TUESDAY’S GAMES
National League
Cardinals 7, Astros 3: Jim Edmonds, Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders homered to lead visiting St. Louis over Houston in a season-opening rematch of the 2004 N.L. Championship Series. The Cardinals went ahead 3-0 lead in the first and never trailed, ending Houston’s 18-game, regular-season home winning streak, the longest in the major leagues since Cleveland won 18 in a row at Jacobs Field in May and June 1994. Chris Carpenter won by allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. Making his third straight opening-day start for Houston, 20-game winner Roy Oswalt gave up six runs and seven hits in six innings.
Marlins 9, Braves 0: John Smoltz’s first start in nearly four years ranked with the worst of his career. Juan Encarnacion hit a grand slam to cap a five-run first inning, Smoltz lasted just five outs and Carlos Delgado had four hits in his Florida debut to lead the Marlins over the Atlanta in Miami. Josh Beckett, starting on opening day for the third year in a row for Florida, earned the win for the first time.
Giants 4, Dodgers 2: Ray Durham scored the go-ahead run on Jose Valentin’s seventh-inning error at third, and Jason Schmidt struck out nine in seven strong innings to lead San Francisco over visiting Los Angeles. Armando Benitez worked the ninth for his first save as San Francisco’s new closer.
Diamondbacks 5, Cubs 4: Luis Gonzalez homered twice, his eighth and ninth career shots of Greg Maddux, and drove in three runs to lead Arizona past Chicago in Phoenix. Russ Ortiz allowed three runs on six hits in five innings to get the victory. He also singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth.
American League
Angels 3, Rangers 2: Vladimir Guerrero hit a solo homer in the first inning, doubled home a run in the sixth, and Bengie Molina singled home another in the seventh to lead Los Angeles past visiting Texas. Starter Bartolo Colon held the Rangers to one run over 6 2/3 innings to earn the victory. Mark Teixeira accounted for both the Rangers’ runs, with an RBI single in the third and a solo homer off Scot Shields in the eighth. Francisco Rodriguez, taking over for club career saves leader Troy Percival, pitched the ninth to earn the save. Percival was let go during the off-season and signed with Detroit.
Yankees 4, Red Sox 3: Mariano Rivera picked up right where he left off last October, blowing another lead against Boston. This time, Derek Jeter bailed him out. Jeter’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the ninth against Keith Foulke gave New York a victory, its second in a row over visiting Boston. Jason Varitek’s homer in the ninth pulled Boston even.
Blue Jays 6, Devil Rays 3: Shea Hillenbrand’s bases-loaded single snapped a sixth-inning tie and helped promising young left-hander Gustavo Chacin lead Toronto over Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla. Chacin allowed two singles and a homer in five innings to get his second major league victory.