Orioles 8, @Red Sox 5: Aceves reflux? Joel Hanrahan, the Proven Closer imported to soothe Boston’s 9th-inning heartburn, had surrendered a leadoff HR, but was one strike away from closing it out with no one aboard. Then Ryan Flaherty singled, and Hanrahan crumpled.

The pinch-runner stole 2nd during a 4-pitch walk. Nate McLouth, down 1-and-2, took 3 wide ones to fill ’em. A wild pitch tied the game, and Manny Machado untied it on the next offering, muscling one into the specialty seats for his first HR of the year.

• Chris Davis finally went deep again, on a 1-2 hanger from Hanrahan.
• Boston hit 2 in a row off gopher breeder Tommy Hunter. He has the 3rd-highest HR% ever among pitchers with 2,000 batters faced.

@Cardinals 10, Reds 0: “Momentum is tomorrow’s starting pitcher.” After the 9th-inning debacle in Monday’s home opener, the Cards answered first with Lance Lynn’s 10-K special, and now a CG shutout by Jake Westbrook, his first since 2006. Rookie Matt Adams, whose pinch-HR sparked Tuesday’s comeback, continued to make the most of his sparse chances with a line of 3-1-2-3, HR, 2B, walk; he’s now 9 for 14.

• It’s Cincy’s worst shutout loss since late 2009, when Chris Carpenter homered and drove in 6 before bowing out early.

Rays 2, @Rangers 0: Matt Moore labored through 16 outs, with 6 walks and just 8 of 22 first-pitch strikes, but he kept Texas off the big board and preserved his spotless ERA. Tampa milked their first run from 3 Derek Holland walks, when Ben Zobrist beat out a DP turn, and manufactured the other on a double, groundout and sac fly.

• Fernando Rodney last year worked a clean inning or more in 25 of his 76 games, but he’s still looking for one this year. A leadoff hit tonight, the third time in as many games that his first batter has reached, meant he faced the tying run 3 times, but he got ahead of them all and set them aside.

@Giants 10, Rockies 0: Barry Zito has won his first 2 starts for just the 2nd time in his 14 seasons, and has consecutive scoreless games of 7+ IP for the first time since 2002. He also went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and scored twice for the first time ever. The Jints scored 7 in the first two frames, chasing Jeff Francis behind Buster Posey’s 2 extra-base hits to deep CF, and the rout was on.

• Zito is 8-2, 2.51 in 19 career starts vs. Colorado.

Blue Jays 8, @Tigers 6: Is 8 games too soon to declare a federal bullpen emergency? Or can we get an exorcism, based on their 6.66 ERA and 10 of 16 inherited runners let in? Detroit led 6-2 when Rick Porcello left in the 6th, with 2 on and no outs. Those both scored immediately, and the Jays scored 4 more the next inning, fueled by 3 walks from Brayan Villareal, no stranger to that sort of thing.

Braves 8, @Marlins 0: Mike Minor burned 101 pitches in 5.2 shutout stanzas, but that was mostly in a scoreless game. In the 5th, Evan “Git-Out” Gattis, becoming a Story in these opening weeks, mashed another tater from the cleanup hole, a 3-run shot that triggered a 6-run eruption that cracked it wide open.

• B.J. Upton got a rest from his 3-for-29, 12-K start, and his leadoff stand-in, Andrelton Simmons, drove in his first 2 runs of the year, doubling B.J.’s season total.
• Jordan Schafer, hoping to salvage a career that peaked in class A (getting waived by Houston last fall didn’t help), went 4 for 5 with 2 runs in his first start of the year, and started the big inning with a bunt single and steal.

@D-backs 10, Pirates 2: The career clock is ticking on Jonathan Sanchez. The deluge started with his pick-off error, and when his book was closed in the 4th, the Bucs trailed, 9-1. Chris Leroux, another whose leash may be tightening, followed with 3 straight walks, forcing in 2, before the opposing pitcher took a swing on 2-1 out of mercy or boredom.

• A.J. Pollock, part of the replacement for Justin Upton, doubled and then homered twice in his first 3 trips.
• With a lefty on the hill, Pedro Alvarez was out of the lineup for the first time, but he extended his season-long streak with a pinch-whiff. That’s 14 Ks, 2 singles in 30 ABs.

@Nationals 5, White Sox 2: The DP combo had 5 hits, 3 for extra bases; Bryce Harper’s blast tied the game in the 4th; Jordan Zimmermann did his quietly-effective routine; and the Nats remained perfect at home.

• ChiSox went 0-for-5 with RISP, now hitting .133 in that realm. They had 9 hits, but no walks. They’re last in the majors with 13 walks in 8 games.

@Phillies 7, Mets 3: Back-to-back disasters for Mets starters (more runs than IP), as Chase Utley and Domonic Brown lit up Jeremy Hefner for 5 runs in the 1st. Kyle Kendrick slipped out of a bags-full noose in the 2nd with a pair of called strikeouts. Mike Adams got 3 of those in the 8th, as Philly hurlers notched 8 of their 10 Ks via umpire’s judgment.

• John Buck lashed his 5th HR, his first ever 3-game HR streak. Lucas Duda had a career-high 10 total bases (2 HRs and a double). 
• There were 748 disaster starts in MLB last year, and 87% wound up as losses. The Mets are less able than most teams to overcome, going 1-26 in disaster starts last year, 7-101 since 2009.