PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- After christening the Great American Ball Park with an impressive offensive display, the Pittsburgh Pirates spoiled the Philadelphia Phillies' final home opener at Veterans Stadium.
Reggie Sanders again was at the forefront with a grand slam as the Pirates improved to 4-0 for the first time in 20 years, rolling to a 9-1 victory before an agitated sellout crowd of 59,269 - the largest on Opening Day at the Vet since 1993.
Signed to a discount, one-year, $1 million contract after receiving little interest in the free agent market, Sanders hit his third career grand slam in the first inning to help stake the Pirates to a 5-0 lead.
Sanders hit two homers and drove in five runs in Pittsburgh's 7-5 win at Cincinnati Thursday and has four home runs and 11 RBI in four games this season.
"Reggie Sanders is a streaky guy," Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon said. "He's been swinging the bat extremely well. I don't expect him to keep this up, but he's been fantastic."
Playing for his fifth team in as many seasons and a World Series team each of the last two years, Sanders is hitting .571 (8-for-14).
"I'm very happy with the way that I'm playing," Sanders said. "I'm very pleased with just about everything. I'm just trying to stay humble and stay focused and do what I need to do to help this ballclub win."
The Pirates belted eight home runs and scored 24 runs in their three-game sweep of the Reds and picked up where they left off Friday against Joe Roa.
Traded by the Pirates to the Phillies last season, Roa (0-1) lasted just two innings and yielded six runs and six hits.
"I set the tone for today," Roa said. "If I would've gotten off to a good start, we would've scored eight or nine runs."
Randall Simon went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI singles for the Pirates, who started 5-0 in 1983.
"Everybody's excited," Simon said. "We know we have a good offensive team, so if we keep it together and keep working hard, we're going to have success. We're going to surprise a lot of people."
Every Pittsburgh starter had at least one hit except for Aramis Ramirez, who walked once and was hit by a pitch. With Friday's total of 12 hits, the Pirates have 46 in four games.
Jeff Suppan (1-0), another bargain basement signing by the Pirates, pitched six innings and allowed one run and three hits. He was 9-16 with a 5.32 ERA for the Kansas City Royals last season.
"I had a lot of nerves going into my first game, so getting some early runs is always good," Suppan said. "At times, I struggled with the location of my fastball, but I was able to throw some offspeed pitches and I stuck with that."
Salomon Torres worked three hitless innings for his first career save.
Jim Thome, who signed a six-year, $85 million contract with the Phillies and went 7-for-11 in the season-opening three-game series at Florida, received a thunderous ovation from the crowd during pregame introductions. However, by the time he stepped up to the plate in the second inning, the Phillies were facing a 6-0 deficit.
"It (the crowd reaction) was awesome," Thome said. "Unfortunately, the outcome didn't come out the way we wanted."
Thome did his best to appease the crowd, driving the first pitch he saw off the left center field wall for his first triple and scored on a grounder to second by Pat Burrell.
But that was the only run for the Phils, who managed just three hits.
The Pirates had four hits in the first inning alone. Jason Kendall and Brian Giles had one-out singles and Roa walked Ramirez on four pitches to load the bases. Simon singled to score Kendall and Sanders followed with a home run over the wall in left center to highlight the five-run inning.
"A five-run first inning, it's like putting a pin in a balloon right out of the gate," Phillies manager Larry Bowa said. "That's not the blueprint we really wanted for the first game."
Giles' two-out, RBI double in the second inning increased the lead to 6-0.
Pokey Reese added a solo home run in the seventh for the Pirates.
Both teams wore uniforms from the 1970s, with the Pirates clad in yellow pants and jerseys with black caps. The Phillies had on uniforms from 1971, their first year at the Vet.
The Phillies will play in a 43,000-seat baseball-only stadium in 2004.
