CINCINNATI - The defending National League champions opened the season with a lot of waiting. And a couple of victories, too.
The St. Louis Cardinals overcame another long delay and Todd Frazier’s two home runs Thursday, holding on to beat the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 and take 2 of 3 in their season-opening series.
The first pitch was delayed 3 hours, 42 minutes because of rain. Some of the Cardinals spent their down time by studying Cincinnati’s pitchers again and getting a little extra work in the indoor batting cages.
“It’s tough to stay mentally into it,” said Matt Adams, who had a single and a pair of doubles. “That’s what we had to do to make sure we could go out there and perform. We’re watching video and taking swings in the cage and stretching and making sure we’re ready to go.”
Finally on the field, the Cardinals emerged from their two-game hitting slump by knocking Homer Bailey (0-1) out of the game in the fifth inning. Jhonny Peralta homered to get it going.
It wasn’t perfect - St. Louis stranded eight runners - but it was much better.
“We had a lot of opportunities that we missed, too,” Manager Mike Matheny said. “We had a lot of guys in scoring position.”
St. Louis pulled away with three runs in the seventh, when Matt Holliday’s single off the top of the outfield wall was upheld by the only video review of the series, this one initiated by the umpires.
Lance Lynn (1-0) gave up Jay Bruce’s two-run home run and Frazier’s solo shot during five innings. Frazier added a three-run home run in the seventh that cut it to 7-6. Trevor Rosenthal picked up the last four outs for his second save.
The series involved nearly as much waiting as playing.
There was a 2-hour, 40-minutedelay before Wednesday’s game, a 1-0 victory by Cincinnati. Along with the delay Thursday, the teams wound up waiting 6 hours, 22 minutes to play during the two days.
CUBS 3, PIRATES 2 Jason Hammel allowed two hits into the seventh inning and Chicago edged host Pittsburgh for its first victory of the season. The right-hander allowed 1 run, struck out 5 and walked 1 in 6 2/3 innings to help the Cubs avoid their worst start in 17 years.
MARLINS 8, ROCKIES 5 Giancarlo Stanton singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth inning, capping a comeback to help Miami beat visiting Colorado.
NATIONALS 8, METS 2 Tanner Roark recovered from a shaky first inning as an emergency starter in place of ailing Jordan Zimmermann, and Washington rallied past host New York for an opening three-game sweep. Ryan Zimmerman tied his career high with four hits, including three that led off innings.
GIANTS 8, DIAMONDBACKS 5 Angel Pagan hit a three-run home run in San Francisco’s five-run eighth inning and the Giants rallied to beat host Arizona.
AMERICAN LEAGUE TWINS 10, WHITE SOX 9 Chris Colabello had a career-high six RBI and doubled twice, Oswaldo Arcia hit a go-ahead triple and visiting Minnesota avoided a season-opening sweep with a comeback victory over Chicago.
RED SOX 4, ORIOLES 3 David Ortiz had three of Boston’s 12 hits off Wei-Yin Chen, and Boston got an effective pitching performance from Felix Doubront and four relievers in a victory over visiting Baltimore. Xander Bogaerts also had three hits for the Red Sox, who took two of three in this season-opening series between AL East rivals.
RAYS 7, BLUE JAYS 2 Chris Archer threw six solid innings, Evan Longoria hit a three-run homer and host Tampa Bay split a four-game series with Toronto by beating the Blue Jays. Archer (1-0) allowed two runs, four hits, two walks and had seven strikeouts.
YANKEES 4, ASTROS 2 Rookie Yangervis Solarte had three hits and an RBI in his first major league start and Derek Jeter drove in a run to give visiting New York its first victory this season over Houston. Solarte singled in a two-run third inning which put New York up 2-1. He doubled in the fifth and scored on a single by Jeter to push it to 3-1.
Thursday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh 2 St. Louis 7, Cincinnati 6 Miami 8, Colorado 5 Washington 8, NY Mets 2 San Francisco 8, Arizona 5
AMERICAN LEAGUE Minnesota 10, Chicago White Sox 9 Boston 4, Baltimore 3 Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 2 NY Yankees 4, Houston 2 Kansas City at Detroit, ppd., rain Seattle at Oakland, (n)
Sports, Pages 22 on 04/04/2014