Center fielder Luis Robert saved a run with a leaping catch and crash at the wall. He used his brute strength to give the White Sox the lead with a home run. And he laid off a full-count for a walk and used his speed to provide an insurance run in the eighth inning.

Every bit of it was needed in a 3-2 victory over the Mariners Tuesday.

Every bit of it was appreciated by a home-opener sellout crowd at Guaranteed Rate Field.

“What a talent,” manager Tony La Russa said.

“He showed a lot of why he’s so special,” shortstop Tim Anderson said.

“The craziest part was the home run wasn’t even hit as hard as the line drive to the shortstop [111.7 mph in the third inning],” closer Liam Hendriks said. “And that’s ridiculous. He’s got that much talent, it’s a joke.”

Robert homered to right center field against challenging rookie right-hander Matt Brash, a 110.4-mph rocket that gave the Sox a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning. Leading off the eighth, he laid off a low slider on a 3-2 pitch from Diego Sanchez, then stole second base and third before scoring when Eloy Jimenez beat out a double play.

“It feels good,” Robert said through translator Billy Russo said. “It’s just proof that I’m feeling very good physically,” Robert said through translator Billy Russo. “Doing that in the home opener is special, too. Hopefully, that’s something I can carry through the whole season.”

There were “MVP” chants from a sellout home opener crowd for Robert after the homer, and lots of cheering for a collection of six Sox pitchers who held the Mariners to a run on four hits. Vince Velasquez allowed Eugenio Saurez’ homer in four innings of work, and Bennett Sousa, Reynaldo Lopez, Aaron Bummer, Kendall Graveman and Liam Hendriks followed with five innings of scoreless work as the Sox improved to 3-1.

“A good, all-around team victory,” Velasquez said.

The Sox’ third in a row after a rough opener in Detroit in which Hendriks blew a save. Hendriks gave up a run on three hits by the Mariners but finished them by striking out cleanup man Mitch Haniger.

“Every time they put it in play, it ended up being a hit,” said Hendriks, who struck out three.

Josh Harrison walked in the second, went to third on catcher Reese McGuire’s single and scored on Anderson’s fielder’s choice. Anderson and Jimenez were a combined 0-for-8 but Anderson made two nice plays in the field and Jimenez made a leaping catch near the wall. Each got an RBI by putting balls in play.

A 3-1 start comes with injuries to Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn at the top of their rotation, Garrett Crochet and Ryan Burr in the bullpen and Yoan Moncada and AJ Pollock in the lineup. Giolito appears to be progressing and Lynn, a week removed from knee surgery, took part in pregame ceremonies and moved around without a limp.

Before the game, general manager Rick Hahn shot down a report that Athletics right-hander Frankie Montas was coming to the Sox in a trade. Hahn is not trading Andrew Vaughn, a player he believes fits the long-term goal of winning on a regular bases, a player the A’s have asked for, in a swap for Montas — who finished sixth in Cy Young voting last season and has two years of contract control remaining.

He might be more likely to see if the Sox can weather this injury storm, hold their own in the standings and assess what their needs are closer to the trade deadline at midseason.

“Part of the reason I joke about the rumors from last night — we are not looking to rob Peter to pay Paul to make this team better,” Hahn said. “Guys we view as important in helping this team win [such as Vaughn] wouldn’t be the first ones out the door as we try to make this team better.”

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Illinoisans wagered a cool $286.2 million on March Madness, according to state revenue figures released Tuesday.

That includes $278.4 million wagered on about two and a half weeks’ worth of games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, and another $7.8 million bet on the women’s tourney, the Illinois Gaming Board reported. That’s the state agency that polices legal gambling in the state, including sports betting, which became a legitimate operation in Illinois two years ago.

The casino sportsbooks came out ahead by more than $14.3 million collectively on the college hoops action, but one saw its bracket bankroll go bust. The Hollywood Casino Aurora closed out the NCAA tourneys in the red by $6,795, Gaming Board records show.

But the overall casino win generated almost $2.2 million in Illinois tax revenue. Sportsbooks have to send 15% of their winnings to the state.

A tweak to state gambling law meant that this was the first time Illinois gamblers could legally wager on in-state college teams.

Officials say they didn’t track how much money was put on the Fighting Illini or Loyola Ramblers, but those bets on Illinois schools can only be placed in person at a casino. Almost $11.8 million was wagered in all at those so-called retail sportsbooks.

About $61 million was bet in Illinois on the Super Bowl, this year making $9.5 million for the books and $1.4 million for the state.

Illinois gamblers have now plunked down more than $10 billion on sports since the industry launched in March of 2020.

