Opening day pitching performances (updated)

Spring training is winding down and we're just four days away from opening day and Luke Hochevar's first start as the staff ace. How will he compare to his predecessors? Well let's take a look, here is every opening day performance in franchise history.

Player	Date	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Wally Bunker	1969-04-08	MIN	W 4-3	5.0	5	2	2	1	0
Wally Bunker	1970-04-07	OAK	L 4-6	5.0	9	6	6	3	8
Dick Drago	1971-04-06	CAL	W 4-1	9.0	6	1	0	0	2
Dick Drago	1972-04-15	CHW	W 2-1	9.0	6	1	1	1	6
Steve Busby	1973-04-06	CAL	L 2-3	4.1	7	3	3	1	1
Paul Splittorff	1974-04-05	MIN	L 4-6	9.0	11	4	3	1	4
Steve Busby	1975-04-07	CAL	L 2-3	8.0	5	2	2	1	6
Paul Splittorff	1976-04-09	CHW	L 0-4	4.1	6	4	4	4	0
Paul Splittorff	1977-04-07	DET	W 7-4	6.0	5	4	4	4	3
Dennis Leonard	1978-04-08	CLE	L 5-8	4.1	9	8	5	1	3
Dennis Leonard	1979-04-05	TOR	W 11-2	6.0	6	2	0	2	4
Dennis Leonard	1980-04-10	DET	L 1-5	7.1	8	4	3	3	3
Larry Gura	1981-04-10	BAL	L 3-5	4.2	3	4	2	5	1
Dennis Leonard	1982-04-05	BAL	L 5-13	2.1	6	7	6	2	0
Larry Gura	1983-04-04	BAL	W 7-2	7.0	5	2	1	2	3
Buddy Black	1984-04-03	NYY	W 4-2	7.0	2	2	2	1	3
Buddy Black	1985-04-08	TOR	W 2-1	7.2	4	1	1	1	3
Buddy Black	1986-04-08	NYY	L 2-4	7.0	6	4	4	2	3
Danny Jackson	1987-04-06	CHW	L 4-5	6.1	7	5	3	3	4
Bret Saberhagen	1988-04-04	TOR	L 3-5	8.0	7	5	3	0	7
Mark Gubicza	1989-04-03	TOR	L 3-4	7.0	9	4	4	1	4
Bret Saberhagen	1990-04-09	BAL	L 6-7	6.0	8	3	3	0	5
Bret Saberhagen	1991-04-08	CLE	W 4-2	7.0	6	2	1	2	5
Kevin Appier	1992-04-06	OAK	L 3-5	6.0	4	1	1	3	3
Kevin Appier	1993-04-05	BOS	L 1-3	6.0	6	3	3	4	2
Player	Date	Opp	Rslt	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Kevin Appier	1994-04-04	BAL	L 3-6	5.0	7	3	3	2	4
Kevin Appier	1995-04-26	BAL	W 5-1	6.2	0	0	0	2	7
Kevin Appier	1996-04-02	BAL	L 2-4	5.0	6	3	3	1	7
Kevin Appier	1997-04-02	BAL	L 2-4	5.0	6	2	2	5	6
Tim Belcher	1998-03-31	BAL	W 4-1	7.0	3	0	0	0	6
Kevin Appier	1999-04-05	BOS	L 3-5	5.1	8	4	4	3	1
Jeff Suppan	2000-04-03	TOR	L 4-5	5.0	5	4	4	0	3
Jeff Suppan	2001-04-02	NYY	L 3-7	5.0	8	5	5	2	2
Jeff Suppan	2002-04-01	MIN	L 6-8	6.0	7	4	4	0	3
Runelvys Hernandez	2003-03-31	CHW	W 3-0	6.0	2	0	0	1	5
Brian Anderson	2004-04-05	CHW	W 9-7	5.0	7	5	5	0	5
Jose Lima	2005-04-04	DET	L 2-11	3.0	6	5	5	0	2
Scott Elarton	2006-04-03	DET	L 1-3	5.2	7	2	2	3	3
Gil Meche	2007-04-02	BOS	W 7-1	7.1	6	1	1	1	6
Gil Meche	2008-03-31	DET	W 5-4	6.0	8	3	3	4	5
Gil Meche	2009-04-07	CHW	L 2-4	7.0	7	1	1	0	6
Zack Greinke	2010-04-05	DET	L 4-8	6.0	6	2	1	1	4

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used

By the numbers we find the starters had:

• 42 starts
• 255.1 innings
• 11 wins
• 18 losses
• 3.87 ERA
• 1.288 WHIP
• 22 quality starts
• 1 complete game
• 161 strikeouts (5.6 K/9)
• 74 walks (2.60 BB/9)

Overall the Royals are 15-27 on the season's first day but 12-10 when the starter throws a quality start, 3-17 when they don't. Not a surprising result.

Here are the cumulative opening day numbers for each of the 19 pitchers who garnered the OD start.

Player	Starts		W	L	ERA	GS	CG	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP
Kevin Appier	7	Ind. Games	1	4	3.69	7	0	39.0	37	16	3	20	30	1.46
Dennis Leonard	4	Ind. Games	1	3	6.30	4	0	20.0	29	14	7	8	10	1.85
Jeff Suppan	3	Ind. Games	0	1	7.31	3	0	16.0	20	13	9	2	8	1.38
Paul Splittorff	3	Ind. Games	1	1	5.12	3	0	19.1	22	11	1	9	7	1.60
Bret Saberhagen	3	Ind. Games	1	1	3.00	3	0	21.0	21	7	5	2	17	1.10
Gil Meche	3	Ind. Games	1	0	2.21	3	0	20.1	21	5	1	5	17	1.28
Buddy Black	3	Ind. Games	2	1	2.91	3	0	21.2	12	7	2	4	9	0.74
Larry Gura	2	Ind. Games	1	1	2.31	2	0	11.2	8	3	1	7	4	1.29
Dick Drago	2	Ind. Games	1	0	0.50	2	1	18.0	12	1	1	1	8	0.72
Steve Busby	2	Ind. Games	0	1	3.65	2	0	12.1	12	5	1	2	7	1.14
Wally Bunker	2	Ind. Games	0	1	7.20	2	0	10.0	14	8	3	4	8	1.80
Jose Lima	1	Ind. Games	0	1	15.00	1	0	3.0	6	5	3	0	2	2.00
Danny Jackson	1	Ind. Games	0	1	4.26	1	0	6.1	7	3	0	3	4	1.58
Runelvys Hernandez	1	Ind. Games	1	0	0.00	1	0	6.0	2	0	0	1	5	0.50
Mark Gubicza	1	Ind. Games	0	1	5.14	1	0	7.0	9	4	0	1	4	1.43
Zack Greinke	1	Ind. Games	0	0	1.50	1	0	6.0	6	1	0	1	4	1.17
Scott Elarton	1	Ind. Games	0	1	3.18	1	0	5.2	7	2	2	3	3	1.76
Tim Belcher	1	Ind. Games	1	0	0.00	1	0	7.0	3	0	0	0	6	0.43
Brian Anderson	1	Ind. Games	0	0	9.00	1	0	5.0	7	5	2	0	5	1.40

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used