Opening Day on March 28 – the earliest opening day in MLB history excluding international openers – saw a pitchers′ duel before a sell-out crowd at Nationals Park between the starters who had won the last three Cy Young Awards: the New York Mets′ Jacob deGrom, who won it in , and Washington's Max Scherzer, who won it in as well as and and was the runner-up for it in 2018.Doughtery, Jesse, "Nationals can't deliver what they promised in 2–0 Opening Day loss to Mets," washingtonpost.com, March 28, 2019, 4:07 p.m. EDT Retrieved March 28, 2019 DeGrom threw 93 pitches over six scoreless innings, 59 of them for strikes, scattering a double, four singles, and a walk, while striking out 10. The Nationals threatened only twice against him. In the bottom of the third inning with New York leading 1–0, center fielder Víctor Robles led off with a double – the Nationals′ only extra-base hit of the game – and advanced to third with no outs when right fielder Adam Eaton singled, but after shortstop Trea Turner struck out, Robles was too far off third when third baseman Anthony Rendon hit a chopper to third. The Mets forced Eaton out at second and Robles was caught in a rundown between third and home, resulting in an inning-ending double play. In the bottom of the sixth, shortstop Trea Turner led off with a single, stole second, and then stole third with one out – giving him three stolen bases for the game, making him only the seventh player in MLB history to steal three bases on Opening Day and the first to do so since The last MLB player before Trea Turner to steal three bases on Opening Day was Emilio Bonifacio, who did it for the Florida Marlins in 2009. (See ) – but left fielder Juan Soto struck out and first baseman Ryan Zimmerman popped out, stranding Turner at third. The Nats never threatened again against either deGrom or the Mets′ bullpen; Mets reliever Seth Lugo struck out the side in the top of the seventh and Jeurys Familia and Edwin Díaz pitched scoreless innings in the eighth and ninth as Mets pitchers combined to strike out 14 Nats.
