Roy Halladay was nearly flawless for eight innings Thursday and the Philadelphia Phillies showed off their pitching from the start, opening the season with a 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Missing injured stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, the Phillies scored on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Ruiz in the seventh. New closer Jonathan Papelbon pitched a perfect ninth for his first National League save. The Phillies start this season as the favorites to win their sixth straight NL East title. Halladay, a two-time Cy Young winner, gave up just two first-inning singles while striking out five without a walk. Pittsburgh starter Erik Bedard nearly kept pace with Halladay, giving up only one run in seven innings. He struck out four and walked one. Nationals 2, Cubs 1: Stephen Strasburg frustrated Chicago for seven innings before Ian Desmond singled in the go-ahead run in the ninth to give Washington the win. Strasburg allowed one run and five hits, including an RBI single to Marlon Byrd in the fourth. He was lifted in the eighth and Kerry Wood forced in the tying run with three walks. Washington went ahead in the ninth when Chad Tracy hit a two-out double off the right-field wall against Carlos Marmol, and Desmond followed with his third hit. Mets 1, Braves 0: Johan Santana pitched five innings of two-hit ball in his long-awaited return from shoulder surgery and David Wright hit an RBI single to lead New York over Atlanta. New York's revamped bullpen picked up for Santana and shut down the Braves, who fielded an opening-day lineup without Chipper Jones for the first time since 1996. Atlanta was punchless at the plate, managing only four hits. Santana struck out five and wriggled out of a fifth-inning jam in his first big league appearance since beating the Braves 4-2 on Sept. 2, 2010. He had surgery 12 days later. Tommy Hanson allowed one run on four hits in five innings with three walks for Atlanta. Reds 4, Marlins 0: Jay Bruce homered and drove in a pair of runs, and Johnny Cueto dominated in his first opening-day start, leading Cincinnati over Miami. Cueto anchored the Reds' first opening-day shutout since 1980, when Frank Pastore beat Atlanta's Phil Niekro 9-0. The right-hander allowed only three hits over seven innings, and a depleted bullpen finished it off. The crowd of 42,956 was the second-largest at Great American Ball Park. Dodgers 5, Padres 3: The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres even though reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw left after three innings with the flu. Matt Kemp hit a two-run homer in the eighth, giving him three RBIs. Kershaw left after limiting the Padres to two hits through three innings. He struck out three, walked one and singled off newcomer Edinson Volquez in the third for the Dodgers' first hit of the season.
