Right on time, late as always…

Phillies 14, @Rangers 10 — Tanner Scheppers (7 runs in 4 IP) didn’t take the loss in his starting debut, but he did match the Texas Opening Day low with a 17 Game Score. At least he’s in good company: Fergie Jenkins and Charlie Hough beat him to that mark. And Scheppers scored better than winning pitcher Cliff Lee (8 R, 5 IP, 13 GSc). Lee’s ERA is 13.50 in two openers, both at Texas, and 8.35 in eight visiting starts there.

• The last Phillie to win with GSc 13 or less was in 1929.
• Cody Asche scored 4 runs, a Phillies O.D. record since at least 1914. And he was batting 8th.
• Adrian Beltre stroked double #496. A healthy season would leave 4th in doubles and XBH among all third basemen, and as high as 3rd in total bases, currently held by one Mike Schmidt. In three years at his established pace, Beltre would pass George Brett as #1 in total bases. Yeah, those are just counting stats — but they’re a lot of counting stats.
• Nice: Tony Gwynn, Jr. started in LF for the Phils, then gave way to John Mayberry, Jr.

As widely noted, Jimmy Rollins tied Cal Ripken’s shortstop standard with his 14th straight Opening Day start for one team. Here are the searchable leaders at all positions, for one team and overall (no second listing means the first one covers both):

• P — 12, Robin Roberts, 1950-61
  ………. 14, Tom Seaver, 1968-81
• C — 14, Bill Dickey, 1930-43 (streak ended by Navy service)
  ………. 20, Ivan Rodriguez, 1992-2011
• 1B — 17, Joe Judge, Senators, 1916-32
  ………. 19, Joe Judge, 1916-34
• 2B — 17, Lou Whitaker, 1978-94
  ………. 20, Joe Morgan, 1965-84
• SS — 14, Cal Ripken (1983-96) and Jimmy Rollins (2001-14)
  (Pee Wee Reese had a 14-year streak split up by military service)
  ………. 18, Luis Aparicio, 1956-73
• 3B — 20, Brooks Robinson, 1957-76
• LF — 13, Lou Brock, 1967-79
  ………. 17, Barry Bonds, 1988-2004
• CF — 19, Willie Mays, 1954-72
• RF — 15, Roberto Clemente, 1958-72
• DH — 10, Edgar Martinez, 1995-2004
  ………. 12, Don Baylor, 1977-88

(Opening Day wasn’t too kind to Baylor this year. I doubt there’s any precedent, but it can’t be a good omen for the Haloes when their new batting coach breaks a leg catching the ceremonial first pitch. Wishing a speedy recovery to a baseball lifer whose 285 steals are the record for a career DH, more than the next three men combined.)

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Mariners 10, @Angels 3 — Seattle rallied from a 3-1 hole to bring a 4-3 lead into the 9th, then trod the dish six times after the first two men struck out. That frame featured a team cycle, in order of hit frequency — single, double, homer, triple — and ended as it started, with a Mike Zunino whiff. King Felix suffered Mike Trout’s 2-run laser in the 1st, but settled in to swish 11 Angels, walking one over six stanzas.

• Of 33 who’ve faced Felix 40 times or more, Trout has the best BA and OPS (.390, 1.083).
• Zunino fanned four times, but had the top WPA event, a tying triple in the 7th.
• Five runs charged to Kevin Jepsen gave him a 4.53 career ERA, worst among active pure relievers with 200 IP.

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@Pirates 1, Cubs 0 (10 inn.) — Native son Neil Walker led off the 10th by fouling off two full-count pitches, then launched the first game-ending HR in 14 home openers at PNC Park. It’s the 8th 1-0 Opening Day in extra time since 1914, 10th extra-inning shutout. Pittsburgh’s last was 1965, when Bob Bailey began the 10th with a HR off starter Juan Marichal, and Bob Veale tossed a 10-K 3-hitter. Francisco Liriano fanned 10 in 6 IP today, just the 4th double-digit effort in a Bucs opener.

• Chicago’s new leadoff man, Emilio Bonifacio, had 4 hits, a double and a steal, but was thrown out at home on a grounder in the 8th and picked off first base in the 10th.
• Jeff Samardzija bunted into a 1-5-3 DP with 2 on and no outs in the 5th; he had 19 sacs in 23 prior attempts.

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@Tigers 4, Royals 3 — Alex Gonzalez turned the MoTown frowns around in his Detroit debut, atoning for a costly error with a tying triple in the 7th and a walk-off knock in the 9th.

• Salvador Perez went 4-for-4, with two doubles and a single off his favorite foe, Justin Verlander; he’s 11-24 with 10 RBI against the two-time Cy Young winner.
• Perez has a .304 career BA with in almost 1,000 PAs. Can you name the seven modern catchers who hit .300+ in at least 3,000 trips?

