Austin Wells of the New York Yankees celebrates his solo home run in the dugout during the first inning of Thursday’s opening-day game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium. AP photo

NEW YORK (AP) — Austin Wells became the first catcher to hit a leadoff homer on opening day, Anthony Volpe also went deep and the New York Yankees began their AL pennant defense by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2 on Thursday.

Carlos Rodon (1-0), starting because of ace Gerrit Cole’s season-ending elbow injury, allowed one run and four hits in 5 2/3 innings. Rodon got 13 swing and misses, including nine on sliders.

Devin Williams, an All-Star closer acquired from Milwaukee in December, loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth on two hits and a walk. He gave up Brice Turang’s sacrifice fly, then struck out Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich for the save.

Chourio fanned five times, two more than his previous high.

Wells put the Yankees ahead when he sent a 2-0 fastball into the right-field short porch against Freddy Peralta (0-1) — it would not have been out of any other big league ballpark.

Volpe homered in the second, Aaron Judge added an RBI single off third base in the seventh and Cody Bellinger followed with a sacrifice fly that made it 4-1 in his Yankees debut.

ORIOLES 12, BLUE JAYS 2

TORONTO (AP) — Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run home run, extending his major league record by homering for a sixth straight opening day, and Baltimore hit a franchise record six opening day home runs to rout Toronto.

Adley Rutschman and Cedric Mullins both homered twice and Jordan Westburg also connected in Baltimore’s biggest ever opening day power display. The Orioles hit four opening day homers in 1982 and 2006.

O’Neill went 3 for 3, walked twice and scored three times.

Zach Eflin (1-0) allowed two hits in six innings as the Orioles opened a big league season outside the United States for the first time.

Eflin retired the first 10 batters before walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the fourth inning. Two batters later, Andres Gimenez hit a two-run home run, Toronto’s first hit.

Making his fifth opening day start and third with the Blue Jays, Jose Berrios (0-1) allowed six runs and nine hits in five innings.

RED SOX 5, RANGERS 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Wilyer Abreu hit a three-run shot in the ninth inning for his second homer of the opener, powering Boston past Texas.

Abreu had a part in every run for Boston. He singled and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder in the third. He homered in the fifth off Nathan Eovaldi and his game-winner was a 394-foot liner to right-center off new Rangers reliever Luke Jackson.

Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless eighth in his Red Sox debut for the win. Justin Slaten saved it with a perfect ninth.

Garrett Crochet struck out four, walked two and gave up two runs in five innings in his Red Sox debut. The 25-year-old was their youngest left-handed starter on opening day since Babe Ruth in 1918. Crochet started the opener last year for the White Sox, who traded him to Boston in December.

Eovaldi struck out nine without a walk, and allowed two runs in six innings. It was his second opening-day start in a row for Texas after starting three Boston openers from 2020-22.

MARLINS 5, PIRATES 4

MIAMI (AP) — Kyle Stowers hit a run-scoring single in the ninth inning to give Miami a win over Pittsburgh in the debut of Marlins manager Clayton McCullough.

Nick Fortes tripled to lead off the inning against reliever David Bednar (0-1) and Xavier Edwards was intentionally walked. After Edwards stole second, Stowers sent a line drive to right that scored pinch runner Javier Sanoja.

Jesus Tinoco (1-0) pitched the ninth for the win.

The Marlins rallied tied it at 4-all on consecutive run-scoring singles by Otto Lopez and Dane Myers in the eighth.

Pirates starter Paul Skenes, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, struck out seven over 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball. Skenes gave up three hits and walked two.

ASTROS 3, METS 1

HOUSTON (AP) — Framber Valdez pitched seven scoreless innings and Josh Hader struck out Juan Soto with two on to save Houston’s win over New York.

After loading the bases with nobody out in the ninth, Hader fanned backup catcher Hayden Senger in his first major league at-bat. Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1, and there were runners on first and third when Hader struck out Soto swinging at a full-count slider wide of the zone for his 200th career save.

Soto singled and walked twice in his Mets debut after signing a record $765 million, 15-year contract as a free agent this offseason.

Making his fourth straight opening day start, Valdez (1-0) allowed four hits and struck out four.

Converted reliever Clay Holmes (0-1) yielded five hits and three runs — two earned — while walking four in 4 2/3 innings. Pitching on his 32nd birthday in his Mets debut, the former All-Star closer with the Yankees made his first big league start since making four as a rookie with Pittsburgh in 2018.

GUARDIANS 7, ROYALS 4, 10 INNINGS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kyle Manzardo had a two-run double in the 10th inning to tie the club record for most RBIs on opening day and Cleveland defeated Kansas City.

Manzardo joined Tris Speaker (1925) and Leon Wagner (1964) with four RBIs on opening day.

Manzardo also become the third MLB player with a double, triple and homer on opening day, joining Don Baylor (1973), Gee Walker (1937).

Steven Kwan led off the 10th with a run-scoring double. With two outs and Kwan at third, reliever Sam Long intentionally walked Carlos Santana to face Manzardo, who drove in both runners.

Emmanuel Clase took the win and Paul Sewald earned the save.

Vinnie Pasquantino broke the scoreless tie with a three-run homer in the third for Kansas City.

CARDINALS 5, TWINS 3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Lars Nootbaar homered and Sonny Gray pitched five solid innings to help St. Louis to a win over Minnesota.

Nolan Arenado also went deep late in the game for the Cardinals.

Harrison Bader hit a two-run shot for Minnesota against his former team.

Nootbaar slammed a two-run drive off Pablo Lopez in the second inning to stake the Cardinals to a 4-0 lead.

Gray allowed two runs and four hits. He struck out six and threw 49 strikes in his 77-pitch outing. Gray pitched for the Twins from 2022-23.

The Cardinals’ bullpen gave up just one run over four innings. Ryan Helsley earned the save.

DODGERS 5, TIGERS 4

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Snell won his Dodgers debut, Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer and Los Angeles defeated Detroit in its home opener.

Snell (1-0), a two-time Cy Young Award winner who signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason, allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out two and walked four.

Hernández homered off Tarik Skubal (0-1) on his first pitch with two outs in the fifth, putting the Dodgers back in front 4-2. Ohtani reached on a fielder’s choice and Mookie Betts walked to set up Hernández.

Ohtani homered in the seventh, extending the lead to 5-3.

The Dodgers improved to 3-0, having opened the season with a pair of victories over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo this month.

The defending World Series champions and a sellout crowd of 53,595 saw the Commissioner’s Trophy arrive on the field in a blue convertible driven by rapper Ice Cube before the game.

Snell’s wild pitch led to Spencer Torkelson scoring the Tigers’ first run in the fourth.

Snell gave up back-to-back singles to Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene before walking Torkelson to load the bases in the fifth. The Tigers took a 2-1 lead on Manuel Margot’s sacrifice fly.