Ke’Bryan Hayes, left, heads home on Rowdy Tellez’s two-run RBI single during the first inning of the Pirates’ win in Washington on Thursday.
John McDonnell | AP photo
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WASHINGTON — The Pittsburgh Pirates bounced right back from their first loss and lowest-scoring game of the season, producing a four-run first inning with the help of Rowdy Tellez’s two-run single to send them on their way to a 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.
Connor Joe contributed his first homer of 2024 — a 400-foot, two-run shot in the fifth — and Michael A. Taylor added three hits against his former team. Tellez, Oneil Cruz and Bryan Reynolds each had two hits for the Pirates, who went up 7-1 and then held on.
“Just a lot of people contributing,” manager Derek Shelton said, “which was nice to see.”
Martín Pérez (1-0) pitched 6 2/3 innings on his 33rd birthday, allowing two runs and six hits while striking out six.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Pérez said.
The Pirates completed their season-opening road trip with a 6-1 record and have scored at least six runs in all but one game: their 5-3 setback at Nationals Park on Wednesday.
“It feels like we’ve been on the road for a long time,” said Shelton, whose club’s home opener comes Friday against the Baltimore Orioles.
After a 70-minute rain delay before Thursday’s first pitch, the Pirates jumped all over 2023 NL All-Star Josiah Gray (0-2), who exited after 4 1/3 innings, six runs, seven hits and three walks. Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey used a mound visit to try to settle down Gray after 12 of his first 22 pitches were balls; the righty needed 33 throws to get the initial three outs.
“Honestly, I’m embarrassed to come out here and do that for the guys. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t sit right with me,” said Gray, whose ERA actually dropped to 14.04 after his second rough outing. “I know that I deserve better. They deserve better.”
Eventually, the Nationals got within three runs before an announced crowd of just 11,135. But Aroldis Chapman came on to get the last out of the eighth with two runners aboard, and David Bednar pitched the ninth to become the fifth Pirates reliever with a save this season.
“It speaks to the depth of our bullpen and it’s something that we’ve talked about, we’ve preached,” Shelton said. “We want to build depth throughout our group.”
CJ Abrams hit his second homer of the year, and Jesse Winker, Trey Lipscomb and Luis García Jr. also drove in runs for Washington, which is 2-4.
CARDINALS 8, MARLINS 5
ST. LOUIS — Nolan Gorman hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning and St. Louis won its home opener over winless Miami, which is off to the worst start in the 33-year history of the franchise.
Jake Burger hit a pair of homers for Miami (0-8), which is off to the worst start in the majors since Atlanta and Minnesota each lost their first nine games in 2016.
The Marlins are the only winless team in baseball after the New York Mets got their first win Thursday, beating Detroit.
Gorman, who had three hits, highlighted a five-run seventh-inning rally with a double on the first pitch from reliever Andrew Nardi to give St. Louis a 6-5 lead. Alec Burleson followed with a single and Masyn Winn added a run-scoring triple.
Paul Goldschmidt reached on a one-out error against Sixto Sanchez (0-1) to begin the outburst. Sanchez then gave up back-to-back singles, including an RBI knock by Ivan Herrera, before being lifted.
Herrera hit his first major league homer leading off the second. He is replacing regular Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras, who was hit on the hand by a pitch in Wednesday’s loss at San Diego.
GUARDIANS 4, TWINS 2
MINNEAPOLIS — Tanner Bibee and the Cleveland bullpen had 15 strikeouts to put the clamps on Minnesota’s bats, Steven Kwan had three hits and the Guardians spoiled the Twins’ home opener.
Bibee (1-0) matched his career high with nine strikeouts, allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings. Four relievers followed, with Emmanuel Clase working a perfect ninth for his third save.
Carlos Correa had three hits and Edouard Julien homered for the Twins. Minnesota, which averaged more than 10 strikeouts per game to lead the majors last year, fanned the 15 times and stranded nine runners — eight in scoring position.
The eighth inning was emblematic of the Twins’ struggles. With Minnesota down by two runs, Correa led off with a double. But he remained stuck at second as Scott Barlow struck out Carlos Santana, Manuel Margot and Willi Castro in order to end the threat.
Twins starter Pablo López (1-1) gave up four runs — three earned — in 5 2/3 innings.