MLB Opening Day 2022: Yu Darvish holds D’backs hitless for six innings – live updates, scores, highlights
World Series defense against the Cincinnati Reds at 8:08 p.m. ET.
MLB 2022:World Series, award predictions for the new season
MANFRED: MLB commissioner eager to start after ugly winter
POWER RANKINGS: Dodgers on top to start 2022
Keep it here all day Thursday for updates from around the league:
sold-out crowd of 40,545 at Truist Park. It was a chance to remember Atlanta’s unlikely run to a title last year and a coronation for one of the National League’s top contenders this season. New addition Matt Olson received a standing ovation in his first at-bat.
Tyler Mahle and the Reds had different plans. Mahle didn’t allow an earned run across five innings, striking out seven, and he helped spoil the party in a 6-3 victory over the defending World Series champions. Brandon Drury hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning as the Reds totaled 10 hits.
– Bobby Nightengale
Royals phenom talks new position, ‘boss’ Patrick Mahomes
100 NAMES TO KNOW: Young players to watch in 2022
Tyler O’Neill homers for St. Louis
Cardinals left fielder Tyler O’Neill’s first home run of the season was a three-run shot in the second inning of the opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The homer gave St. Louis a 4-0 lead an inning after O’Neill had opened the scoring with an RBI single
O’Neill finished eighth in NL MVP voting and won his second Gold Glove in 2021, hitting 34 homers with 15 steals and a .912 OPS.
Nico Hoerner puts Cubs ahead
Chicago shortstop Nico Hoerner hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning against reigning NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes, giving the Cubs a 3-1 lead in their season opener.
Milwaukee scored the first run of the 2022 season in the fourth, on an RBI groundout by Lorenzo Cain. Hoerner’s go-ahead homer came after Patrick Wisdom’s sac fly tied it up.
eight-year, $70 million extension with third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes ahead of the 2022 season opener.
Jason Kendall’s six-year, $60 million deal signed in 2000(!) had been Pittsburgh’s biggest contract to date.
Hayes burst onto the scene in 2020, batting .376 in 24 games to earn Rookie of the Year votes, but wrist injuries limited him to 96 games last season.
seven openers on Thursday, just two – Astros-Angels at Anaheim and Pirates-Cardinals at St. Louis – are sold out. The Atlanta Braves, the defending World Series champions, have standing room only tickets available for both Thursday’s opener and Friday and Saturday’s games against Cincinnati.
The weather also hasn’t cooperated, with rainy conditions already booting the Red Sox-Yankees opener in the Bronx and the Twins’ game against Seattle to Friday. Fortunately for all teams involved, those games were regularly scheduled home openers and will utilize Friday rain dates to get the games in – though that still didn’t guarantee a full house.
– Gabe Lacques
right-handed pitchers Chris Paddack and Emilio Pagán from the San Diego Padres for All-Star left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers and outfielder Brent Rooker.
The Twins also will receive a player to be named later and the Padres will get $6.6 million in cash under terms of the deal announced Thursday.
– Associated Press
After ugly winter, Rob Manfred is ‘thrilled’ to get 2022 started
Major League Baseball players openly chastised him. Frustrated fans solely blamed him. He was a living piñata for the media.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred might have been the most hated man in all of sports during the 99-day lockout.
Here we are, with Opening Day arriving a week late on Thursday, and a day even later for the latest chapter of the New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox rivalry. Their season-opener, with Manfred scheduled to be in attendance, was postponed until Friday at Yankee Stadium.
“I have never anticipated a season as much as this one,’’ Manfred told USA TODAY Sports in a wide-ranging interview. “I think given the last two seasons, the idea of having normal, unrestricted fans in the ballpark is a really exciting thing for me.
“I can’t wait for this one to get going.’’
– Bob Nightengale