The first Friday of baseball's new regular season didn't feature a full slate or any day games. Rather, four of the night's eight contests began after 10 p.m. ET, and the game in L.A. didn't end until a little after 4 a.m. ET on Saturday. Over in the Northwest, Yusei Kikuchi attempted to guide the Seattle Mariners to a 4-0 start in his second big-league appearance, but his solid start was wasted against the defending world champion Boston Red Sox.

With due respect to Kikuchi and the Mariners, the night's biggest game was played in the Midwest. The St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers engaged in a thriller on Thursday that saw the Brewers win in dramatic fashion -- a Lorenzo Cain leaping grab that prevented a tie. The Cardinals got their first win on Friday in a slugfest.

Elsewhere, Charlie Morton made his first regular-season start with the Tampa Bay Rays, going up against his former team, the Houston Astros. Below you'll find notes on those and the other most important storylines from the day that was.

Select games can be streamed regionally via fuboTV (try for free). For more on what channel each game is on, click here.

Baseball scores for Friday, March 29

1. Longest regular season game in Dodger Stadium

The last game of the night was the longest. Back on May 24, 1973, the Mets and Dodgers played 19 innings in Dodger Stadium and it took five hours and 42 minutes before they finally had a winner. Friday night/Saturday morning, it took six hours and five minutes until there was a winner. This one "only" lasted 13 innings, but, man, was it a marathon. 

The big knock was a pinch hit from newly-acquired Diamondback Carson Kelly. In fact, it was his first plate appearances for his new club. 

Heck of a debut. 

Of note: This wasn't the longest game ever in Dodger Stadium, hence the "regular season" qualifier? We haven't yet forgotten Game 3 of the World Series, have we? Eighteen innings, seven hours and 20 minutes ... 

Other notables in this one: Greg Holland closed down his first Diamondbacks' save, new Dodgers acquisition A.J. Pollock went 4 for 6 with a double, home run and four RBI against his former team and new Dodgers setup man Joe Kelly coughed up a lead in both the seventh and the eighth. 

2. Cards beat Brewers behind Goldschmidt's three homers

As noted above, the Cardinals and Brewers played a fun game on Thursday afternoon, culminating in a thrilling game-saving grab by Lorenzo Cain. Friday night saw the Cardinals win their first game of the year -- thanks in large part due to Paul Goldschmidt homering three times in his second game with the team.

Goldschmidt, who went hitless with three strikeouts in his debut, started the night right by lifting a Freddy Peralta fastball for a homer. That result was the culmination of a lengthy at-bat that saw Peralta test Goldschmidt with fastball after fastball. The home-run pitch wasn't even necessarily a bad one location-wise, yet Goldschmidt was able to jump the yard:

Later in the game, Goldschmidt lifted off on a hanging slider from Taylor Williams. His third and final homer of the night was on a Jacob Barnes cutter that he delivered deep into the left-center field seats. Take a look at all three dingers:

In total, Goldschmidt went 4 for 5 with three homers, five runs batted in, and a walk. Who says first impressions are the most important? People who don't hit three home runs in their second impression, that's who.

3. Mariners waste solid start from Kikuchi 

The Mariners nearly defeated the world champion Red Sox again, moving them to 4-0 on the season. Instead, Hunter Strickland blew a late save, allowing a three-run homer to Mitch Moreland that gave Boston a 7-6 lead in the ninth inning.

As promised in the introduction, this contest was started by Yusei Kikuchi, who notched a quality start with six innings of four-hit, three-run baseball. Only two of those runs were earned. Kikuchi also struck out five batters and walked none.

Kikuchi threw 86 pitches, per Statcast, and 45 of them were of the breaking-ball variety. His slider was particularly effective, as he recorded seven swinging strikes on 27 pitches -- that included a number of back-foot sliders thrown against right-handed batters.

Alas, Kikuchi's outing just didn't matter because of shaky relief work.

4. Morton impresses in Tampa Bay debut

Charlie Morton had himself a big Friday night. Not only was he making his first regular-season start for the Rays since signing a $30 million contract, he was facing his old pals, the Houston Astros. 

Morton delivered, tossing five innings and limiting the Astros to three hits, two runs, and two walks. He struck out eight batters and found a good degree of success with his breaking ball. Morton threw 33 curveballs on the evening, with six of them generating empty swings and another 10 going for called strikes or fouls. 

Take a look at some of these bendy things:

Yep, that'll suffice. 

Morton's counterpart, Gerrit Cole, had himself a pretty-looking line, too: six innings, 10 strikeouts, five hits and one earned run. 

5. Highlight of the night: Desmond robs Brinson

Ian Desmond's tenure in Colorado hasn't gone as planned. He's been asked to switch positions this winter, moving from first base to center field. Time will tell if that decision pays off, but on Friday night it resulted in a robbed home run. 

Take a gander as Desmond goes up and takes proverbial food off Lewis Brinson's table:

That's a heck of a catch, and one that kept the Rockies out in front late.

Colorado would later extend its lead, winning by a 6-1 final.

6. Stat of the night: Padres twirl another scoreless start

Here's one way to explain San Diego's 2-0 start to the year:

Padres left-hander Eric Lauer, who was a first-round pick San Diego acquired as compensation for the Tigers' signing Justin Upton, pitched six scoreless innings in the team's Opening Day 2-0 win over the Giants. Lauer, 23, became the youngest pitcher to toss six shutout innings on Opening Day since Clayton Kershaw in 2011.

Joey Lucchesi, 25, was next up in the Padres' rotation as he took the mound for the second game of the season. Lucchesi pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings, striking out seven while allowing only three hits in the 4-1 victory against the Giants on Friday. 

And San Diego's youth movement isn't slowing down anytime soon as rookies Nick Margevicius and Chris Paddack are set to start on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. They'll both be making their major-league debuts.

Quick hits