Phillies, Yankees lose; Mets win

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 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Andrew McCutchen singled home pinch-runner Josh Harrison with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.

McCutchen finished with three hits, none bigger than his smash off the center-field wall against reliever David Herndon (0-1), allowing Harrison to waltz home from third.

Joel Hanrahan (1-0) pitched a perfect ninth for Pittsburgh, which beat the five-time defending NL East champions in its final at-bat for the second time in less than 24 hours. The Pirates won 2-1 in 10 innings Saturday.

Pedro Alvarez homered and Casey McGehee hit two doubles for the Pirates. Hunter Pence hit his first home run of the season and drove in two runs for Philadelphia.

Mets 7, Braves 5
NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathon Niese took a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his first start since signing a rich contract and the New York Mets completed a season-opening sweep of the Atlanta Braves with a 7-5 victory Sunday.

Niese (1-0) allowed just two balls out of the infield through six innings and retired 15 in a row before walking Dan Uggla on a nine-pitch at-bat leading off the seventh. On the next pitch, Niese’s 98th of the game, Freddie Freeman singled cleanly to right. New York has played 7,971 games in its 51-season history and is the oldest team in the majors without a no-hitter, startling for a club that produced stellar pitchers such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Dwight Gooden. San Diego (6,846) is the only other big league team without one.

Rays 3, Yankees 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jeremy Hellickson came within one out of a three-hit shutout on his birthday and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 3-0 Sunday to complete a season-opening sweep and match the best start in club history.

Carlos Pena and Jeff Keppinger homered for Tampa Bay, which also started with three consecutive wins in 2002.

The Yankees are 0-3 for the first time since 1998, when they went on to win 114 games and the World Series. Celebrating his 25th birthday, Hellickson (1-0) limited the Yankees to doubles by Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez. The 2011 AL Rookie of the Year walked four, struck out four and was one out from his third career complete game and second shutout when he was replaced by Fernando Rodney.