KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pablo Lopez pitched two-hit ball into the sixth inning of his Twins debut, and Trevor Larnach and pinch-hitter Donovan Solano each drove in a run as Minnesota beat the Kansas City Royals 2-0 to open the season. Lopez walked three and struck out eight while outpitching former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke on a breezy afternoon at Kauffman Stadium. Lopez left after 5 1/3 innings, and the Twins' bullpen did the rest. Jhoan Duran pitched the ninth to earn a save. Greinke allowed both runs in an otherwise solid start to his 20th big league season for the Royals. Salvador Perez and Kyle Isbel had their only hits.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — George Springer had five hits and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays beat St. Louis 10-9 despite the Cardinals’ Tyler O’Neill tying a major league record by homering on opening day for the fourth straight season. Bo Bichette had four hits for the Blue Jays, who set a team record for hits in an opener and outhit the Cardinals 19-15. Making his Cardinals debut, catcher Willson Contreras left after the eighth inning, when he was hit on the left knee by a 102.7 mph fastball from Jordan Hicks on the first pitch to Guerrero.
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman committed Major League Baseball’s first pitch-clock violation in the third inning of Thursday’s opening day game against the Milwaukee Brewers. With no outs, rookie Brice Turang on second base and Christian Yelich at the plate, plate umpire Ron Kulpa called the violation on Stroman at Wrigley Field. Kulpa pointed to his wrist in announcing the call, and the automatic ball made it a 2-2 count against Yelich. Cubs-Brewers was the fourth of 15 opening day games to begin Thursday. Several more violations followed on the first day of regular season games since MLB introduced a slate of rules changes this season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge rang in opening day the same way he marked many nights last season: with a home run. In his first game as New York Yankees captain, Judge hit a solo drive in the first inning off San Francisco’s Logan Webb, a 422-foot shot into the netting above Monument Park in center field. Judge hit a thigh-high cutter on the outside part of the plate for a 109 mph drive and his first opening-day home run. Judge hit an American League-record 62 home runs last year, one more than Roger Maris’ total with the 1961 Yankees.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out 10 over six scoreless innings in his season debut coming off the World Baseball Classic title before Oakland capitalized once he exited with Aledmys Díaz rallying the Athletics on a tiebreaking single in the eighth for a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Esteury Ruiz singled and Tony Kemp hit a tying double to start the rally against Aaron Loup. Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe singled in the fifth to break up a scoreless game and put the Angels ahead. Then Los Angeles right fielder Hunter Renfroe made an amazing no-look catch for the opening-day highlight reels. Trevor May pitched the eighth for the win. Dany Jimenez earned the save.
DALLAS (AP) — South Carolina and Iowa will meet in one of the most highly anticipated Final Four matchups in women's basketball history. The undefeated Gamecocks are looking to become the 10th team to go through a season unbeaten and the first to repeat as champions since UConn won four in a row from 2013 through 2016. To get to the NCAA Tournament title game, Dawn Staley's squad will have to slow down dynamic guard Caitlin Clark, who has Iowa back in the national semifinals for the first time in 30 years.
HOUSTON (AP) — The college basketball season started with familiar faces and ended up with an unexpected Final Four. North Carolina was the preseason No. 1-ranked team only to miss the NCAA Tournament. Fellow bluebloods like Duke and Kentucky all fell out of the rankings at points. And reigning champion Kansas was among the first No. 1 seeds to fall short of making even the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight. The transfer portal allowing players to move freely is a factor in redistributing talent to quickly change rosters. That meant more opportunities for some and tougher roads for some traditional top programs.
HOUSTON (AP) — Alabama All-American forward Brandon Miller is heading to the NBA after displaying versatile talent and potential in his lone season of college basketball. But that season was also blemished by revelations that he was present at a fatal shooting near campus in January. The 6-foot-9, 200-pound freshman told ESPN his decision to leave for the NBA. A person with knowledge of the decision confirmed that decision to The Associated Press, but spoke on condition of anonymity pending Miller’s official declaration. He is projected as a potential top 5 draft pick.
THURSDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final N.Y. Yankees 5 San Francisco 0
Final Texas 11 Philadelphia 7
Final Toronto 10 St. Louis 9
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Baltimore 10 Boston 9
Final Tampa Bay 4 Detroit 0
Final Minnesota 2 Kansas City 0
Final Chicago White Sox 3 Houston 2
Final Seattle 3 Cleveland 0
Final Oakland 2 L.A. Angels 1
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Atlanta 7 Washington 2
Final Chicago Cubs 4 Milwaukee 0
Final N.Y. Mets 5 Miami 3
Final Pittsburgh 5 Cincinnati 4
Final Colorado 7 San Diego 2
Final L.A. Dodgers 8 Arizona 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Boston 140 Milwaukee 99
Final New Orleans 107 Denver 88
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Florida 5 Montreal 2
Final Pittsburgh 2 Nashville 0
Final New Jersey 2 N-Y Rangers 1
Final Tampa Bay 5 Washington 1
Final OT Boston 2 Columbus 1
Final OT Ottawa 5 Philadelphia 4
Final Detroit 3 Carolina 2
Final St. Louis 5 Chicago 3
Final Edmonton 2 Los Angeles 0
Final Seattle 4 Anaheim 1
Final OT San Jose 4 Vegas 3