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PITTSBURGH – Cubs manager David Ross’ prediction last season that the pitching staff was going to “surprise some people,” never came true – at least in the way he meant it.

Four games into this season, however, the Cubs’ starting pitching has delivered a surprise in one turn through the rotation. In the Cubs’ 2-1 win against the Pirates Tuesday, lefty Drew Smyly completed the streak: Each of the Cubs’ starters threw at least five innings in their first starts of the season this week.

Smyly, in his Cubs debut, held the Pirates scoreless through five frames Tuesday, allowing just three hits. Then, outfielder Seiya Suzuki single-handedly powered the Cubs’ offense, mashing two solo homers for the Cubs’ only runs of the game.

That pair of home runs brought Suzuki’s total to three in his young Major League Baseball career, all in the past two games. Going 2-for-4 Tuesday, Suzuki improved his batting average to .417 in the first four games of his Cubs tenure.

This story will be updated.

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You think White Sox fans are the only ones who have wondered ruefully if Dallas Keuchel will ever bounce all the way back?

Imagine being the team’s highest-paid pitcher — a former Cy Young winner — and trying to process come playoff time that there’s simply no use for you. That as far as trying to bring a championship back to the South Side is concerned, you’re yesterday’s news. That the team you signed with for three years and $55 million, stamping its rebuilding effort as legit, was essentially telling you: Stand in the corner with the rest of the taxi-squad members; we’ll take it from here.

That’ll mess a guy up.

“Mentally, it was tough at the end of [last] year,” Keuchel said. “Especially being left off the playoff roster.”

Keuchel is scheduled to take the ball Wednesday as the Sox’ fifth starter of the season. Whether or not he’s actually their No. 5 starter is partly a matter of semantics. Lance Lynn is out for a prolonged period after knee surgery. Lucas Giolito went on the injured list after his first start. No doubt, Keuchel’s services are badly needed in the rotation as it stands at present. In that sense, chaos is his friend.

But there’s a big perception gap separating Keuchel and young Dylan Cease, whom general manager Rick Hahn called “a joy to watch” and “evolving before our very eyes into a premier starter” before the Sox’ home opener against the Mariners on Tuesday. And everybody remains super excited about young Michael Kopech, who, like Cease, has tantalizing physical tools. Keuchel, on the other hand, is 34. He’s a soft-tossing lefty who doesn’t strike people out and whose signature precision eluded him last season. Is he the weakest link?

By the sounds of them, fans are even less enthused about Keuchel than they were after he let the Sox down with a poor start in Game 2 of the 2020 postseason series against the A’s. From the cheating scandal he took part in with the Astros to that 2020 dud in Oakland to last year’s 5.28 ERA and predictable postseason snub from manager Tony La Russa, there has been some bitter indignity for Keuchel to swallow since he was on top of the world as a 2015 Cy Young winner and a 2017 world champion in Houston.

Back trouble dogged Keuchel last season, when he struggled with shaping his slider and commanding his fastball. That’ll mess a guy up, too.

“If I pressed the gas pedal, it was like my stuff went in reverse,” he said. “Where we’re at now is back to normal, and it took me a little while to figure that out and go into reverse mode, putting the brights on and taking that more extended view of the road.”

As long as we’re heaving automotive metaphors around, let’s just say that it wasn’t the first time Keuchel felt as though he’d backed into a ditch.

“There were multiple times where I thought it was the end of the [road], in my upper 20s,” he said. “Then I thought I found the fountain of youth, lower 30s.”

Let’s not forget, he was fifth in American League Cy Young voting in 2020, when he was 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA in his first season — albeit a miniature one — with the Sox. But now he’s sort of stuck in neutral, in the last guaranteed year of his contract (unless he can pitch 160 innings and pass an end-of-season physical, triggering a vesting option for 2023) and already having been bumped back a day behind newcomer Vince Velasquez, who got the start on Tuesday.

But there’s an obvious way to get unstuck, isn’t there? After going from ace-like stature when he arrived on the South Side to the outskirts of the rotation at the beginning of Year 3, Keuchel just has to pitch better. A whole lot better. He believes he can do that.

“I fully expect myself to be back and producing and helping come playoff time,” he said.

The Sox aren’t about to fight him on it.

“I feel like he’s going to have a good year for us,” La Russa said.

What a game-changer it would be for an already shorthanded squad with high hopes and serious expectations.

“Every career ends at some point,” Hahn said. “Every star eventually doesn’t shine as brightly. But guys who have been stars like Dallas have that reserve and confidence to pull back on, and I think that’s going to serve him really well going forward. We are entering this season viewing him as part of what’s going to help us win.”

And so the bounce-back begins? Here comes Keuchel, out of the corner and back under the spotlight.

