After opening their season with six straight losses, the Detroit Tigers fire manager Phil Garner and general manager Randy Smith. Coach Luis Pujols takes over the reins on an interim basis while team president Dave Dombrowski assumes the GM’s responsibilities.
The Mets score 9 runs in the 9th inning – 8 off John Smoltz – to break a 2 – 2 tie and defeat the Braves‚ 11 – 2. Rey Ordonez’s bases-loaded double is the big blow as the Mets have 15 at bats in the 9th. It is the most runs they’ve ever scored in the frame.
Highly-touted Japanese pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii makes his major league debut and pitches 5 1/3 scoreless innings‚ striking out 10‚ in Los Angeles’s 9 – 2 win over the Rockies. Brian Jordan backs Ishii with a grand slam to give the loss to Jason Jennings. Relief pitcher Jesse Orosco of the Dodgers scores just the third run of his four-decade major-league career. He last scored while playing for the Mets on July 22‚ 1986.
The White Sox roll by the Kansas City Royals‚ winning, 14 – 0. Mark Buehrle allows 5 hits in 6 innings pitched. Paul Konerko has 3 runs and 3 RBIs‚ and Magglio Ordonez has 3 RBIs. Trailing 9 – 0 in the 8th‚ the Royals bring in Miguel Asencio‚ the youngest pitcher in the majors. Making his major league debut‚ Asencio walks Kenny Lofton on 4 pitches and does the same to the next three batters. He leaves‚ having thrown 16 pitches, none of them strikes.
Barry Bonds becomes the second player in baseball history to begin a season with consecutive two-homer games. Eddie Mathews also hit a pair of homers in each of the Braves’ first two games against the Pirates to start the 1958 season.
4/3/2002: Darrin Fletcher of the Blue Jays hit a home run off Dustin Hermanson of the Red Sox in the second inning of a game at Fenway Park. In the bottom of the inning, Jason Varitek homered off Luke Prokopec. Both blasts came with two out and no one on base. The game was called due to rain after two innings had been played.
The Giants defeat the Dodgers, 12 – 0, as Barry Bonds hits a pair of home runs for the second day in a row. He becomes only the second player in major league history to begin a season with a pair of two-homer games. Eddie Mathews was the other.
At McAfee Coliseum, the Texas Rangers defeat the Oakland Athletics, 9 – 6. The loss snaps the Athletics’ string of 20 straight wins at home, stretching back to August 24th of last year. Oakland moves past the 1974-1975Cincinnati Reds for most consecutive home wins over two seasons. The Reds’ mark was 17.
In his major league debut, right-hander Jon Rauch of the White Sox pitches a perfect 1.1 innings in a 7-4 loss to the Mariners at Safeco Field. The 6′-11″ Louisville, Kentucky native, who was a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, becomes the tallest pitcher to appear in a big league game.
In beating the Padres, 9 – 0, the Diamondbacks become the first defending World Champions to open the season with back-to-back shutouts since the Boston Red Sox in 1919. Curt Schilling is the winning pitcher today, following Randy Johnson’s two-hitter yesterday.
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