Relive all of the madness from Opening Day with this minute-by-minute recap
Your step-by-step Opening Day recap
With 28 teams all squaring off in their first action of the year, Monday was chock-full of all the madness you've come to expect from Opening Day. And because we know you're as psyched to have baseball back as this guy, here is everything you need to know from the first day of the regular season -- minute-by-minute, game-by-game -- just in case you weren't absolutely glued to MLB.TV.
I think I found him. Crazy fans @Reds #19Reds pic.twitter.com/OpIsvBdBya
- Lindsey Wopschall (@Fox19Lindsey) April 6, 20151:08 pm: (MIN at DET) David Price faced Danny Santana for the first batter of Opening Day. Though his first pitch was a 91-mph ball:
Price set the Twins down in order. Not bad for the first Tigers starter other than Justin Verlander to throw on Opening Day since 2007.
1:15: (TOR at NYY) After Joe Torre came out to throw the first pitch (sadly not in his old Yankees uniform):
Masahiro Tanaka showed off his slider and splitter combo to strike out Jose Reyes. Naturally, he would get a groundball out from new Jay Russell Martin and would K Jose Reyes to end the inning.
Hope your first hot dog of the day was a scrumptious treat.
1:18 pm: (MIN at DET) Coming off a record-setting 11.63 strikeout to walk ratio last season, Phil Hughes toes the rubber for the Twins. The Twins right-hander picked up right where he left off, getting out of the inning unscathed after allowing a one-out single to Ian Kinsler for the very first hit of Opening Day.
I know you're all locked into baseball right now, but I hope you took a moment to cook your Juicy Lucy. I won't look it up, but I assume it's the state food of Minnesota.
1:22 pm: (TOR at NYY) Making his first Opening Day start with Canadian hero and pitch framer extraordinaire Russell Martin behind the plate, Drew Hutchison retired the Yankees in order. Though he did get an assist when Jose Bautista raced back to the wall and made a leaping grab on Jacoby Ellsbury's liner.
1:30 pm: (MIN at DET) After fouling off an 89-mph fastball, J.D. Martinez launched Hughes' second effort for the very first homer of the 2015 season. While his 23 home runs last season were impressive, Martinez would finish the day on a 162-homer pace. CAN HE DO IT?!
1:39 pm: (MIN at DET) After Yoenis Cespedes doubled in his first Tigers' at-bat, Alex Avila made Hughes work. The veteran catcher fouled off three pitches before deciding, "You know what? I should hit one in fair territory," launching a ball over the center-field fence to give the Tigers a 3-0 lead.
1:50 pm: (MIN at DET) Long known for his laser-cannon tosses, Yoenis Cespedes has made sure to ingratiate Detroit fans with his Opening Day performance. After doubling in his first at-bat, the left fielder decided to play at being Mike Trout when he robbed Kurt Suzuki of a home run with this catch.
Not a bad first impression.
2:20 pm: (COL at MIL) After Kyle Lohse wrote the world a get-out-of-work-note, bosses of the world united for karmic repayment. Doubles from Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki and Nolan Arenado gave the Rockies an early 2-0 lead before Corey Dickerson blasted a two-run home run to make it 4-0. I guess his .312/.364/.567 breakout last season wasn't a fluke.
3:00 pm: (MIN at DET) The Twins' Rule 5 pick, J.R. Graham, made his Major League debut. More importantly, look at these stirrups! Those are the first stirrups of the 2015 season:
When Miguel Cabrera came up with a runner on third-base, things certainly seemed dire. Fortunately, the Tigers slugger was probably lost in that enticing oval of sanitary sock around the ankle and he popped up into foul territory to end the threat.
3:10 pm: (BOS at PHI) If the rumors are to be believed, Cole Hamels faced off against his possible future teammate: Mookie Betts. Hamels retired the wonderfully named center fielder, but Dustin Pedroia soon greeted him with a "You're still a Phillies player," home run to left field. With Pedroia coming off a career-low seven home runs, it's a welcome sight for Red Sox fans.
