The Phillies opened their 135th season with a win.
Jeremy Hellickson pitched well. The bullpen pitched well -- at least until the last inning. And the offense collected seven extra-base hits en route to a 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on Monday.
Cesar Hernandez led off the game with a solo home run. Freddy Galvis also homered. Howie Kendrick had three hits in his first game with the club.
The attendance was 43,804 and that was the largest ever at the ballpark for a regular-season game.
Starting pitching report
Hellickson had a nice season debut, scattering six hits and a run over five innings. He walked one and struck out one. He left at 67 pitches after allowing a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth.
Hellickson faced a no-out, bases-loaded jam in the third and allowed just one run.
He did a nice job pitching out of a one-out, base-loaded jam in the fourth.
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Cincinnati right-hander Scott Feldman allowed seven hits and three runs over 4 2/3 innings. All of the runs came in the first two innings on a pair of homers and a double.
Bullpen report
Pete Mackanin went to his bullpen with a 4-1 lead. Joaquin Benoit, Edubray Ramos and Hector Neris combined on three scoreless innings before Jeanmar Gomez gave up a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth to make it a one-run game. Gomez settled down and got the final out for a not-so-pretty save.
At the plate
Hernandez became the first player to lead off a Phillies season with a home run since Heinie Mueller in 1938 and the first in the majors to lead off a game on opening day with a homer since Alfonso Soriano in 2009.
Maikel Franco singled with two outs in the first and scored on a double by newcomer Michael Saunders. Galvis homered in the second inning on the second pitch he saw. Hellickson tripled in the top of the sixth.
All four of the Phillies' runs scored on extra-base hits.
Brock Stassi made his big-league debut as a pinch-hitter in the eighth and drew a five-pitch walk.
Scooter Gennett hit the two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to bring Cincinnati within one run.
Billy Hamilton plated the Reds' first run with a sacrifice fly.
Up next
Tuesday is an off day. The series resumes Wednesday night. Jerad Eickhoff makes his season debut against lefty Brandon Finnegan. Eickhoff led the Phillies' starting staff in starts (33), innings (197 1/3) and ERA (3.65) last season.
