Mar 30, 2018 3 min read

Max Scherzer struck out 10 in six innings and the Washington Nationals, in their first game with Dave Martinez as a major league manager, began defense of their NL East title by opening with a 2-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds Friday.

Nationals star Bryce Harper got two hits, but his string of five straight opening days with a home run came to an end.

A day after this opener at Great American Ball Park was postponed because of rain, Scherzer (1-0) picked up where he left off. The winner of the last two NL Cy Young Awards gave up five hits, walked one and permitted just one runner past first base. The Reds put runners on second and third in the fourth, but Scherzer fanned Tucker Barnhart to escape.

Scherzer posted his 65th career game with double-digit strikeouts. The only hitter who did real damage against him was Scooter Gennett, who finished 4 for 4 with a double.

American League

Boston 1, Tampa Bay 0: David Price was solid in his return to the Red Sox rotation, allowing four singles over seven scoreless innings of Boston’s 1-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

The five-time All-Star, slowed by injury much of 2017, struck out five and walked none in his first start for the defending AL East champions since last July, when he went on the disabled list with left elbow inflammation.

Rafael Devers snapped a scoreless tie with a single up the middle that drove in Xander Bogaerts, who doubled off Chaz Roe (0-1) leading off the seventh inning to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

A night after scoring six eighth-inning runs to rally from a 4-0 deficit and win the season opener, the Rays only managed to get one runner as far as second base.

N.Y. Yankees 4, Toronto 2: Masahiro Tanaka pitched six sharp innings and the New York Yankees did fine without any pop from their sluggers, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2.

Giancarlo Stanton, who homered twice and doubled a day earlier in the opener, went 0 for 4. So did big hitters Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. Yet the Yankees, under new manager Aaron Boone, improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2011.

Brandon Drury had two hits and two RBIs, Tyler Wade added a two-run double and Didi Gregorius had two extra-base hits and scored twice. Billy McKinney, promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day when outfielder Aaron Hicks went on the disabled list, singled in his first major league at-bat.