Alfonso Soriano hits his 53rd leadoff homer as the Chicago Cubs defeat the Padres, 6 – 4, in a rain-shortened game. Soriano’s blast ties Craig Biggio for second on the all-time list, still well behind record holder Rickey Henderson at 81; it also breaks the Cubs record held by Jimmy Ryan, as it is Soriano’s 21st such homer since joining the team in 2006. For the Padres, Adrian Gonzalez hits two long balls off winner Ted Lilly.

The Pirates down the Cardinals, 5 – 2. Adam LaRoche has a home run reversed on an instant replay review; it marks the first time in 14 reviews that a home run call has been reversed since instant replay was instituted in 2008.

The Reds beat the Diamondbacks, 10 – 3. Arizona rookie Gerardo Parra homers off Johnny Cueto in his first major league at-bat, the 100th player to homer in his first trip up in the Show.

Ryan Zimmerman goes 4 for 5 with two home runs to extend his hitting streak to 29 games, but San Francisco beats Washington, 11 – 7. Randy Johnson strikes out nine for career win number 298. The game features the tallest pitching match-up in history, with the 6′ 10″ Johnson facing Daniel Cabrera, who stands 6′ 9″.

The Cincinnati Reds hit five homers, including a pinch-hit blast with two outs in the bottom of the 9th by pitcher Micah Owings, but lose, 8 – 7, to the Cardinals in 10 inning. Colby Rasmus doubles in the winning run for St. Louis, while Paul Janish fouls out with the bases loaded against Chris Perez to end the game.

Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals hits a home run in the 8th inning to beat Arizona, 2 – 1, extending his hitting streak to 27 games. A.J. Hinch is still winless since taking over as D-Backs manager.

The Mets defeat Pittsburgh, 10 – 1, for their 6th consecutive win. Sandy Alomar is at the helm in place of Jerry Manuel, who was suspended for bumping umpire Bill Welke in an argument on May 7th. Jose Reyes collects 3 hits and 3 RBI for New York.

Joe Saunders pitches a five-hit shutout for the Angels to beat Kansas City’s ace Zack Greinke, 1 – 0. Greinke suffers his first loss of the season after six wins and sees his ERA rise to 0.51 in the complete-game defeat.

In his first game of the season after missing six weeks because of hip surgery, Alex Rodriguez hits the first pitch he sees from Baltimore’s Jeremy Guthrie for a three-run home run in a 4 – 0 Yankees win that ends a five-game losing streak. CC Sabathia pitches a four-hit shutout in his best performance since signing a huge free agent contract over the winter.

The Dodgers tie a post-1900 major league record with their 12th straight win at home to open the season when they beat Arizona, 3 – 1. Detroit is the only other team to win its first twelve games at home, in 1911. Jeff Weaver picks up his first victory since 2007 for the Dodgers.