center field to give the Reds a 3-0 lead.

He came up in the next inning with two on and after getting behind 2-0 to Martini, Gray tried a curveball that Martini smacked into center, giving the Reds a 7-0 lead.

Spencer Steer, batting one spot ahead of Martini in the seven hole, had an RBI single in the second and an RBI double in the third before scoring on both Martini homers.

The Yankees are on pace for over 1,000 double plays this season. They have three inning-ending double plays through four innings against the Astros.

Off to an outstanding start in his first Opening Day, budding Minnesota Twins star Royce Lewis exited Thursday’s game with an apparent lower-leg injury.

Lewis, who missed parts of two seasons with consecutive torn right anterior cruciate ligaments, pulled up injured just as he raced around second base on a two-out RBI double by Carlos Correa in the third inning of a contest against the Kansas City Royals.

Prior to the injury, Lewis homered in his first plate appearance of the season and singled in his second trip.

Lewis returned to action in late May 2023 after missing most of the previous two seasons with torn ACLs. He quickly became a star, batting .309/.372/.548 with 15 homers in 239 plate appearances. Lewis followed it up with four postseason home runs, including two in his first-ever playoff game.

Injuries limited Lewis to 58 games in 2023. He missed 36 games with an oblique strain in July and August and sat out the final 10 contests of the regular season with a hamstring injury.