Baseball: Dodgers cut artless Giants down to size

The Los Angeles Dodgers capitalised on San Francisco's error-strewn performance to hand last season's World Series champions a 2-1 defeat on Major League Baseball's opening day on Thursday.

The Dodgers opened the scoring in the sixth inning when the Giants' catcher Buster Posey threw the ball past third baseman Pablo Sandoval on a pick-off attempt with the bases loaded. It was the Giants' second error of the inning and third of the game.

Los Angeles stretched the lead to 2-0 in the eighth when Matt Kemp led off with a walk, stole second base, and scored on James Loney's RBI double.

Elsewhere, Mark Teixera slammed a three-run homer off Detroit's Justin Verlander for the New York Yankees. Teixera's team-mate Curtis Granderson then got a solo run to give them a 6-3 win over the Tigers on a cold afternoon in the Bronx.

Atlanta's Jason Heyward hit the first home run of the season to lead the Braves to a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals.