NEW YORK — Feted by fans and celebrated by teammates throughout his final opening day in the Bronx, Derek Jeter hardly felt as if he was starting his 20th big league season at home.
NEW YORK — Feted by fans and celebrated by teammates throughout his final opening day in the Bronx, Derek Jeter hardly felt as if he was starting his 20th big league season at home.
Jeter gave Yangervis Solarte some assistance with Yankee Stadium tradition, then the rookie helped make the captain a winner Monday as New York beat the Baltimore Orioles 4-2.
“I don’t want to jinx anything but it felt really good,” Jeter said. “It felt like maybe my first home opener. It was a fun time for me.”
Missing from the win was new Yankees closer David Robertson. He strained his groin and will be placed on the 15-day disabled list.
Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall, nearly getting thrown out at second after he started out in a home run trot before turning up the speed, and scored on Jacoby Ellsbury’s first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 sharp innings in the Yankees’ 112th opener in New York.
Teammates in the dugout teased Jeter for his near blunder.
“For Derek, at 40, we’re going to let it slide,” said injured first baseman Mark Teixeira, pushing Jeter’s 40th birthday up a couple of months from June.
In what manager Joe Girardi said would be a season-long lovefest for Jeter, the shortstop was cheered every step of the way by an adoring crowd of 48, 142 — even when his double-play grounder back to Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) scored rookie Solarte in the third inning for the first run.
Solarte, a career minor leaguer and non-roster invitee to spring training, continued a torrid start as the suspended Alex Rodriguez’s replacement at third base with a go-ahead RBI single in the fourth inning.
Playing in his first game in the Bronx, Solarte needed Jeter to tell him to wave to the Bleacher Creatures when they chanted his name during pregame roll call.
“Every day I look and Derek Jeter is playing next to me. I saw him since I was little and I could never even fathom that I would get to play with him on the same field,” Solarte said. “Every day I try to learn something from him.”
The Orioles got RBI singles from Matt Wieters and Nelson Cruz in falling to 2-5. Adam Jones and Chris Davis struck out against Adam Warren with a runner on in the eighth and trailing 4-2.
Matt Thornton, David Phelps, Warren and Shawn Kelley combined for hitless relief. Kelley pitched a perfect ninth for his first career save.
Robertson was hurt Sunday during his third outing as Mariano Rivera’s replacement at the back end of the bullpen after a major league-record 562 saves.
ANGELS 9
ASTROS 1
HOUSTON — C.J. Wilson pitched eight solid innings, Howie Kendrick and Raul Ibanez each drove in three runs and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Houston Astros.
The Angels took three of four from Houston after starting the season 0-3.
Kole Calhoun homered off Houston starter Jarred Cosart (1-1).
Wilson (1-1) yielded four hits and a run while fanning seven.
ATHLETICS 8
TWINS 3
MINNEAPOLIS — Yoenis Cespedes proved he can play through a hurting right heel, giving Scott Kazmir and the Oakland Athletics a spark with a pair of RBIs that helped spoil Minnesota’s home opener.
Cespedes has been hobbling around the last few days with the injury, but the team wasn’t worried enough about it to hold him out of the lineup. The Cuban slugger hit a double in the second inning for the first run against Kevin Correia (0-1) and later had a sacrifice fly.
Moss added a two-run single in the third and Derek Norris homered in the sixth.
Kazmir (2-0) allowed three runs and six hits.
CARDINALS 5
REDS 3
ST. LOUIS — Michael Wacha outdid Tony Cingrani in a rematch of young power arms and the St. Louis Cardinals got a three-run double from Yadier Molina in the first inning, beating the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 in their home opener on Monday.
Standing room attendance of 47,492, the largest crowd at 9-year-old Busch Stadium, braved daylong rain and temperatures in the 40s to greet the National League champions and take a look at the new Ballpark Village. Hundreds milled about the attached complex, which features five sports bars and rooftop seating.
The Cardinals bunched three hits and a walk over the first five hitters to take the early lead against Cingrani (0-1), who allowed two hits in seven scoreless innings six days earlier in Cincinnati.
The Cards went 1 for 18 before adding RBIs from Matt Holliday and Allen Craig off Trevor Bell in a two-run seventh.
St. Louis ended a three-game losing streak on opening day, including a blowout loss to the Reds last year.
The 22-year-old Wacha (1-0) hadn’t allowed a run in 21 career innings against the Reds before back-to-back doubles by Brayan Pena and pinch hitter Roger Bernadina in the fifth cut the Cardinals’ lead to 3-1.
The NL championship series MVP benefited from two double-play balls in six stingy innings and has permitted one run in 13 2-3 innings his first two starts.
RED SOX 5, RANGERS 1
BOSTON — John Lackey pitched seven strong innings, Jackie Bradley Jr. singled in two runs and the Boston Red Sox snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Texas Rangers.
The Red Sox never lost more than three straight last year when they won the World Series. They avoided dropping their first four home games for the first time since 1984.
Lackey (2-0) allowed an unearned run and five hits in seven innings five days after giving up two runs over six innings in a 6-2 win at Baltimore. Chris Capuano pitched the eighth and Koji Uehara escaped a second-and-third jam in the ninth in a non-save situation.
Tanner Scheppers (0-1) allowed Bradley’s run-scoring hits in the second and fourth, and Boston added three runs in the eighth.
Bradley, Mike Napoli and A.J. Pierzynski each had three singles for the Red Sox.
Boston took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI single by Bradley after singles by Xander Bogaerts and Pierzynski.
Texas tied it in the fourth on singles by Adrian Beltre and Alex Rios, a passed ball and a sacrifice fly by Mitch Moreland.
Bradley came through again in the fourth with another run-scoring single after Pierzynski singled and went to third on a single by Jonathan Herrera.
The Red Sox stranded runners at second and third in the fifth after Napoli and Grady Sizemore singled and both advanced on a passed ball. Pierzynski ended the inning by striking out.