Lopes Is Off to Better Start Than Griffey

Thanks to Milwaukee’s bullpen, Davey Lopes got his first win as a manager while Ken Griffey Jr. remained hitless in Cincinnati.

The Brewers’ relievers were sensational from start to finish of a 5-1 victory Tuesday night, holding the Reds to four hits in the makeup of their season opener.

Jeromy Burnitz did a pretty fair Griffey imitation, hitting a pair of solo homers off left-handers Denny Neagle and Hector Mercado.

But Lopes had the game ball and the dugout scorecard resting on his desk afterward because of his relievers, who shut down Junior and everyone else the Reds sent to the plate.

“I feel confident that we have a strong bullpen,” Lopes said. “We’ve just got to get those guys confident, to believe in themselves and go out and do the job.”

Milwaukee’s staff has done the job against Griffey, who has yet to get the ball out of the infield in six at-bats.

There are distractions. Flashbulbs went off every time he came to bat as 16,761 chilled fans hoped to see his first hometown homer.

Milwaukee reliever Valerio De Los Santos got his first major league start in the makeup of Monday’s opener, which was called as a 3-3 tie because of rain. The left-hander gave up only two hits, including Dmitri Young’s solo homer, over five innings before leaving because of a blister.

Arizona 6, Philadelphia 4--Randy Johnson struck out 10 in 8 2/3 innings and the Diamondbacks opened defense of their National League West title by beating the Phillies at Phoenix.

Johnson (1-0) gave up four hits, including home runs by Scott Rolen and Desi Relaford, and left with a 6-2 lead.

Manager Buck Showalter replaced Johnson after he struck out Rico Brogna. Johnson’s pitch count had reached 133, thanks to Mike Lieberthal’s tough at-bat to lead off the inning, when Johnson had to throw 11 pitches before getting him to line out.

Colorado 5, Atlanta 3--Jeff Cirillo had three doubles to help the Rockies win at Atlanta. A broken-bat double did the most damage, coming in the seventh inning off John Burkett and driving in three runs.

Cirillo also made several nice plays at third base as Manager Buddy Bell got his first victory with the Rockies.

Bobby Bonilla, subbing for an ailing Brian Jordan, hit a two-run homer off Colorado starter Rolando Arrojo in the fourth inning.

Houston 5, Pittsburgh 2--Richard Hidalgo, back after missing the final two months of last season with a knee injury, hit a grand slam and drove in all of the Astros’ runs in rain-delayed opening night at Pittsburgh.

Shane Reynolds (1-0), reluctantly making his fifth consecutive opening day start for the three-time defending National League Central champion Astros, pitched seven effective innings to outduel Schmidt, whose 1.16 earned-run average led all major league starters during spring training.

San Francisco 3, Florida 0--The Giants’ Russ Ortiz made the Marlins look much more like, well, the Marlins by shutting them down at Miami. A night after totaling 12 hits and six runs in front of a sellout crowd, Florida managed just four hits off Ortiz.

“That was awesome,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said. “That’s what you want from your starters.”

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BESTS OF THE DAY

BATTING

* RICHARD HIDALGO, Houston: 3 for 4, grand slam, 5 RBIs in 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh.

* JEFF CIRILLO, Colorado: 3 for 5, 3 doubles, 3 RBIs in 5-3 victory over Atlanta.

* JEROMY BURNITZ, Milwaukee: 2 for 3, 2 homers in 5-1 victory over Cincinnati.

PITCHING

* SHANE REYNOLDS, Houston: 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs in 5-2 victory over Pittsburgh.

* VALERIO DE LOS SANTOS, Milwaukee: 5 innings, 2 hits, 1 run in 5-1 victory over Cincinnati.

* RUSS ORTIZ, San Francisco: 8 innings, 4 hits in 3-0 victory over Florida.