Gavin Sheets drove in four runs Monday night and Kyle Hart earned his first major league win as the San Diego Padres opened the season 5-0 for the first time in franchise history with a 7-2 victory over the visiting Cleveland Guardians.
Making his first major league appearance in five years, Hart (1-0) lasted five innings, allowing five hits and two runs with a walk and four strikeouts. Four relievers took care of the rest for San Diego, which has put up a plus-15 run differential in its hot start.
Luis L. Ortiz (0-1) absorbed the loss after allowing seven runs on nine hits in 4 2/3 innings, walking four and fanning two. His biggest problem was Sheets, who touched him for two-run doubles in a four-run second and a three-run fifth.
Ortiz was his worst enemy in the second. After Jackson Merrill led off with a single, Ortiz filled the bases by walking Jake Cronenworth and Xander Bogaerts. Sheets doubled off the right field wall for a 2-1 lead. Jason Heyward followed with a sacrifice fly, and Fernando Tatis Jr. added a two-out RBI single.
In the fifth, Sheets delivered his second two-bagger, a two-out shot that sliced into the left field corner to score Cronenworth and Bogaerts. Heyward capped the rally with his first hit as a Padre, an RBI double off the wall in right-center.
Hart’s only mistakes were a pair of fat pitches over the middle early in the game. Jose Ramirez drilled one into the left field seats in the first for his first homer of the year, and Austin Hedges jacked a solo shot in the third for his first homer.
Cleveland ran itself out of a promising fifth inning. With two on and no outs, Gabriel Arias tried to steal third but Hart stepped off the rubber and threw to Manny Machado for an out. Arias then interfered with Machado’s attempt to double up Hedges at second, helping Hart qualify for the win.
Ramirez collected three of the Guardians’ eight hits, and Carlos Santana had two. Sheets and Machado each bagged three hits for San Diego, and Tatis had two.