Of course, given Pedroia's physique, we shouldn't be surprised. Plenty of muscle-bound fury in that body
3:23 pm: (BOS at PHI) Playing in Philadelphia for the first time since being traded to the Dodgers in 2012, Shane Victorino received a standing ovation from Phillies fans.
3:25 pm: (COL at MIL) Carlos Gomez is good at many things, as evidenced by his back-to-back 20-plus HR, 30-plus SB seasons. Of course, what fuels that performance is swinging very, very hard. That sometimes leads to this, your first player swinging out of his helmet of 2015:
3:20 pm: (BAL at TB) Making his Orioles debut, Travis Snider started off the scoring with a ground ball single to drive in Alejandro De Aza.
We know one young fan in Bangkok who is going to be very, very happy.
3:39 pm: (MIN at DET) Sadly, nothing lasts forever and we had to say goodbye to the first Opening Day game. The Tigers won 4-0 behind 8 2/3 shutout innings from David Price.
Doesn't hurt that Yoenis Cespedes added a triple to his double and his home run-saving catch, and that Jose Iglesias also picked up two hits and two stolen bases.
3:45pm: (BOS at PHI) Do you like yelling Mookie Betts' name as loud as possible? I hope you do because he hit a solo jack.
4:00 pm: (NYM at WAS) After officially awarding the 2018 MLB All-Star Game to Washington, Commissioner Rob Manfred trots to the mound at Nationals Park. Except, what's this? He called for his very own flame-throwing reliever to take his place.
4:05 pm: (NYM at WAS) After signing a $210-million deal with the Nationals, Max Scherzer makes his first pitches as D.C. resident. Though he walked Curtis Granderson to start the inning, the man with different colored eyes retired the rest of the side in order.
4:05 pm: (ATL at MIA) First pitches are important and first pitches on Opening Day can set the tone for the whole year. Henderson Alvarez knows this, hence his special windup that he uses on the first pitch of every start.
4:14 pm: (TOR at NYY) Our second game of the day ends with the Blue Jays defeating the Yankees, 6-1, thanks to an absolute blast from Edwin Encarnacion and a Devon Travis homer in his first big league start.
4:15 pm: (PIT at CIN) The newly-shorn Andrew McCutchen laced a ground ball down the third base line that was surely destined to be an RBI extra-base hit. But Todd Frazier was there to rob the center fielder. Perhaps the lack of dreadlocks is the culprit.
4:17 pm: (LAA at SEA) Coming into today's action, Mike Trout was one of the few hitters not afraid of facing Felix Hernandez with a .367/.389/.633 line with two home runs in 54 plate appearances against the King.
Well, you'd better make that three home runs.
4:20 pm: (SD at LAD) The new-look Padres are already paying dividends. After Wil Myers led off the game by being hit by a pitch, he then stole second and was driven in on a single by former Dodger Matt Kemp. While the Dodgers fans were happy to welcome the outfielder back (at least, before the RBI):
I wonder if Clayton Kershaw will unfriend him on Facebook after this.
4:28 pm: (ATL at MIA) The winter of 1,000 moves paid off early for the Braves. In the top of the first, new Georgia-raised right fielder Nick Markakis singled in Jace Peterson to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
4:35 pm: (BOS at PHI) How's the Red Sox's new left fielder looking? I don't know, you tell us:
Naturally, that dinger came two batters after Dustin Pedroia's second of the game. It's his first multi-home run game since Sept. 13, 2011.
4:41 pm: (BAL at TB) After emerging as one of the top the surprise stories of 2014, Steve Pearce wasted no time in the new year. The barrel-shaped slugger launched a 94-mph fastball from Chris Archer into the stands to extend the Orioles' lead to 4-0.
4:46 pm: (NYM at WAS) Bartolo Colon made his debut at the plate. Sadly, he flies out, leaving his race to three hits at zero. Because Bartolo is simply the greatest, enjoy one of his many exuberant swings from last season.