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PITTSBURGH – The Cubs were still feeling the effects of this weekend’s bout with Brewers on Tuesday, as manager David Ross exited the field after PNC Park’s home opener festivities.

Cubs pitcher Keegan Thompson is appealing his three-game suspension for hitting Brewers outfielder Andrew McCutchen on Saturday. But Ross served his automatic one-game suspension on Tuesday. He gave pregame high fives to his players in the dugout before heading for the tunnel.

“There’s rules in place that we don’t have a whole lot of control of and some things that make you upset, and you can get mad about it, or you can understand, ‘what’s the point of wasting my energy on something I can’t control?” Ross said. “Rules are rules. And we’re gonna continue to try to win ball games, and look out for our group, and try to protect us as best we can, and keep competing at the highest level.

“And, sometimes, I’ve got to kind of be the fall guy as well. That’s fine.”

Major League Baseball determined that Thompson intentionally threw at McCutchen in the eighth inning of the Cubs’ 9-0 win Saturday at Wrigley Field. Brewers pitchers had hit three Cubs batters in the game, including outfielder Ian Happ, who left the game after taking a slider to the kneecap, and Willson Contreras, who has been hit 15 times by Brewers pitchers in his career, by far the most of any team.

Benches cleared after Thompson hit McCutchen, and Thompson was ejected. His suspension will be delayed until the appeals process wraps up.

“This is still a little like spring training,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “We’re still trying to improve on things. So if we have a guy working on a certain pitch, and they think we’re trying to do something, how are they going to be able to judge that? I understand the context of what that was in, but that part of it’s tough.”

No Brewers pitchers were disciplined.

When asked if he thought the rules had been applied fairly on both sides, Ross said: “I’m not the judge or the jury.”

Injury update

Cubs right-hander Alec Mills (low back strain) threw 77 pitches in a sim game Sunday. He was penciled in to throw a bullpen Tuesday, but Ross said Mills had been feeling “under the weather,” which could affect his schedule.

Lefty Wade Miley (left elbow inflammation) played catch again on Tuesday, stretching out to over 100 feet, according to Ross. His next step will be to stretch out to 120 feet. If the feedback remains positive, he’ll throw off a mound after that.

Cubs shortstop Andrelton Simmons (right shoulder inflammation) was set to throw across the baseball diamond on Tuesday as part of his throwing program.

“He’s feeling better every day,” Ross said. “I know he feels positive, but we’re starting to ramp up the intensity, and so that’ll give the best feedback here the next couple days.”

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Dan Kozlowski, of Crown Point, Indiana, is the world’s biggest White Sox fan — at least according to his belt.

Kozlowski specially ordered and personalized the giant black belt online. Born and raised a Sox fan, Kozlowski arrived at 5:15 a.m. to get a prime parking spot for Opening Day at Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday.

“I challenge anybody to be as big of a Sox fan as me,” Kozlowski said. “There may be some that tie me, but nobody beats me.”

He roots for the Sox through thick and thin, Kozlowski said, holding a beer in one hand and his belt in the other.

For Armando Davila — it’s more like through sleet and snow. A resident of the Galewood neighborhood, Davila has been attending Opening Day for more than 20 years and has experienced all sorts of weather.

“It started with my brother, my Dad and myself and a small grill,” Davila said. “It grew into my family and my kids, and now everybody comes.”

He’s grateful that it’s warm this year for Opening Day. Around Davila, about 15 close friends and family lounge and talk in lawn chairs. Davila is busy grilling sausages and said he would soon start some chicken wings.

Davila said he loves the environment of Opening Day.

“I love that everybody has a good time, and everybody is friendly,” Davila said. “That’s what it should be about: safety and friendship and just meeting people.”

Some fans, drinks in hand, play corn hole with friends. Kids pass footballs to one another. Tiffany Pillot and daugher Inahmi Soto, both West Lawn residents, brought a giant Connect Four game to the tailgate, and play over and over again.

Patrick Yeo is celebrating his 11th birthday at the White Sox game and is tailgating with his uncle, Burt Yeo. “It turns out class got ‘canceled'” his uncle said — using air quotes — “for the 11-year-old birthday guy.”

He’s been a White Sox fan his whole life, Patrick Yeo said — 11 years today. What is he most excited for this season? “Winning,” Yeo said.

Vanessa Ortiz, a nurse practitioner from Tinley Park, is 36 weeks pregnant and looking forward to bringing her new baby up a Sox fan. She wears a shirt with a heart-shaped-baseball design. “Baby” and the Sox logo are printed in the center.

“I was skeptical about coming because I’m so far along, but I got the OK yesterday from by OB, so I’m here,” Ortiz said. Her family has been season ticket holders for about 17 years.

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