Reds hit 6 HRs, send Nationals to worst loss, 15-0

CINCINNATI: Three solo homers. A two-run shot. A three-run shot. A pinch-hit grand slam. The Reds did it all, connecting every which way off a pitching staff that has never seen anything like it.
Todd Frazier and Zack Cozart each homered twice, and the Reds hit six in all — including Xavier Paul’s pinch grand slam — while sending the Nationals to a 15-0 defeat Friday night, their first loss of the season and their worst loss since returning to Washington as a team.
“There was something in the air tonight,” Paul said after his first career grand slam. “We were able to put 15 runs on the board, and not many teams have done that against the Nationals.”
The Nationals swept their opening series against Miami by allowing only one run in three games. They were helpless against Cincinnati’s surprisingly powerful offense — nine homers in the last two games, though none by Joey Votto or Jay Bruce.
Everyone else is piling them up.
The series matches the NL’s top two teams from last season. Washington led with 98 wins, followed by the Reds with 97. The teams have a history of close games — four of their last eight had gone to extra innings.
This one quickly turned into a rout in one of the majors’ most homer-friendly ballparks. The Reds had 19 hits, including a single by reliever Manny Parra, and finished with more homers than the Nationals had hits (5).
It was the Nationals’ most lopsided loss since baseball returned to Washington in 2005, topping a 15-1 defeat to Detroit on June 19, 2007, according to STATS LLC. Washington had been the last major league team without a loss this season.
Dodgers 3 Pirates 0: In Los Angeles, Zack Greinke pitched two-hit ball into the seventh inning of his splendid Dodgers debut, leading Los Angeles to a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Andre Ethier homered and Los Angeles got RBI doubles from Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez. Greinke, who signed a $147 million, six-year contract to join the Dodgers during the offseason, struck out six and did not walk a batter in 6 1-3 innings.
Greinke (1-0) was on a limited pitch count after throwing only 13 innings during spring training, but he made his 92 pitches count. He yielded just a two-out single to Garrett Jones in the second inning and a one-out single to Andrew McCutchen in the seventh.
Diamondbacks 3 Brewers 1: In Milwaukee: Wade Miley and Kyle Lohse were locked into a pitching duel through six innings before the Arizona Diamondbacks spoiled Lohse’s debut with Milwaukee by scoring two runs on a wild pitch off reliever Michael Gonzalez in the seventh for a 3-1 win over the Brewers on Friday night.
Lohse allowed five hits and struck out six. Miley gave up five hits and struck out eight, one shy of his career high, as the starters battled almost pitch for pitch.
The Diamondbacks went ahead on a hit, three walks, a sacrifice bunt and Gonzalez’s errant pitch.
Lohse is coming off his best major league season, going 16-3 with a 2.86 ERA in 33 starts with the St. Louis Cardinals last year. He made one start in spring training after signing with the Brewers just before the end of March.
J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his first save.
Braves 4 Cubs 1: Mike Minor pitched into the eighth inning and Justin Upton homered for the third time in four games as host Atlanta won the opener of a three-game series.
Rookie Evan Gattis finished with three hits as the Braves won for the third time in four games. Minor (1-0) allowed five hits and one run in 7 1/3 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Upton connected on his third homer of the season in the first, a line-drive to left center off Chicago starter Scott Feldman (0-1). Feldman allowed four runs on five hits, walked four and struck out one in 4 2/3 innings.
Royals 13 Phillies 4: Alex Gordon hit a bases-loaded triple in the sixth inning and Chris Getz did the same in the seventh as Kansas City rallied from an early four-run deficit to spoil the home opener for Philadelphia.
Gordon ripped the third pitch from reliever Jeremy Horst into the gap in right-center field to give the Royals a 5-4 lead and Getz lined one past a diving Domonic Brown in left with one out in the seventh to make it 9-4 as the Phillies bullpen faltered.
Giants 1 Cardinals 0: Barry Zito tossed seven strong innings and San Francisco won its fifth straight home opener.
Zito (1-0) allowed three hits with four strikeouts, picking up where he left off last season when he shut out the Cardinals for 7 2/3 innings in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. Sergio Romo worked a perfect ninth for his third save.
The Giants scored in the fourth when they loaded the bases after Yadier Molina mishandled Zito’s bunt with one out. Cardinals starter Jake Westbrook (0-1) walked the next batter, Angel Pagan.