St. Louis Cardinals’ Ivan Herrera and Ryan Helsley celebrate an 8-5 victory over the Miami Marlins on Thursday in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

 

ST. LOUIS — Nolan Gorman hit a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh inning and the St. Louis Cardinals won their home opener, 8-5 on Thursday over the winless Miami Marlins, who are 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 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.

PIRATES 7, NATIONALS 4: Visiting Pittsburgh bounced right back from its 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 beat Washington.

Advertisement

Connor Joe contributed his first homer of the season — 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.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

GUARDIANS 4, TWINS 2: Tanner Bibee and the bullpen had 15 strikeouts to put the clamps on Minnesota’s bats, Steven Kwan had three hits and Cleveland  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.

Advertisement

INTERLEAGUE

METS, TIGERS SPLIT: Pete Alonso launched a tying homer leading off the ninth inning, Tyrone Taylor lined a game-winning single and New York — after going 13 innings without a hit — rallied past visiting Detroit 2-1 for its first victory of the season and a doubleheader split.

Harrison Bader’s bloop single to start the eighth was New York’s first hit in the second game. But the Mets (1-5) finally broke through in the ninth to give Carlos Mendoza his first win as a major league manager. They avoided opening 0-6 for the first time since their second season in 1963.

New York blew a three-run lead in the opener and lost 6-3 in 11 innings after Colt Keith hit a tie-breaking double. Gio Urshela added a two-run single.

NOTES

WHITE SOX: Right-hander Mike Clevinger and the Chicago White Sox finalized a $3 million, one-year contract.

Advertisement

The 33-year-old was optioned to the Arizona Complex League White Sox. Infielder José Rodríguez was designated for assignment to open a roster spot.

Clevinger can earn an additional $3 million in bonuses for starts and innings: $100,000 per start from 11-25 and $100,000 for 55 innings and each additional five through 125.

Clevinger went 9-9 with a 3.77 ERA and two complete games in 24 starts with the White Sox last season, then became a free agent.

MARLINS: Right-hander Eury Pérez will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 season, the team announced.

Pérez had previously been diagnosed with mild inflammation after experiencing discomfort in his right elbow late in the spring. He met with Dr. Keith Meister, according to Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, and surgery was not recommended then.

Pérez made four spring training appearances but opened the season on the injured list. As of Tuesday, the team said he had been playing catch with the anticipation of progressing to a bullpen session soon.

Bendix told reporters ahead of Thursday’s game against St. Louis that the decision came after a second meeting with Dr. Meister.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.