5:03 pm: (NYM at WAS) Using his massive forearms, Bryce "Bam Bam" Harper smashes his first home run of the season. Oddly enough, Frank Sinatra may have called this one:
Just b4 Bryce Harper's HR, Sinatra on loud-speakers: "The best is yet to come.. You think you've seen the sun, but you ain't seen it shine."
- Grant Paulsen (@granthpaulsen) April 6, 20155:04 pm: (CWS at KC) The Royals are back at it. After Salvador Perez showed that he has no lingering concerns from the World Series by driving in the game's first run in the bottom of the second, KC went back to their running, bunting ways in the third. After Alcides Escobar doubled, Mike Moutakas bunted him over and Lorenzo Cain singled him in.
Cain then stole second, was grounded over to third and scored on a wild pitch. It's like October never ended.
5:05 pm: (PIT at CIN) Billy Hamilton is so fast, he doesn't even need to run. His dancing off third base distracted Francisco Liriano enough to balk him in for the first run of the Reds season.
5:20 pm: (COL at MIL) We must say goodbye to our third game of the day. The Rockies bats must have thought this was the mid-'90s and they were playing in Coors Field as they exploded in a 10-0 victory. Nolan Arenado came within a triple of the cycle, Troy Tulowitski had three hits and three RBIs and Corey Dickerson doubled and homered to drive in four.
Even though the Brewers lost, at least they went down looking good.
5:32 pm: (PIT at CIN) With the Pirates and Reds in a rain delay, we thought there was no better time than now to share the glory of Rob Lowe in a '90s Reds jacket. Words cannot describe:
5:50 pm: (TB at BAL) After homering in the bottom of the seventh to put the Rays on the board:
Evan Longoria entered with runners on second and third with a chance to tie the game with one giant swing. But Tommy Hunter reaches back and, like dealing pure lightning from Thor's mighty hammer, gets the third baseman to pop out and end the threat.
6:10 pm: (SD at LAD) For anyone wondering why Joc Pederson is the Dodgers' starting center fielder, wonder no more. I'm not sure what's prettier: His catch or that center field logo:
6:13 pm: (BOS at PHI) Hanley Ramirez was last in a Red Sox uniform 10 years ago, going 0-for-2 in two games. He did a bit better this time around. After homering in the fifth, Hanley finished off Boston's scoring with this 9th inning grand slam off Phillies reliever Jake Diekman as the Red Sox won, 8-0.
6:15 pm: (BAL at TB) The Orioles join the Blue Jays and Red Sox in a three-way tie for first place thanks to 6 1/3 strong innings from Chris Tillman and a 3-for-4 showing from the meat-loving new acquisition, Travis Snider.
6:46 pm: (LAA at SEA) The Mariners win 4-1 thanks to another great start from Felix Hernandez. He went 7 innings while allowing only a Mike Trout home run and striking out 10. Or, another way to put it:
Felix finished with 10 strikeouts. One for every single Lesley Gore charted in the Top 40 from 1963-1965.
- Yakyu Night Owl (@YakyuNightOwl) April 6, 2015 Of course, Seattle would have won by a bit larger of a margin were it not for Mike Trout's amazing one man band:
6:48 pm: (NYM at WSH) While Max Scherzer was strong in his first start for the Nats (7 2/3 IP, 8 SO), it wasn't enough to beat Bartolo Colon (6 IP, 8 SO) and two RBIs from Lucas Duda. Most importantly, 37-year-old Buddy Carlyle, who didn't pitch in the Majors in 2012-13, picked up his first Major League save.
6:47 pm: (PIT at CIN) Andrew McCutchen ties the game at two with a two-run home run. Guess he wasn't powered solely by dreadlocks.
6:51 pm: (ATL at MIA) While there was plenty of action going on between the lines, sometimes we must pay our respects for those manning the foul area. So kudos, ball boy, kudos.
A+ for effort, #Marlins Ball Boy pic.twitter.com/kY091uEszn
- Miami Marlins (@Marlins) April 6, 2015 7:07 pm: (CWS at KCR) Jeff Samardzija's first start on the South Side of Chicago didn't quite go according to plan, as the White Sox lost to the reigning AL Champions 10-1. Shockingly, the Royals swiped only two bases, far below my pre-game prediction of "A number not yet discovered by man."
