Means dominant as Orioles top Red Sox 3-0

Baltimore Orioles pitcher John Means delivers a pitch during the third inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park in Boston. (USA TODAY Sports)

John Means allowed one hit over seven impressive innings in his first career Opening Day start and the visiting Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox 3-0 on Friday afternoon at Fenway Park in a delayed season opener for both teams.One day after the teams’ first scheduled game was rained out Thursday, Means (1-0) struck out five and walked none in a strong 97-pitch outing that saw him throw 65 strikes. He kept the Red Sox off-balance by throwing his changeup 30 times and also threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 21 hitters.Ryan Mountcastle hit a two-run double in the sixth and Anthony Santander had an RBI single in the eighth for the Orioles, who also welcomed back Trey Mancini after he missed all of last season recovering from Stage Three colon cancer.Means was in complete command while pitching in a scoreless game for five innings. The only hit he allowed was a leadoff single to Enrique Hernandez, who was subsequently picked off after the Orioles challenged the initial ruling by first base umpire Ron Kulpa.The left-hander retired the final 18 hitters after Xander Bogaerts opened the second inning by reaching on a fielding error by third baseman Maikel Franco. Means was also aided by three standout defensive plays by Rio Ruiz, who made his first career start at second base.Ruiz made over-the-shoulder catches on Rafael Devers in the second and ended the fifth by running out even further into right field to make a similar play on Marwin Gonzalez. Ruiz also made a diving stop on a grounder by Alex Verdugo in the seventh before Means ended his outing by getting JD Martinez and Bogaerts. Baltimore finally scored by stringing together a rally and getting Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi (0-1) out of the game in the sixth.Pedro Severino started the sixth with an infield hit and Eovaldi was pulled after striking out Cedric Mullins. Matt Andriese walked Mancini and Santander reached on Hernandez’s error when a hard grounder went off the second baseman’s glove.Mountcastle then broke the deadlock by lifting a full-count fastball off the Green Monster to make it 2-0. Tanner Scott stranded two in a scoreless eighth by fanning Bobby Dalbec on three pitches. Cesar Valdez allowed a two-out double to Martinez in a scoreless ninth for his first save. Eovaldi started in place of Eduardo Rodriguez (left elbow inflammation) and allowed one run on four hits in 5 1/3 innings.Yermin Mercedes’ first 5 hits help White Sox top AngelsJose Abreu’s grand slam gave the White Sox a lead, but it was a rookie designated hitter who stood out in Chicago’s 12-8 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night in Anaheim.Besides Abreu’s 199th career home run, the White Sox got a home run from shortstop Tim Anderson among their 13 hits. Five of those hits came from DH Yermin Mercedes, who was making his first career major league start. Mercedes knocked in four runs. Mercedes was 0-for-1 with no RBIs in his only previous major league game, last Aug. 2 for Chicago. A five-run ninth for the White Sox opened up a tight game, and it was all set up by the performances of three relievers, who combined to shut down the Angels for 3 2/3 innings in relief of starter Dallas Keuchel.Matt Foster tossed one inning, Michael Kopech (1-0) threw two innings and Evan Marshall got two outs ahead of Liam Hendriks. The Chicago closer got the final four outs for his first save despite giving up a two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani with two outs in the ninth. The Angels took the lead in the first inning against Keuchel, scoring an unearned run with the help of a three-base error on the first baseman Abreu. Ohtani ripped a low liner that got past Abreu and went into the right field corner. It was initially ruled a triple before the official scorer changed the scoring.Mike Trout’s infield single scored Ohtani to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead. Angels starter Andrew Heaney (0-1) retired the first seven batters he faced before the White Sox got a rally going with one out in the third. The highlight of the inning was the two-out grand slam by Abreu, the American League’s reigning MVP.Results:Orioles 3-0 Red SoxWhite Sox 12-8 AngelsRays 6-4 MarlinsDodgers 11-6 RockiesAstros 9-5 A’sGiants 6-3 MarinersPadres 4-2 D’backs