This has to be a record for the most number of walk-off wins in the opening weekend of an MLB season. Some teams haven’t even finished playing their season-opening series, and we’ve already witnessed a half-dozen walk-offs. The Blue Jays became the first team since the 2014 Tigers and Pirates to win their first two games in walk-off fashion, while the Red Sox found themselves on the wrong side of an extra-innings walk-off.
Toronto Blue Jays (2-0) 8, Athletics (0-2) 7
Less than 24 hours after walking off the A’s on Opening Day, the Blue Jays repeated the feat in extra innings. The co-aces in the Toronto rotation look like they could form a monstrous duo, Dylan Cease following Kevin Gausman’s six innings of one-run ball with 11 strikeouts in his own gem — 5.1 innings allowing a run on three hits and two walks with a dozen strikeouts. That lone run came in his final inning of work, Nick Kurtz drawing a leadoff walk and scoring on a Tyler Soderstrom double.
Toronto opened the scoring in the third on an RBI double from George Springer after Myles Straw and Andrés Giménez opened the frame with a pair of singles. They reclaimed their lead in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single from Daulton Varsho. However, the Athletics came roaring back by scoring five in the seventh, the first on an RBI single from Denzel Clarke and the other four on a grand slam by Shea Langeliers to give the catcher a home run in each of the first two games of the season.
To their credit, Toronto steadily chipped into that lead, scoring one in the seventh on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. RBI single and two in the eighth on back-to-back RBI singles from Jesús Sánchez and Giménez before Alejandro Kirk sent the game to extras with a game-tying home run in the ninth. Both teams traded runs in the tenth, setting up Ernie Clement to win the game in the bottom of the 11th with a walk-off RBI single.
Cincinnati Reds (1-1) 6, Boston Red Sox (1-1) 5
Boston acquired Sonny Gray from the Cardinals over the offseason, and he got knocked around a bit in his Red Sox debut, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in four innings. Cincinnati scored two in the first on a Sal Stewart RBI single and an error from Gray on an Eugenio Suárez grounder, one in the second on a Matt McClain RBI double after KeBryan Hayes reached on a Trevor Story throwing error, and another in the third on a Stewart solo shot.
The Red Sox kept within touching distance scoring one in the third on a Story solo home run and two in the fourth on three straight two-out singles from Carlos Narváez, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Roman Anthony and a wild pitch by Brady Singer. Elly De La Cruz restored the Reds’ two-run cushion with a solo blast in the fifth, but Wilyer Abreu cut the deficit to one with an RBI double in the seventh before sending the game to extras with a solo home run in the ninth.
Neither team scored in the tenth, and with the Red Sox having already burned their two highest leverage relievers in Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock, the Reds had the upper hand facing reliever Justin Slaten in the 11th. McClain drew a leadoff walk, and though De La Cruz struck out, Dane Myers won the game with a walk-off single to left.
Houston Astros (1-2) 11, Los Angeles Angels (1-2) 9
The Astros found themselves on the brink of being swept by the Angels — projected to be one of the two worst teams in the AL — before an eight-run sixth truly kicked their season into gear. Los Angeles looked well on course for a season-opening sweep, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead against Astros starter Cristian Javier while Angels starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter-again Reid Detmers struck out nine in 4.2 innings. The Angels’ first three runs came via the long ball — a solo shot from Oswald Peraza in the third and a two-run shot by Jorge Soler in the fourth — before scoring three in the fifth on a Mike Trout RBI single, Nolan Schanuel double-play, and a wild pitch.
However, the Astros responded by scoring eleven unanswered between the fifth and sixth. Isaac Paredes and Carlos Correa cut the deficit in half in the fifth with a two-run double and RBI single, respectively. Houston then sent 12 batters to the plate in the sixth, scoring eight runs on four singles, a double, four walks, a pair of costly throwing errors, and a wild pitch.
Just when it seemed like the squandering of their six-run lead had left them completely deflated, the Angels fought back valiantly in the ninth. Zach Neto and Trout drew a pair of two-out walks to set up a three-run blast by Schanuel that reduced the arrears to two, but Soler struck out to end the game.
San Diego Padres (1-2) 3, Detroit Tigers (2-1) 0
Old friend Randy Vásquez — one of the many pieces sent to San Diego in the Juan Soto trade — had himself a day to avoid the sweep in the season-opening series. He tossed six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks against eight strikeouts. The only real threat came in the first, the Tigers putting runners on second and third after a Gleyber Torres walk and Colt Keith double with one out, but Torres was thrown out at the plate on a Riley Greene groundball.
Seattle scored a pair in the third, Freddy Fermin, Jake Cronenworth, and Fernando Tatis Jr. cracking three straight two-out singles. Tatis’ hit plated Fermin and advanced Cronenworth to third, who would then score on a Torres fielding error on a Tatis steal of second. Their final run came in the fifth, Jack Flaherty issuing three straight one-out walks to load the bases, a Jackson Merrill RBI groundout closing the scoring of their 3-0 win.
Cleveland Guardians (2-1) 6, Seattle Mariners (1-2) 5
Bryan Woo emerged as one of the top young starters in the game last year, positioning himself as one of the favorites in the AL Cy Young race. He opened his campaign with with six innings of two-run ball, allowing four hits and a walk with nine strikeouts. Cleveland rookie Chase DeLauter continued his absurd streak with his fourth home run in his first three career games, this one the most important as it won the game in extra innings.
Seattle got on the board first, scoring one in the second on a Victor Robles RBI double and one in the fourth on a wild pitch from Cleveland starter Joey Cantillo. Woo’s effectiveness waned once he faced the third-time-through penalty, giving up both his runs in the sixth on a José Ramírez RBI double and Kyle Manzardo RBI single. The Guardians grabbed their first lead in the seventh, CJ Kayfus and Brayan Rocchio drawing a pair of two-out walks to set up a Steven Kwan RBI single. This allowed them to hand the ball to their closer and the most valuable reliever in baseball in each of the last two seasons, but Cam Smith coughed up the lead surrendering a leadoff double to Cole Young and a two-out, game-tying RBI single to Julio Rodríguez on a 1-2 pitch to send the game to extras.
Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz entered for the tenth only to ruin the hard work of the previous half inning. Kwan laid down a sac bunt to advance the automatic runner to third, but an errant throw from offseason trade acquisition Brendan Donovan allowed Rocchio to score from second. That brought DeLauter to the plate, and the rookie crushed a 2-2 four-seamer to left for what looked like the game winning blast.
However, Seattle would not go down without a fight, Luke Raley demolishing a one-out, two-run home run to center off Connor Brogdon to make it a one-run game. However, Brogdon struck out the final two batters to lock down the save in this 6-5 thriller.