Did you know? 16 facts from Opening Day 2016
Giants go back-to-back-to-back, Rangers best King Felix with one hit
After Sunday's tripleheader officially signaled the beginning of the 2016 regular season, many more Major League clubs got in on the action Monday for Opening Day.
With 10 games on tap, excluding two postponements due to the weather, the first entries into the 2016 record books were made as box scores were filled and wins and losses furnished the standings.
Here's a look at 16 interesting facts from Opening Day 2016:
• Denard Span, Joe Panik and Buster Posey belted back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Giants in their 12-3 win over the Brewers. It was the first time a team has hit three consecutive homers on Opening Day since the 1997 Padres, when Chris Gomez, Rickey Henderson and Quilvio Veras each homered off the Mets' Pete Harnisch.
• The last time the Giants hit three homers in a row at any point in the season was on July 20, 2006, with Pedro Feliz, Ray Durham and Barry Bonds going deep.
• The Giants and Brewers also became the first pair of teams to have their pitchers bat eighth on Opening Day. Before Monday, only six starting pitchers had ever batted from the eighth spot in the lineup in a season opener.
• The Dodgers' 15-0 win over the Padres at Petco Park is the second largest margin of victory on Opening Day. First is the Yankees' 19-1 victory against the Washington Senators in 1955. The last time a team was shut out in an opener while allowing 11 or more runs was in 1988, when the Brewers blanked the Orioles, 12-0. That Baltimore team started the year 0-21.
• The 15 runs scored by Los Angeles were the most on Opening Day since the White Sox beat the Indians, 15-10, on April 1, 2011. The last time the Dodgers scored as many runs in an opener was in 1983, a 16-7 win vs. Houston.
• The Mariners' 3-2 loss to Texas snapped a streak of nine consecutive Opening Day victories, which is one win shy of the Major League record set by with the Boston Beaneaters from 1887-96. It is, however, a franchise record; Seattle's previous high was five straight from 1982-86.
• Felix Hernandez has started eight of those nine openers. He suffered his first Opening Day loss Monday, becoming the only starter since 1913 to lose an opener while allowing one or no hits and pitching six or more innings. Hernandez is now 6-1 with a 1.49 ERA through nine season-opening starts (eight consecutive).
• The Rangers are the first Major League club since at least 1913 to win on Opening Day with one or no hits. For the Mariners, it was their first ever loss when surrendering one or no hits. The last time it happened was on April 23, 2015, when the Angels beat the A's, 2-0, with only one hit, a two-run homer from Kole Calhoun.
• With a scoreless seventh against the Rays, Toronto's Brett Cecil tied Craig Kimbrel's Major League record for consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run at 38 games. Cecil hasn't allowed an earned run since June 21, 2015, and if you include his two appearances in last year's American League Division Series, that's a span of 40 games.
• In his very first big league game, Rockies shortstop Trevor Story homered twice against Zack Greinke. He's the first rookie to hit two home runs in his Major League debut on Opening Day. The last rookie to homer while debuting in a season opener was Toronto's Devon Travis last season.
• Greinke's Arizona debut got off to a rough start as the right-hander surrendered seven earned runs, more than in any of his 32 starts with the Dodgers last season.
• The Nationals and Braves needed 10 innings to complete their opener, which Washington won, 4-3. There were no extra-innings games on Opening Day in 2015, but two in 2014, and the Nationals were also involved. They won, 9-7, in 10 frames against the Mets.
• Bryce Harper hit his fourth career Opening Day home run, joining Albert Pujols, Jimmy Rollins, Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz as the only active players with four homers in season-openers. The Major League record is eight by Frank Robinson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. Harper is also just the second player since 1913 with a home run in three openers before his 24th birthday.
• The White Sox Rollins and Angels' Pujols both made their 16th consecutive Opening Day starts Monday. They're tied for the longest active streaks in baseball.
• When Anthony Rizzo singled home Dexter Fowler in the first inning of the Cubs' matchup with the Angels, it snapped a streak of 22 consecutive scoreless innings for Chicago on Opening Day. The Cubs were shutout by the Cardinals and the Pirates in each of the last two season openers.
• Left-hander Rich Hill took the mound for the A's against the White Sox after scheduled Opening Day starter Sonny Gray was scratched with food poisoning. Hill is the 10th pitcher to start on Opening Day for Oakland in the last 11 years.