1 amazing fact for each Opening Day game

Opening Day has arrived.

After the Athletics and Mariners got things started last week in Japan, all 30 teams were in action on Thursday, from coast to coast.

Here's one amazing fact (or more!) from each of today's 15 Opening Day games.

Mets 2, Nationals 0
• This game featured a matchup of reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom and runner-up Max Scherzer, who had won that trophy in both of the previous two seasons. The game indeed turned into a duel, and in the sixth inning, both deGrom and Scherzer recorded their 10th strikeout of the day. It was only the second time that two starters in the same Opening Day game both reached double digits in Ks, joining the Orioles’ Dave McNally (13) and the Indians’ Sam McDowell (11) in 1970.

• Robinson Cano’s Mets career could not have started much better. Facing Scherzer in the first inning, Cano drove a pitch just over the wall in center field for a solo home run. That made Cano the 10th player in Mets history to go deep in his first at-bat with the Mets, and the first since Mike Jacobs did so in his MLB debut on Aug. 21, 2005. Even more impressive was that the homer came on a changeup from Scherzer, who last season threw 548 changeups and gave up just one big fly.

Yankees 7, Orioles 2
• Everyone knows the Yankees have some serious thunder in their bats, and it didn’t take them long to show it. Facing Baltimore’s Andrew Cashner, Aaron Judge ripped a 108.4 mph single, Giancarlo Stanton followed with a 120.6 mph single, and Luke Voit brought them both home with a three-run shot that left the bat at 112.6 mph and traveled a projected distance of 428 feet. Stanton’s single had the fifth-highest exit velocity of any base hit since Statcast began tracking in 2015, and he now has accounted for seven of the eight base hits of at least 120 mph. Judge has the other.

Brewers 5, Cardinals 4
• Yadier Molina was batting fifth for the Cardinals in Milwaukee, marking his 15th consecutive Opening Day start behind the plate. With that, Molina tied Lou Brock (1965-79) for the second-longest streak of Opening Day starts in franchise history, trailing only Stan Musial (18 from 1946-63). Molina also is only the 10th catcher in MLB history to start at least 15 total openers, and he tied Ray Schalk (1913-27 White Sox) for the longest streak by any catcher for one team.

• When Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin took counterpart Miles Mikolas deep in the fifth inning, it was the 23rd time since 1908 that a pitcher homered on Opening Day. Chacin joined Madison Bumgarner (twice in 2017) and Clayton Kershaw (‘13) as active pitchers to accomplish that feat. He is the first Brewers pitcher to do it and the second Milwaukee pitcher, joining Hall of Famer Warren Spahn, who went deep in the 1960 opener for the Milwaukee Braves.

Phillies 10, Braves 4
• Andrew McCutchen got Philadelphia’s season -- and his own Phillies tenure -- off to a flying start with a leadoff homer off Braves starter Julio Teheran. McCutchen’s dinger continues a recent trend of season-opening leadoff blasts; each of the past three Opening Days, including today, have featured at least one leadoff homer. Philadelphia’s Cesar Hernandez took former Reds pitcher Scott Feldman deep to begin the 2017 campaign.

Astros 5, Rays 1

• In Thursday’s second matchup of a Cy Young Award winner (Blake Snell) and runner-up (Justin Verlander) from 2018, it was Tampa Bay who got off to a quick start with Austin Meadows’ leadoff homer off Verlander. Meadows joined McCutchen for Thursday’s second leadoff homer, meaning each of the past three MLB Opening Days have featured at least two games with a leadoff dinger. It was just the ninth time in 420 starts that the venerable Verlander had allowed a homer to begin an outing.

• George Springer had hit a leadoff home run in each of the last two seasons entering 2019. He didn’t go yard in his first at-bat, but he did so in the third inning, extending his streak of consecutive seasons with an Opening Day home run to three. He and Khris Davis both have active streaks of three straight seasons with an opener home run, including 2019. The record is four straight seasons with an Opening Day home run, by Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58).

Twins 2, Indians 0
• Corey Kluber carried a no-hitter into the sixth, but Jose Berrios was even more brilliant for Minnesota with 7 2/3 scoreless innings and two hits allowed. The fourth-year pitcher became the first Twins hurler to throw at least seven shutout frames on Opening Day since Jim Perry on April 7, 1970. Berrios' 10 strikeouts set a franchise record for a season opener since the Twins moved to Minneapolis in 1961.

