Major League Baseball
Kansas City 4, NY Mets 3
When: 8:37 PM ET, Sunday, April 3, 2016
Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
Temperature: 74°
Umpires: Home - Gerry Davis, 1B - Sam Holbrook, 2B - Rob Drake, 3B - Carlos Torres
Attendance: 40030

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Edinson Volquez came out with a different colored cap than his Kansas City Royals teammates, but the uniform faux pas did not prevent him making from a quality start.

Volquez pitched six scoreless innings, and Eric Hosmer stroked three singles and drove in a run as the Kansas City Royals held off the New York Mets 4-3 in the season opener Sunday night in a rematch of the 2015 World Series.

"I just grabbed the wrong one," Volquez said of his cap. "It had a white KC on it."

He said the umpire said nothing to him about it.

"Nobody did, not even Dave (Eiland, pitching coach)," Volquez said. "I wore it warming up. When I went back in the dugout, they said, 'You have the wrong hat.'"

Volquez, who was the starter for the decisive Game 5 of the World Series, allowed two hits, walked three and struck out five Sunday. Volquez (1-0) threw 62 strikes in 106 pitches.

"I was a little bit inconsistent in my delivery to the plate," he said. "After that, I was able to put the ball where I wanted.

"I'm really glad we won the first game against the Mets. Everybody was talking about the Mets and Kansas City. We faced one of the tough pitchers in baseball tonight, and we won."

Mets right-hander Matt Harvey, who started the final World Series game that Kansas City rallied to win 7-2 in 12 innings, was pulled after 5 2/3 innings and 83 pitches. He yielded four runs (three earned) on eight hits -- all of them singles -- and two walks. Harvey (0-1) struck out three.

"I made some pitches when I had to and I wasn't able to when I really needed to, so that's a disappointment and really frustrating," Harvey said. "It's not the way I wanted to start the season.

"I wish I could go back and change a few pitches here and there. That's not the ideal way to start the season."

The Royals scored a pair of runs in the sixth on four hits to make it 4-0, a cushion they would need. Alex Gordon and Omar Infante contributed run-producing singles. Infante's hit was off Bartolo Colon after Salvador Perez's single sent Harvey to the showers.

"Did he have his A-plus stuff, no, but he still threw the ball very well," Mets manager Terry Collins said of Harvey.

Harvey, who last week dealt with a bladder infection that caused a blood clot, threw only 16 pitches in two innings Wednesday in his final exhibition start. He blanked the Royals for eight innings in Game 5 of the World Series, but Kansas City rallied to tie it in the ninth and win it with a five-run 12th.

The Mets scored three runs in the eighth off Joakim Soria, a former Royals closer who left after the 2012 season and re-signed with Kansas City during December.

Soria retired only two of the seven batters he faced, yielding three hits and two walks. Lucas Duda delivered a two-run single after Soria walked Yoenis Cespedes to load the bases. Michael Conforto's RBI single pulled the Mets within one and finished Soria's outing.

Luke Hochevar was summoned to face Asdrubal Cabrera, and he struck out the New York shortstop to end the inning.

Wade Davis gave up a walk and a single in the ninth, but he struck out David Wright looking and Cespedes swinging to end the game with runners on first and third to preserve the lead and pick up a save.

"That's the last thing you want to do is get behind a guy with three plus pitches is get behind 0-2, and that's something I did," Wright said. "That second strike. I got a pitch to hit. That's one I want to put in play, cutter, middle out a little bit. I put a good swing on it and just fouled it straight back. You want to barrel it up instead of fouling it back."

Conforto doubled, singled and walked twice. The previous Met to reach base four times in the opener was Xavier Nady in 2006.

Infante went 2-for-3 for the Royals.

The Mets' defense, which betrayed the team in the 2015 World Series, gifted the Royals an unearned run in the first inning when Cespedes dropped Mike Moustakas' fly ball to left field after one out. Moustakas took second on a passed ball charged to catcher Travis d'Arnaud, matching his passed-ball total for last season.

"That was shocking as anything, a Gold Glove out there," Collins said of Cespedes dropping the fly ball. "It surprised everybody. They've been to two World Series in a row. You can't give them too many opportunities. They are tough to beat. You can't give them runs."

After Lorenzo Cain walked on five pitches, Hosmer's ground-ball single to left field scored Moustakas. Harvey avoided further damage by inducing Kendrys Morales to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

The Royals made it 2-0 in the fourth, which Cain and Hosmer began with singles. Morales' sacrifice fly to center fielder Juan Lagares scored Cain.

"It's a good way to start the season off," Hosmer said. "There was a lot of energy out there. It was a great atmosphere to play in. It was fun to play in front of the fans of Kansas City again. The crowd was unbelievable."

Hosmer said it felt like a continuation of the World Series.

"Definitely, especially with the way the game ended," Hosmer said. "It kept everybody glued into it and it went down to the wire. This was just a great treat for baseball fans to have these two teams go and to start off the new season. Tonight was fun to watch and fun to be a part of."

NOTES: The Mets' lineup included three players who did not start in the 2015 World Series Game 5: 2B Neil Walker, SS Asdrubal Cabrera and CF Juan Lagares. Michael Conforto was the starting left fielder for the final game of the World Series. ... The Royals' lineup included three different starters: DH Kendrys Morales, 2B Omar Infante and RF Reymond Fuentes. ... Both teams lost their second basemen to free agency. Daniel Murphy left the Mets to sign with the Washington Nationals, while Ben Zobrist departed the Royals to sign with the Chicago Cubs. ... RHP Jacob deGrom joined the Mets on Sunday, but he expects to head back to Florida this week with his wife, Stacey, due with the couple's first child Tuesday. He is scheduled to start the Friday home opener against the Phillies. ... Royals RHP Ian Kennedy, who was scheduled to start the second game Tuesday, has been pushed back because of a hamstring strain. RHP Chris Young will replace him. The Mets will counter with RHP Noah Syndergaard.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
NY Mets   Kansas City
Matt Harvey Player Edinson Volquez
Loss W/L Win
5.2 IP 6.0
2 Strikeouts 5
8 Hits 2
4.76 ERA 0.00
Hitting
NY Mets   Kansas City
Michael Conforto Player Eric Hosmer
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 1
0 HR 0
3 TB 3
1.000 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
NY Mets 7 0 8 .212 17 9 3 6 0 1
Kansas City 9 0 9 .300 10 3 4 2 1 0