Opening week review

Grand slams galore and a six-player trade highlighted the opening week of the 2017 regular season.

Teams wasted no time dealing as the season's opening week saw the first deal go down. Livingston shipped 1B Justin Bour and three draft picks -- 1st, 2nd and 5th rounders in 2018 -- to Marietta for their top starter, Justin Verlander, and 1B Hanley Ramirez.

Vancouver went 6-0 before losing on Sunday, yielding the best record for the week to Tucson, which finished 7-1. On the other end, Poovey Farms and El Paso struggled to a 2-6 start.

The Iron Fist were powered by Will Myers, with 4 home runs and a league-best .889 slugging, and J.D. Martinez, who tallied the 2nd-most RBI. Vancouver matched Hoboken with a league-best 6.1 runs per game.

Hoboken's David Ortiz and Livingston newcomer Jedd Gyorko led the league with 5 home runs. Gyorko was traded just before the regular season kicked off, coming over from Empire City in exchange for prospect Dansby Swanson.

In the RBI department, Manny Machado of Allentown had 11, edging out four others with 10 RBI: Martinez, San Francisco's Jonathan LuCroy, and Hopatcong teammates Robinson Cano and Yoenis Cespedes. Three Hopatcong batters ended the week with an active hitting streak eight games into the season: Cespedes, Cano and Joey Votto.

Martinez bulked up his RBI total with a grand slam against Hoboken on Tuesday. The Cutters also were victimized by a grand slam by Evan Longoria, whose 9th inning shot on opening day tied the game that the Straphangers eventually won. Hoboken was on the right side of a grand slam in Sunday's first game when veteran Miguel Cabrera knocked one off former teammate Clay Buchholz, now with Marietta.

Lucroy and San Francisco rookie Trevor Story both had 3-hit, 6-RBI games in a 14-6 win over Sardine City Saturday night, backing Chris Sale for his 2nd win.

Jose Ramirez of Philly led the league with 15 hits but Hillsborough's Mookie Betts had the best batting average (.464) thanks to ending the week with four straight 2-hit games.

After struggling in the spring, No. 1 overall pick Aledyms Diaz of Philly turned it on when the games mattered, finishing the week second in slugging (.844) and on-base (.512). He scored a league-high 12 runs, two better than teammate Daniel Murphy, and ranked 10th in batting (.375) thanks to 12 hits (tied for 3rd). The rookie shortstop smacked four home runs and tied Ortiz for most total bases (27) while he edged out Myers (11.5) in runs created with 13.8. It was close but on the whole, that makes Diaz the opening week's JR Cigars Batter of the Week.

Drew Pomeranz had perhaps the best start of opening week. The lefty, who was shipped from Hoboken to Philly for a 5th rounder before protected lists were due, tossed a 3-hitter with 9 strikeouts against Marietta to begin his first season as a starter. There was also J.A. Happ who got a no-decision in the Arkansas season opener but struck out 13 without walking a batter over 7 innings in a game the Golden Falcons ended up winning.

Blue Ridge ace Masahiro Tanaka had the week's only other shutout, a 3-hitter over Marietta. The Japanese import won both his starts and had a league-high 17 innings thanks to an 8-inning, 7-hit, 3-run outing on opening day. Allentown's Ian Kennedy also went 2-0 with a lower ERA (0.69) but the RahwayRising.com Pitcher of the Week will go to Tanaka for his shutout and two wins, along with 1.59 ERA and 0.82 WHIP.

Other two-game winners last week were Sale, Philly's Aaron Sanchez, Hoboken's Rick Porcello (despite an ERA approaching 7.00), Josh Tomlin of Hopatcong, along with relievers Joe Blanton of Tucson, Kelvin Herrera of Arkansas, Raisel Iglesias of Livingston, and Vancouver's A.J. Schugel, who led the league with 3 holds.

In the bullpen, Tucson first-round pick Seung Hwan Oh registered four saves in five appearances (no one else had more than two), leading the Kingsnakes to the best ERA in the league (2.25). Mark Melancon, the reigning reliever of the year, already has blown more saves in his first two appearances than he did all last season, yielding the aforementioned Longoria grand slam and blowing a 3-2 lead on Vancouver in the 9th that spoiled Jameson Taillon's first career start.