Cardinals 6, @Diamondbacks 1: After three 2-out walks by Jaime Garcia, Edward Mujica got the game’s biggest out, slipping a called strike three past Jason Kubel in the home 6th to preserve a 3-1 lead. The Cards promptly rang the Bell and pulled away. Garcia hasn’t gone past 6 innings in 3 starts against the Snakes, but he’s won them all. Here he allowed just 2 hits by Miguel Montero, including a HR.

• Garcia’s 0.65 HR/9 is 3rd-best among actives with 50+ starts. But contrary to the general pattern, his gopher rate is doubled with men aboard, from 1.1% to 2.4%.
• For 2009-12, Mujica’s strand rate (81 of 107 inherited runners) was 7th-best out of 50 pitchers with at 200+ IP and 80+ IR.
• Kubel has often smiled with bases full: 8 HRs and 7 doubles in 105 PAs.
• Heath Bell got a jump on last year’s pace, retiring 1 of 6 batters and doling out 2 HRs among the first 3, including Pete Kozma. Bell’s 2012 blowup came in his 2nd game.

Giants 3, @Dodgers 0: Not quite Kershavian, perhaps, but Madison Bumgarner answered LA’s ace lead with 8 innings of 2-hit, walk-free work, and plated an insurance run in the 7th.

• Hyun-Jin Ryu’s American debut was a qualified success. The South Korea native allowed 10 hits in 6.1 innings, but all were singles. He fanned 5 with no walks, and induced 3 DPs to keep the game close through the 6th.
• Two errors by the fill-in SS gave the Giants 2 runs in the 7th, but Don Mattingly’s role-playing didn’t help. With men on 3rd and 2nd, 1 out and Bumgarner up, he brought in Ronald Belisario instead of Kenley Jansen, who has almost twice the SO% (41%-21%) and a better strand rate (79%-68%). But since rising from curiosity to Closer last year (and now Eighth-Inning Man), he gets few such chances. Bumgarner got wood on Belisario’s 2-2 pitch, and 2 runs resulted. Jansen’s 3-batter 8th locked up an empty barn.
• Sergio Romo’s save was the 9th out of 11 by closers so far that began with the tying run still in the dugout.

Mariners 7, @Athletics 1: It’s good to be King, but what do you do for an encore? Well, for the 4th straight year, Seattle’s Game-2 starter allowed 1 run in 6+ IP. Hisashi Iwakuma picked up where the departed Jason Vargas left off, stifling the A’s on 2 hits (7 Ks, no walks). The rangy righty with the hesitation wind-up retired his last 11 batters and improved to 9-4, 2.50 since joining the rotation last July.

• Mike Morse has power to all fields. Just 18 of his 72 career HRs were pulled.
• Oakland had 3 hits in each of their first 2 games — a franchise first, and the only MLB club to do that since 1960 (as noted by Abbott @ comment 15). But at least Yoenis got them on the scoreboard. They didn’t have a man in scoring position until the 8th, trailing 6-1, and are 0-5 with RISP in the young season.

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Time was, a manager could sit through a scoreless 9th that never saw the tying run bat. Nowadays, middle-aged men must guard against sedentary lifestyles, so the obligatory 2 pitching changes are really just a way to be heart-healthy.

Now that Holds have gained traction, we should start counting Dives. A Dive occurs when a reliever in a non-save 9th creates a cheap save chance for the closer. Colorado’s Wilton Lopez and Rex Brothers each earned a half-Dive by allowing a hit while getting an out, setting up Rafael Betancourt to “save” a 4-run game with 3 pitches to Rickie Weeks.

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Rangers 7, @Astros 0: SS Marwin Gonzalez, owner of 48 career hits and a .234 average, drove a first-pitch fastball, the 111th offering from Yu Darvish, through the wickets for a clean hit, spoiling Yu’s bid for perfection in the last instant. With 14 Ks, Yu added 3 to his career high, but he still seeks his first complete game.

• Mike Mussina can relate.
• There hasn’t been a no-hitter (individual or team) in the 13 years of Houston’s current park. Roy Oswalt owns the only 1-hitter, with the safety coming in the 1st. Matt Cain “perfected” the ‘Stros last June 13 in SF.
• Texas went 19-6 against their in-state rivals over the past 4 years, including 10-3 in their house.

Orioles 7, @Rays 4: Holding a David Price lead, Jake McGee was one strike from slipping the noose in the 7th. But he grooved the 0-2 to Adam Jones, and his 2-run double put the O’s in front. A walk to Wieters and a Chris Davis uppercut KO’d the southpaw.

• Davis picked up where he left off last September, and now has 8 HRs in his last 8 regular-season games. The lefty socked 33 HRs last year, with very balanced rates.
• McGee was dominant last year, allowing 13 runs in 55 IP, a 1.95 ERA and 0.80 WHIP (3rd in MLB with 50+ IP). Righty batters went 11 for 112 against him (yes, righties), with 44 Ks.
• Jones last year was one of the best 2-strike hitters, 11th in OPS out of 131 players with 250+ 2-strike PAs.

Indians 4, @Blue Jays 1: Justin Masterson rope-a-doped through the first 3 innings, allowing 8 runners but just 1 run. He retired his last 11 batters, and Asdrubal Cabrera Skydomed a 2-run shot off R.A. Dickey for the final margin.

• Masterson wasn’t as sharp as in last year’s opener against the Jays, but kept them 0-4 with RISP, and last year’s bullpen trio of Joe Smith, Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez each worked a scoreless frame. Pestano last year was 2nd in MLB with 36 Holds, and blew just 3 of 41 leads in save situations.

Rockies 7, @Brewers 4 (9th): “By their gopher holes shall ye know them.” A classic Marco Estrada game: 8 Ks, no walks, 2 HRs bringing 3 of the 4 runs against him. Last year, Estrada’s SO/BB ratio was near 5 (143/29 in 138 IP), but he gave 18 HRs, good for 29 of the 62 runs he allowed.

• Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez both went deep for the 2nd straight game. Among Rockies, only Charles Johnson (2004) did it 3 straight to start the year.

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Late Monday:

Mariners 2, @Athletics 0: Two chronically run-starved pitchers tussled. King Felix got the lion cub’s share, but it was enough. Franklin Gutierrez cashed the runs with a single in the 5th, but the secret hero was light-hitting SS Brendan Ryan, who reached in all 3 trips, stole a base, set the table with single to right-center that sent Dustin Ackley first-to-third with 1 out, and smartly snuck into scoring position when they threw for Ackley.

• Hernandez has a 1.33 RA/9 in 6 Opening Day starts, all Seattle wins, 5 of them against Oakland. He’s beaten the A’s more than he has any other club — 14-6, 2.70 in 27 starts. He’s 18-28, 3.91 against the Rangers & Angels.
• Both Hernandez and Brett Anderson are among the percentage leaders in low-run-support starts since 2009 (0-2 runs). But while Felix has battled his 50 games to a 12-24 record and 2.79 RA/9, Anderson is just 1-18, 4.93 in his 25 LRS starts. Brett’s pitched best with big support — 14-0, 2.76 ERA in 20 starts with 6+ runs.
• M’s Opening Day SP leaders: Hernandez, 4-0 in 6 starts; Randy Johnson, 2-0 in 6 starts; nobody else with more than 1 win. Seattle’s 6 O.D. wins behind Felix are twice the total of any other starter.
• Among actives, only Roy Halladay (5) has more Opening Day wins. Johan Santana and Mark Buehrle also have 4.