Opening day highlights: White Sox’ Matt Davidson homers three times vs. Royals

Here are some highlights from baseball’s opening day:

Matt Davidson became the fourth player in major league history to homer three times on opening day, and the White Sox homered six times total against the Kansas City Royals, as they spoiled their A.L. Central rival’s 50th anniversary celebration at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Tim Anderson also homered twice and Jose Abreu went deep for the White Sox, matching the big league record for opening-day homers set by the New York Mets in 1988.

Three of the four players to homer three times on opening day have done so against the Royals.

A shaky zero for Clayton Kershaw: Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw gave up consecutive singles to open the first inning against the San Francisco Giants.

Austin Jackson singled to left center and Joe Panik followed with a single to right field. Kershaw then got Giants newcomer Andrew McCutchen to hit into a double play to shortstop before striking out clean-up hitter Buster Posey to end the inning.

Kershaw had a 0.00 ERA in six spring training starts.

Dodgers go all-out to honor Kirk Gibson: The Dodgers have turned the ceremonial first pitch into an elaborate affair.

George Lopez and Samuel L. Jackson narrated a video recounting Kirk Gibson’s historic pinch-hit, walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.

Rob Lowe, Ashton Kutcher and wife Mila Kunis, Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Arsenio Hall and Oscar De La Hoya were shown mimicking Gibson’s double fist pump as he rounded the bases.

The video ended with retired Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully in his old booth welcoming Gibson back to Dodger Stadium.

Gibson walked through the dugout and on to the field holding the same bat he used back in `88. He took a few swings in the on-deck circle before walking out to home plate, where he took the ball from Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda with Orel Hershiser looking on.

Hershiser urged the crowd to do a double fist pump on the count of three.

Gibson, who has Parkinson’s disease, tossed a strike to Hershiser and then did a double pump.

Felix Hernandez in select company: Felix Hernandez will join select company when he makes his 10th straight opening day start for the Seattle Mariners.

Hernandez will become just the seventh pitcher to make at least 10 straight opening day starts, joining Steve Carlton, Roy Halladay, Walter Johnson, Robin Roberts, Tom Seaver and Jack Morris. Carlton, Johnson and Halladay started 10 straight; Roberts and Seaver started 12 straight; and Morris started 14 straight opening days from 1980 to 1993.

Hernandez has started 11 season openers overall in his career beginning in 2007. The one gap came in 2008 when Erik Bedard started the opener for Seattle.

Justin Verlander sharp for Astros:

Justin Verlander finished his first opening day start for the Houston Astros with six scoreless innings.

Verlander struck out five, walked two and hit a batter while throwing 90 pitches for the World Series champions in their season opener at the Texas Rangers. The big right-hander, who had started nine of the previous 10 openers for Detroit, allowed four singles.

Verlander has a 0.90 ERA in his six regular-season starts since getting traded from the Tigers to the Astros last Aug. 31. He was 5-0 last September, then won four more postseason games, and was the A.L. Championship Series MVP.

Houston led 3-0 when Chris Devenski took over for Verlander at the start of the seventh inning.

Shohei Ohtani singles in first at-bat: Just like that, Shohei Ohtani had his first major league hit.

Ohtani lined a first-pitch single down the right-field line against Oakland’s Kendall Graveman with two outs in the second inning and the Angels ahead 1-0.

The two-way Japanese star is set to pitch for the first time starting Sunday’s series finale against the Athletics.

Giancarlo Stanton wastes no time in Yankees debut: Giancarlo Stanton quickly got into the swing with his new team.

Stanton hit a two-run homer in his first at-bat with the New York Yankees. He connected in the first inning against Toronto lefty J.A. Happ at Rogers Centre. Hit hit another home run in the ninth inning.

Stanton led the majors with 59 homers last year and was the N.L. MVP. Traded to the Yankees in the winter, he batted third in his Yankees debut and was the designated hitter.

After taking a called strike on the first pitch, Stanton lined an opposite-field shot estimated at 426 feet over the wall in right.

Teammate Aaron Judge, who topped the A.L. with 52 homers, raised his arm in the dugout and broke into a smile. In 2016, Judge homered in his big league debut with the Yankees.

Royals celebrate 50 seasons: The Kansas City Royals marked the start of their 50th season with a lengthy celebration that included such franchise luminaries as Bo Jackson and Hall of Fame third baseman George Brett.

The club honored players from every era, highlighting its world championship teams from 1985 and 2015 and paid tribute to the Royals players who passed away last year.

They also honored outfielder Alex Gordon with his latest gold glove.

George Springer goes deep on opening day, again: George Springer led off the season for the World Series champion Houston Astros with his 100th career homer.

Springer, the World Series MVP, hit a 2-0 pitch from Texas Rangers starter Cole Hamels into the right-field seats in Arlington, Texas.

It is the second year in a row that Springer has hit a leadoff homer in the season opener. It is believed to be the first time a player has hit a leadoff home run to open consecutive seasons.