Griffin dazzles in debut, Pirates beat Orioles in home opener
Pittsburgh Pirates' Konnor Griffin sprints for home to score a run during the second inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles Friday in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Konnor Griffin debuted in style. The 19-year-old Pirates shortstop delivered an RBI double in his first big league at-bat as Pittsburgh held off the Baltimore Orioles 5-4 on Friday. Griffin, called up on Thursday and the consensus top prospect in baseball, looked every bit the part during an electric afternoon at PNC Park. He laced a double to center field off Kyle Bradish (0-2) in the bottom of the second, then showcased his speed while racing home on a single to shallow right field by Jared Triolo. The teenager, the youngest player to make his major league debut at shortstop since Alex Rodriguez did it at 18 for Seattle in 1994, also drew a walk and handled all of his defensive chances without an issue as the Pirates won their third straight. Griffin became the first Pirate under 20 to reach base twice in his debut since Bobby Del Greco in 1952. The sellout crowd at PNC Park, which opened 25 years ago, or a full half-decade before Griffin was born on April 24, 2006, roared when Griffin was introduced during the pregame ceremony. The roars drew even louder when he took an 85 mph curveball from Bradish and sent it rocketing to the fence in center field. Triolo, who moved from short to third after Griffin’s promotion, had a pair of hits and his first RBI of the season. Ryan O’Hearn, Henry Davis and Oneil Cruz also drove in runs for the Pirates. Mitch Keller (1-0) allowed two runs and six hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Gregory Soto gave up a solo home run to Gunnar Henderson with two outs in the ninth, but rebounded by striking out former New York Mets teammate Pete Alonso to pick up his first save with Pittsburgh. Henderson finished with three hits for Baltimore. Dylan Beavers and Blaze Alexander had two hits apiece for the Orioles. Bradish was touched for four runs and six hits with three walks and six strikeouts in four innings. REDS 5, RANGERS 3 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Tyler Stephenson hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth inning and the Cincinnati Reds won in their first road game this season, a 5-3 victory to spoil the home opener for the Texas Rangers on Friday. Spencer Steer and Elly Del La Cruz also homered for the Reds. Steer opened the ninth with a double off reliever Chris Martin (1-1) before Stephenson lined a full-count pitch into the Rangers’ bullpen in right-center for his first homer. Tony Santillian (1-0), the fourth of five Reds pitchers, pitched a perfect eighth inning. Emilio Pagan worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his second save. The Rangers played their first home game for new manager Skip Schumaker after taking two of three games in series at Philadelphia and Baltimore. The last time they played six games before their home opener was 2008. Steer’s two-run homer in the second and De La Cruz going deep to lead off the sixth both came off MacKenzie Gore, the All-Star left-hander that came to Texas from Washington in January in a trade for five prospects. It was the third homer, all solo shots, for De La Cruz this season. Gore struck out nine without a walk while allowing those three runs over six innings in his first home start. Texas got even at 2 in the bottom of the second on No. 9 batter Danny Jansen’s double under the the glove of diving left fielder Steer off Brady Singer, the Reds starter who struck out five and walked one while pitching into the sixth. Brandon Nimmo had a one-out triple in the Texas seventh before Wyatt Langford’s RBI double for a 3-3 tie. GUARDIANS 4, CUBS 1 CLEVELAND (AP) — Rookie Chase DeLauter had three hits, including a two-run homer in the seventh inning, and drove in three runs as the Cleveland Guardians won their home opener 4-1 against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. Gabriel Arias also went deep in the seventh inning as the Guardians won their home opener for the third straight season. Connor Brogdon (2-0) got the win and Cade Smith picked up his second save. It was 70 degrees at first pitch, which was Cleveland’s warmest March or April opener since 1992. Miguel Amaya had an RBI hit in the third inning for the Cubs. Starting pitcher Cade Horton exited early in the second inning due to right forearm discomfort. The right-hander looked toward the Cubs’ dugout after throwing a 93.8 mph fastball to Bo Naylor low in the strike zone for a called strike. Horton threw 17 pitches, including eight strikes. He retired the Guardians in order in the first and walked Kyle Manzardo to lead off the second. DeLauter tied it at 1-1 in the fifth inning with a base hit to left to score Daniel Schneemann. After Arias’ homer put Cleveland on top in the seventh, DeLauter drove Hunter Harvey’s 96.6 mph fastball 402 feet into the right-field stands to extend the Guardians’ lead to three runs. It was DeLauter’s fifth home run of the season, tying him with the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers for the American League lead. DeLauter had four homers in his first three games, becoming the first big league player since Trevor Story did it in 2016 with Colorado. Arias — who tried to score from second on DeLauter’s hit in the fifth but was thrown out at home by left fielder Ian Happ — connected on a hanging slider from Harvey (0-1) for his second home run of the season.