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Cardinals 1, @Reds 0 — No flying start for Billy Hamilton: he fanned in all four trips against Adam Wainwright, his first oh-fer in the starting lineup. (And no dropped third strikes by Yadier Molina just to make things interesting.) But Billy’s not the first to have trouble with that curve.

• Cincinnati’s last home O.D. blanking was the first game ever played by the Milwaukee Braves.

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@Orioles 2, Red Sox 1 — That’s one-and-oh in 1-run games for Bal’mer, in case you’re still counting. New Bird Nelson Cruz brought fans back to their feet after the stretch with a first-pitch tiebreaking blast. A sputtering start to Boston’s title defense: they put men aboard in every frame but one, yet scored only on Grady Sizemore’s homer, his first hit since 2011. Jackie Bradley, Jr. lost the CF job to Sizemore but yo-yoed back onto on the roster when Shane Victorino hit the D.L.; the rook got one at-bat, taking three strikes to end the game with the tying run on 2nd.

• The O’s are 14-4 on Opening Day in Camden Yards, 3-0 with Boston as their foe.
• This was one of three 2014 openers wherein both teams went hitless with RISP.

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@Marlins 10, Rockies 1 — Marcel Ozuna got the first shot at a cycle, needing a triple in his last at-bat (in last year’s best three-base park), but no luck.

• Jose Fernandez is the 12th and youngest Cuban native to pitch an opener. Pedro Ramos had the only scoreless stint among those 33 starts, skunking the ’61 Yanks; he won all three of his O.D. nods.
• Last year’s Fish tallied but once in their first three games.

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Indians 2, @Athletics 0 — After the starters shone, two relocated closers wobbled, but John Axford survived two walks by whiffing Nick Punto to seal his first save since 2012. Scoreless to the 9th, when Jim Johnson’s A’s debut went quickly off the tracks (walk, single, HBP); tagged for 2 runs, he didn’t last the inning, retiring just one of five he faced.

• No last-minute change of heart: Carlos Santana manned the hot corner for the first time ever, but handled just a pop-up.
• Oakland’s lost 10 straight openers, 7 of those at home, the last two by this same score.

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Giants 9, @D-backs 8 — Down 7-3 in the 7th, San Fran rallied with five straight 2-out hits and tied on Hunter Pence’s sacks-full stroll. Buster Posey’s bash put the Jints up two in the 9th; ‘Zona got the leveler to second with one away (HR, bunt hit, sac), but A.J. Pollock’s pop-up capped his 4-K oh-for-six and left the Snakes at 0-3 for the first time since their sophomore season.

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The more things change….

• Braves blanked in Brewtown. They were 2nd in MLB with 17 shutout losses last year, four of them in April.
• Jose Reyes led off the game, then hobbled to the D.L.
• Cubs went 0-11 with RISP; their .218 last year was dead last in MLB.
• Jeff Samardzija notched his second straight spotless O.D. outing in PNC Park. Last year, he became the first Cub since 1974 to go 7+ IP on Opening Day and not allow a run.
• Nats backstop Wilson Ramos left with a hand injury, damage to be determined. After a strong rookie year of 113 games in 2011, he’s played less than that in the last two years combined.
• The Mets’ bullpen blew the lead twice in the late innings, then really blew up in the 10th. And suddenly, signing Papa Grande looks like their best offseason move.
• Jose Fernandez allowed a run in 6 innings, 9 Ks, no walks. In 19 starts since last June 1, Jose is 11-3 with a 1.50 ERA and 0.86 WHIP. In his career, Miami’s 19-10 in his starts, 44-90 in other games.

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Four pitchers debuted Monday, all scoreless relief stints (4 IP, no walks). Atlanta’s Gus Schlosser got 5 outs from 4 batters; he’s been a successful starter in the minors, and could be in line for rotation duty, given all their injuries.

Jose Abreu’s the only debutante to hit so far, going 4-1-2-1 with a double (and no whiffs) in the White Sox’ win. The last to start at cleanup in his big-league bow was … Barbaro Canizares?

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Best Mets news was Juan Lagares going 4-3-2-1 with a bomb and a base on balls. He’s a sublime center fielder who just needs a little bump in last year’s batting to merit full-time play. Say, here’s a rookie with the same value pattern at the same age as Lagares. (Mets fans gotta dream!)

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This year is the 40th anniversary of Mike Marshall’s record-setting season of 106 games and 208.1 innings in relief. Both seem among the sturdiest of post-WWII pitching records: Runner-up marks are 94 games (11% short) and 167.2 relief IP (19% shy). Since 1987, no one’s logged 130 relief innings in a season; this century’s high is 106.1 IP.