Dodgers 12, D-backs 5

• The Dodgers went on a slugging spree like few teams in MLB history in this one, crushing eight home runs in eight innings. That total tied a franchise single-game record and set an MLB record for Opening Day, breaking the record of six set by the 1988 Mets and tied by last year’s White Sox. Los Angeles came within one big fly of joining the 1999 Reds as the second NL team to go deep nine times in any game. The first four Dodgers dingers came off Zack Greinke, who allowed at least that many in a single game for just the second time since 2009.

A's 4, Angels 0

• The Angels were shut out on Opening Day for the fourth time in franchise history, losing 4-0 to the A’s, who had already played their Opening Day game last week in Japan. The other times the Angels were shut out on Opening Day were 2016, 2002 and 1968. That 2002 season ended up pretty well for them -- concluding in a World Series title.

Tigers 2, Blue Jays 0

• Detroit’s Jordan Zimmermann already had a no-hitter to his credit when he took the mound in Toronto, having tossed one for the Nationals on the final day of the 2014 season. Zimmermann nearly added an Opening Day no-no to his resume, and in fact took a perfect game through 6 2/3 innings before Teoscar Hernandez broke it up with an infield single. Since Bob Feller became the only pitcher to complete an Opening Day no-hitter in 1940, Zimmermann is just the fifth pitcher to take a bid that deep.

Padres 2, Giants 0

• Fernando Tatis Jr. wasted no time getting in the board with his first Major League hit. Just like his father, Fernando Tatis, did in his MLB debut back in 1997, Tatis Jr. singled in his first trip to the plate. Even more impressive is that the top shortstop prospect was 20 years and 85 days old on Thursday, making him the youngest player to record a hit on Opening Day, in his first career game, since Ken Griffey Jr. for the Mariners in 1989. Tatis bunted for a single in his next chance, joining Bobby Doerr of the 1937 Red Sox as the only players (since 1908) to produce multiple hits on Opening Day in his debut at that young an age.

Cubs 12, Rangers 4

• Javier Baez clubbed home runs in the fourth and fifth innings at Globe Life Park, becoming the first Cubs player to put together a multi-homer effort on Opening Day since Corey Patterson in 2003. Baez is just the seventh Cub to accomplish that, and the fifth shortstop to do so for any team.

Reds 5, Pirates 3
• In his Reds debut, Derek Dietrich got the big hit, with a go-ahead, pinch-hit, three-run homer to break a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning and pave the way for a 5-3 victory. It was the first time a Reds batter came up with a go-ahead, pinch-hit homer to drive in at least three runs since Ryan Hanigan against the Brewers on Sept. 1, 2010.

Rockies 6, Marlins 3
• The Marlins scored their two runs on a pair of pinch-hit solo homers, from JT Riddle and Neil Walker. It was only the third time in franchise history the Marlins got pinch-hit homers from multiple players in the same game, and the first since June 22, 2006.

• The Rockies have hit a home run in 11 straight Opening Day games including this year, the longest such streak in NL history, breaking a tie with the Reds, who did it in 10 straight from 1963-72. It’s tied with the 2002-12 Rangers for the 2nd-longest streak in MLB history. The Yankees have the longest such streak at 14 straight from 1999-2012.

Royals 5, White Sox 3

• Royals shortstop Adalberto Mondesi showed off his wheels as he raced to leg out a pair of triples, with Statcast timing them at 11.10 and 11.08 seconds -- faster than any three-bagger a Royals player hit in 2018. Mondesi became only the ninth player since at least 1908 -- and just the third since 1951 -- to smack two triples on Opening Day. The last to do it was Houston’s Justin Maxwell in 2013, and the Royals’ Tony Pena also tripled twice in ‘07.

Mariners 12, Red Sox 4

• Tim Beckham entered Thursday 0-for-15 in his career against Chris Sale with nine strikeouts. But he went deep against the Red Sox hurler in his first at-bat, and then did so again -- totaling two home runs off Boston’s ace. Beckham is the fifth player to hit multiple home runs in the same game off Sale, joining Josh Donaldson (2017), Miguel Cabrera (‘16), Eric Hosmer (‘16) and Ryan Raburn (‘15).