PITTSBURGH — Colin Moran hit a first-inning grand slam in his debut at PNC Park, Jameson Taillon tied a career high with nine strikeouts and the Pittsburgh Pirates held on for a 5-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins in their home opener Monday.
Moran, part of a trade that sent Gerrit Cole to Houston in January, hit a full-count fastball from Lance Lynn into the seats above the Clemente Wall in right field to stake the Pirates to an early lead that they nursed to their third 4-0 start in 35 years.
Taillon allowed two runs in 51/3 innings. George Kontos worked a perfect ninth for his second career save.
Brian Dozier homered for the second straight day for the Twins. Lynn lasted just four innings in his first game with Minnesota since signing a one-year deal last month.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
TIGERS 6, ROYALS 1: Ron Gardenhire’s first win with Detroit came courtesy of a couple other grizzled veterans.
Francisco Liriano pitched into the seventh inning in his Detroit debut and Victor Martinez drove in three runs to lead the Tigers past visiting Kansas City.
Gardenhire won 1,068 games as Minnesota’s manager from 2002-14.
The Tigers scored four runs in the fifth, with Martinez delivering a two-run single off Jason Hammel.
ASTROS 6, ORIOLES 1: Charlie Morton pitched six scoreless innings, Marwin Gonzalez homered and Houston won its home opener.
Morton allowed three hits and struck out six. The right-hander picked up where he left off after getting the final 12 outs in Game 7 of the World Series against the Dodgers on a night when the Astros unveiled their championship banner.
BLUE JAYS 4, WHITE SOX 2: Russell Martin hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the seventh inning, Josh Donaldson and Aledmys Diaz each had a solo shot and Toronto won at home.
Welington Castillo went deep twice for the White Sox.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NATIONALS 8, BRAVES 1: Bryce Harper hit a three-run homer and the visiting Nationals improved to 4-0 for the first time since the franchise moved to Washington.
Harper’s second-inning shot off to center field Sean Newcomb gave the Nationals a 5-0 lead. He also drew four walks and scored three runs.
REDS 1, CUBS 0: Rookie Tyler Mahle pitched one-hit ball for six innings, Raisel Iglesias struck out Anthony Rizzo with the bases loaded to end the eighth, and Cincinnati won at home for its first victory of the season.
Eugenio Suarez tripled in the fourth and scored on Adam Duvall’s groundout.
CARDINALS 8, BREWERS 4: Pitcher Miles Mikolas hit a home run and got the win in his return from a three-year stint in Japan, and St. Louis spoiled Milwaukee’s home opener.
St. Louis shortstop Paul DeJong homered for the third time in two games. Milwaukee had opened the season with a three-game sweep at San Diego.
Mikolas gave up four runs in 52/3 innings in his first big league start since Aug. 25, 2014, when he pitched eight innings for Texas in a 2-0 win over Seattle. He also got his first major league hit in the fifth – a two-run homer off Zach Davies (0-1) that broke a 2-2 tie.
Eric Thames, Lorenzo Cain and Manny Pina homered for Milwaukee.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.