Of course, Abreu "put the White Sox on the board ... yes," with his 7th-inning blast. He's very strong.
7:09 pm: (PIT at CIN) With runners at the corners and the game tied at two, would Billy Hamilton's presence at third base lead to another run-scoring balk?
No. Because Todd Frazier hit an actual laser beam that could be used for LASIK eye surgery down the line to give the Reds a 5-2 lead. His bat flip and skip seems to say, "OH MY GOD, YOU GUYS, DID YOU SEE THAT I JUST WON OPENING DAY?! HOW COOL IS THAT?!"
7:17 pm: (SDP at LAD) This one belonged to the newest members of the Padres and Dodgers. Wil Myers, Derek Norris, Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Clint Barmes combined for all the Padres offense and James Shields struck out eight batters over six innings.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to beat the Dodgers who won, 6-3, thanks to Philly-import Jimmy Rollins' eighth-inning three-run homer.
7:18 pm: (PIT at CIN) Aroldis Chapman throws pitches faster than the human eye can see as he closes out the game for the victory over the Pirates.
7:25 pm: (CLE at HOU) Sit back and relax. Ice your TV remote hand. There's only one game on, but it's one chock full of 2015 storylines. Will Altuve take home another batting title?
And can Kluber and his killer curve win another Cy Young? Or experience an emotion?
8:46 pm: (CLE at HOU) Corey Kluber was doing a nice job following up on his AL Cy Young Award, no-hitting the Astros for the first 5 2/3 innings. But 2014 AL batting champ and stolen base king Jose Altuve put an end to that with a single followed by a swipe of second. That put him in scoring position and George Springer's single through the infield scored him to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.
Of course, the bearded Dallas Keuchel is putting together a nice start, too. Through six innings, he's shutout the Indians while holding them to a single hit.
9:41 pm: (CLE at HOU) For the third straight Opening Day, the Astros walked away victorious. In fact, they've yet to lose an opener since switching leagues. Is there an American League conspiracy afoot?
The two teams combined for only six hits, but the Astros came out on top, 2-0, thanks to seven shutout innings from Dallas Keuchel and RBIs from George Springer and Jake Marsinick.
10:25 pm: (TEX at OAK) Brand-new Athletic Ben Zobrist got the scoring started in Monday's late games, launching a two-run home run off of brand-new Ranger Yovani Gallardo. He then celebrated with his teammates in the dugout accordingly.
11:55 pm: (SF at ARI) Angel Pagan let Giants fans know he's back, recording two singles, a double and a pair of RBIs in his first three at-bats as the defending World Series champions jumped to a 5-1 lead through five innings.
12:00 am: (TEX at OAK) Meanwhile, Sonny Gray and his stylish striped socks were dealing: He didn't allow a hit or walk through six innings.
12:30 am: (TEX at OAK): Sonny Gray took a no-hitter through seven innings, until Ryan Rua led off the eighth inning with a liner past A's first baseman Ike Davis. Bob Feller remains the only pitcher to ever throw an Opening Day no-hitter in MLB history, when he blanked the White Sox on April 16, 1940.
12:55 am: (TEX at OAK) Riding Gray's eight one-hit innings, the two-run homer from Zobrist and a three-run shot from Stephen Vogt, the A's were victorious on Opening Day for the first time since 2004.
1:05 am: (SF at ARI) Reigning World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner held the D-backs to a single run on six hits through seven innings. But when MadBum didn't come out for the eighth, Arizona capitalized: Pinch hitting for Chris Owings, Jake Lamb smacked a three-run double, bringing the D-backs within one.
1:30 am: (SF at ARI) Santiago Casilla closed things out for the Giants, maintaining San Francisco's one-run lead. The Giants' World Series Championship-defense begins with a 13-hit, 5-4 win, and thus ended the 14-game, 28-team extravaganza that was Opening Day.