Encarnacion's walk-off HR wins first for Baker

When Edwin Encarnacion failed to get down a sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the ninth, freezing while strike two sailed past him, the few thousand fans left in the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati let out another boo.

He's heard that sound a few times already in the young season.

The third baseman collected himself and connected on the next pitch, hitting a 3-run homer that gave the Reds their first win under manager Dusty Baker, 6-5 over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night.

"It doesn't matter how you win 'em," Baker said. "That first one always seems like the toughest one."

Until the ninth, no one had it tougher than Encarnacion.

His wild throw home on a forceout attempt gave the Diamondbacks a pair of unearned runs in the fifth inning. The 14,016 didn't like that one -- Encarnacion's second throwing error of the season was soundly berated.

"I don't know what happened there," said Encarnacion, who has a history of throwing the ball away. "Errors are part of the game. You've just got to keep your head up. I said, 'There's five more innings, and anything can happen.' "

Nothing much happened until the ninth, when the Diamondbacks turned a 5-3 lead over to Brandon Lyon, their new closer. He got the job after Arizona traded Jose Valverde in the off-season.

Valverde led the NL with 47 saves last season. Lyon converted his first chance in the season opener, a 4-2 win on Monday. This time, he didn't even get an out.

Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn opened with singles, bringing up Encarnacion. Many of the fans had already left, figuring there was little chance of a comeback.

With Encarnacion trying to get down his first sacrifice bunt in the majors, Lyon threw a breaking ball that froze him for strike two. Then, he tried to put him away with a fastball.

Bad decision.

"I put myself in a bad situation, and I just couldn't make enough quality pitches to get out of it," Lyon said. "It's a tough loss for us.

"It looks like we should have just let him bunt it. I tried to go away (with the next pitch), but left it over the plate and he went with it."

The ball landed in the lower deck in left field, sending Reds players streaming into semicircle around home plate. Encarnacion was giddily engulfed the moment he arrived.

"Of course he was going to put pressure on himself," Phillips said. "I'm glad it happened the way it did. It's a beautiful thing to see it happen to a young player like Edwin."

Cincinnati's Ken Griffey Jr. remained hitless in two games, leaving him seven homers shy of becoming the sixth player to reach 600.

Nationals 1, Phillies 0: Tim Redding took a 1-hitter into the eighth inning, and Ryan Zimmerman hit a solo homer to help Washington beat host Philadelphia and stay unbeaten.

Redding (1-0) allowed just a single by Pedro Feliz in the second inning and walked three batters in 7 innings. He outpitched Cole Hamels (0-1), who gave up 1 run and 5 hits in 8 innings.

Redding retired 14 straight batters after Feliz grounded a single to center. He walked Ryan Howard in the seventh and left after walking Geoff Jenkins to start the bottom of the eighth.

Luis Ayala came in and retired the next three batters. Jon Rauch pitched a perfect ninth for his first save in two tries. Rauch got the win in the opener after blowing a save while filling in for ailing closer Chad Cordero.

The Nationals are 3-0 for the first time since 2003 when they were the Montreal Expos.

Mets 13, Marlins 0: Ryan Church and David Wright each homered, Carlos Beltran had 3 doubles and New York pounded out 17 hits to beat host Miami.

Church had 3 hits and drove in 3 runs, and every Mets starting position player had at least 1 hit and scored at least once.

Oliver Perez allowed 5 hits over 6 scoreless innings to pick up his a win in his season debut.

Wright's 3-run homer off Lee Gardner capped a 5-run sixth inning.

Andrew Miller took the loss, giving up 5 runs and 8 hits over 4½ innings in his Marlins debut. Miller was acquired from Detroit in the off-season.

Braves 10, Pirates 2: Mark Teixeira hit a 2-run homer, and Yunel Escobar added a 3-run shot in host Atlanta's 7-run eighth inning in a win over Pittburgh.

Jair Jurrjens, acquired in the off-season deal that sent Edgar Renteria to Detroit, got the win. He gave up 7 hits and 2 runs in 5½ innings to help the Braves avoid an 0-3 start. Jurrjens struck out five with only 1 walk.

Jurrjens gave up only 4 hits in 5 scoreless innings before tiring in the sixth. He was pulled after giving up 3 hits in the inning, including Xavier Nady's 2-run double.

Tom Gorzelanny (0-1) gave up 6 hits and 3 runs with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts in 6 innings.

Teixeira was 1-for-13 (.077) before his homer.