ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Mitchell Boggs watched TV with his wife and played with the dog, anything to get his mind off an inept outing in the St. Louis Cardinals’ home opener. It can’t be understated how happy the right-hander was to get right back on the mound.

A day after the stand-in closer was the goat of the Reds’ nine-run ninth inning, Boggs retired Cincinnati in order to close out a 5-1 victory Tuesday night.

“Anybody who’s gone through it knows how important it is to get back out there quick,” Boggs said. “It was a big outing for me, I’m not going to dance around it. I’m not going to act like I didn’t care.”

Before the game, Boggs found out the Cardinals might need a long-term solution in the ninth inning. They’ll decide at the beginning of May whether closer Jason Motte, who has a strained right elbow, will require reconstructive surgery.

Motte is optimistic after a second MRI exam Tuesday showed some improvement.

“I’m not doing anything more to hurt it, so it’s kind of out of my hands, honestly,” Motte said. “We’re doing everything we can to get it better.”

Cardinals rookie Trevor Rosenthal also had a strong outing, allowing a hit in the eighth one night after giving up the tying run.

“I know Mitchell was especially eager to get back on the mound, and I think it worked out well,” manager Mike Matheny said. “He and Trevor both threw the ball exceptionally well.”

Lance Lynn struck out 10 in six sharp innings and rookie Matt Adams connected for his first career pinch-hit homer off a slow curveball from Bronson Arroyo.

“He was throwing the majority off-speed the whole game and with the tying run at third I had a pretty good idea I was going to get an off-speed pitch sometime during that at-bat,” Adams said. “You don’t want to roll over it and not get the job done.”

Brandon Phillips had a sacrifice fly and Choo Shin-soo had two hits for Cincinnati. The Reds were held to five hits, ending a run of four consecutive games with double-figure hit totals. Choo has four straight two-hit games.

Cabrera leads Tigers

DETROIT (AP) ― A week into the new year, Miguel Cabrera is already in midseason form.

The reigning AL MVP hit his first homer and drove in four runs, left fielder Don Kelly made a home run-robbing catch and the Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-3 Tuesday.

Cabrera, coming off his Triple Crown season, had four hits and scored three times.

“He’s the best right-handed hitter I’ve ever seen,” Tigers newcomer Torii Hunter said. “I’ve only been here 15-16 years in the major leagues, but I tell you, this guy’s probably one of the best right-handed hitters I’ve ever seen. (Albert) Pujols is pretty good, saw him the last decade or so, but Cabrera is the best hitter I’ve ever seen.”

Hunter had three hits, including the 2,000th of his career, and Alex Avila homered.

Kelly took away a home run from J.P. Arencibia leading off the second. Kelly ran back to the wall, reached above the fence and caught the ball as he rammed into the padding. Kelly bounced back toward the field and fell onto the warning track, but held on.

“I didn’t know how far it was going to carry,” Kelly said. “He hit it, obviously, pretty well. So just to be able to get back there and catch it was awesome.”

The Blue Jays, who spent millions during the winter to upgrade their roster, fell to 2-5 for their worst start since 2004.

“We’re not relaxing at all. We’re disappointed in the way we’ve played,” said Jose Reyes, in his first season with Toronto.

San Diego 9, LA Dodgers 3

NY Yankees 14, Cleveland 1

Washington 8, Chicago 7

Philadelphia 8, NY Mets 3

Atlanta 3, Miami 2

Texas 6, Tampa Bay 1

Chicago Cubs 6, Milwaukee 3

Kansas City 7, Minnesota 4

Pittsburgh 6, Arizona 5

San Francisco 9, Colorado 6

Oakland 9, LA Angels 5

Houston 16, Seattle 9