SAN FRANCISCO: Hunter Pence crushed a three-run homer in the first inning and host San Francisco snapped Colorado’s five-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory in their matchup Monday.
Madison Bumgarner (2-0) gave up two runs while throwing 104 pitches in 5 2/3 innings for the Giants, who ended a two-game losing streak. Sergio Romo worked around Josh Rutledge’s lead-off double in the ninth for his fourth save. Carlos Gonzalez cut the deficit to 3-1 when he blasted a solo homer into McCovey Cove in the third inning. The Rockies pulled within a run in the sixth on Chris Nelson’s RBI single off Bumgarner while San Francisco added an insurance run in the eighth.
Pirates 5 Diamondbacks 3: Garrett Jones hit a solo homer as visiting Pittsburgh ended a four-game losing streak with its biggest offensive outburst of the season.
Jones hit the second home run of the season for the Pirates in the eighth inning to give his team a 5-3 lead, and relievers Justin Wilson, Mark Melancon and Jason Grilli retired the last 15 batters in order. The victory also snapped Arizona’s four-game winning streak.
Brewers 7 Cubs 4: Marco Estrada worked seven solid innings and Martin Maldonado drove in three as visiting Milwaukee snapped a five-game losing streak in the opener of a three-game series from Chicago.
Estrada (1-0) allowed a pair of runs and helped himself with an RBI double in the seventh. Ryan Braun (neck spasms) returned after a three-game absence and went 3-for-4 with an RBI for the Brewers.
Welington Castillo hit a two-run homer and Nate Schierholtz had two hits and an RBI for Chicago, which pushed across two runs in the ninth and had the bases loaded with one out before Jim Henderson escaped the jam to earn the save and send the Cubs to their fourth straight defeat.
Mets 7 Phillies 2: John Buck stayed hot with a three-run homer and Matt Harvey allowed one run in seven innings to lift visiting New York in the opener of a three-game series.
Buck went deep for the third time this season to make it 3-0 in the second and lift his National League-leading RBI total to 12. Lucas Duda had an RBI single in the third and the Mets collected three more runs in the fifth to chase struggling Roy Halladay (0-2).
Halladay was charged with seven runs in four-plus innings. He has been reached for 12 runs in 7 1/3 innings this season.
Reds 13 Cardinals 4: Brandon Phillips homered and doubled and visiting Cincinnati broke a 4-4 tie with nine runs in the ninth inning to win the opener of the three-game series against its Central Division rival.
Phillips drove in the go-ahead run with a one-out double in the ninth inning off reliever Mitchell Boggs (0-1). Choo Shin-soo delivered a three-run double in the ninth to make it 12-4.
St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia allowed three runs and six hits in 6 2/3 innings while matching his career high with 10 strikeouts.
Braves 2 Marlins 0: Justin Upton continued his scorching start by going 4-for-4 and belting his major league-leading sixth homer as Atlanta spoiled Miami’s home opener.
The Braves held the punchless Marlins to two hits, winning for the sixth time in seven games. Paul Maholm (2-0) gave up Placido Polanco’s single to center with two outs in the third but nothing else in seven sparkling innings.
Miami dropped to 1-6 on the season and has been shut out three times.
