Dodgers Crush Opening Day Record Eight Homers En Route to Victory
The Dodgers came out of the gates with a bang! The club led a homer barrage against former Dodger Zack Greinke to provide some serious run support for Hyun-Jin Ryu on Opening Day.
The Dodgers win, 12-5. They're 1-0. They hit eight home runs.
— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) March 28, 2019
1st Inning:
Hyun-Jin Ryu worked off an infield single by Eduardo Escobar to strike out the side. He looked good early and he hit as high as 93 mph on his fastball and had his curveball working. His pitch count was over 20 after one, but he was able to get it under control throughout the game.
Joc Pederson led the game off with an opposite-field double after David Peralta appeared to have lost it in the sun. In Corey Seager’s first at-bat since his two procedures, he worked a walk. Justin Turner had a productive out and moved Seager to second and Pederson to third. Max Muncy delivered an RBI groundout to put the Dodgers up 1-0 early. In AJ Pollock’s first at-bat in Dodger blue, he walked, contributing to a 30-pitch first inning effort for Zack Greinke.
2nd Inning:
Ryu cruised to a 1-2-3 inning in the second and we were able to get three looks at Corey Seager defensively with all two groundouts and a lineout hit his way.
In the second, the Dodgers added a couple more runs to the lead via a 420-foot Joc Pederson 2-run homer. It was set up by an Austin Barnes sharp single and put the Dodgers up 3-0.
Can't stop @yungjoc650. #OpeningDayLA pic.twitter.com/M5KEhq3ZBr
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 28, 2019
3rd Inning:
Ryu once again cruised to a 1-2-3 inning picking up his fourth strikeout of the game against John Ryan Murphy.
Similarly, Greinke had a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout of Max Muncy.
4th Inning:
Ryu continued his excellence in the fourth inning adding two more strikeouts of Eduardo Escobar and Wilmer Flores.
In the fourth, the Dodgers were able to chase Zack Greinke from the game with three runs. It all started with a Cody Bellinger single and was immediately followed up by a 2-run shot from Enrique Hernandez to put the Dodgers up 5-0. That was not all, though, as Barnes hit a solo bomb of his own to put the club up 6-0. After a Ryu groundout and Joc strikeout, the man made his presence known. Corey Seager went yard to make the game a distant 7-0 and to chase Greinke. He left with a line of the following: 3 2/3 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 4 HR, 2 BB, 3 K. Matt Koch came on in relief of him and got Justin Turner to line out to right fielder Adam Jones for the third out.
Allow me to reintroduce myself. pic.twitter.com/dfyTJPuH3a
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 28, 2019
5th Inning:
Hyun-Jin Ryu kept his cool once again, striking out Ketel Marte prior to a double by Nick Ahmed, to make it five shutout frames.
Matt Koch was able to sit down the Dodgers (Muncy, Pollock, Bellinger) in order in the fifth.
6th Inning:
Ryu surrendered a solo homer to Adam Jones to make the game 7-1 and Eduardo Escobar followed that up with a quick double down the left field line. Ryu got two quick outs, which ended up being his last. Ryu’s Opening Day effort was fantastic, throwing six innings of one-run ball, striking out eight and scattering four hits.
Yes, you guessed it. The Dodgers scored again! Enrique Hernandez led the inning off with a walk and after Austin Barnes popped to third and Alex Verdugo, pinch-hitting for Ryu, flew out to left, Joc Pederson delivered yet another 2-run blast to put the game pretty much out of reach at 9-1.
Pederson's tiring in the late innings. That HR was 417 feet. His second-inning shot was 420 feet.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 28, 2019
7th Inning:
Chris Taylor replaced Corey Seager at shortstop and Yimi Garcia replaced Hyun-Jin Ryu on the hill. Garcia’s first pitch of the inning ended up in the seats as Christian Walker pounded it to left-center, moving it to a 9-2 deficit for the D’Backs. Garcia was able to get three quick outs following the bad start, though.
At this point, the Dodgers are just insane. Justin Turner popped to short but it didn’t take much longer for the Dodgers to put on more of a show. Max Muncy silenced the doubters with a solo shot. AJ Pollock flew out routinely to right field. But then, more dongs flew. Cody Bellinger whacked a solo shot and Enrique Hernandez followed up with a solo shot of his own, his second of the day. The Dodgers continued their absolute shellacking of the D’Backs, making it 12-2.
8th Inning:
Yeah, the eighth was boring compared to the previous inning. Brock Stewart came into the game and picked up a strikeout and surrendered a single to Adam Jones which he worked around for a scoreless inning.
The Dodgers went down in order in the eighth inning.
The Dodgers did not homer in the eighth inning.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 28, 2019
9th Inning:
Brock Stewart returned to put the game away. He did not look great. Wilmer Flores hit a week ground-rule double to start things off. David Peralta hit an infield single to move Flores to third. Then, Christian Walker doubled to put the game at 12-3. Ketel Marte hit a sac fly to make the score 12-4, still out of reach. Then, Nick Ahmed hit his own sac fly to make the game at least a little more respectable at 12-5.
The #Dodgers have hit eight home runs today. Most ever by a team on Opening Day. No other team has ever hit more than six.
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) March 28, 2019
An Opening Day for the ages!
Dodgers Not Trying To Avenge World Series Loss
‘ JoBu ‘ woke up the bats.
‘ JoBu ‘ woke up the bats.
If we can get by the Friday night game I think we can sweep. IMO Stripling is the weak ling in the pitching staff.
Perhaps it is true that the baseball at Dodger Stadium travels better, day-games vs. night-games. I’ve heard, Dodgers, ESPN and visiting team’s announcers(most often Giants because I live in Giants/A’s country(Elk Grove, CA), that the baseball during batting practice was “carrying well” i.e. traveling farther than normal especially during day-games as opposed to night-games. WSS what happens at tonight’s game, 7:10pm. I doubt the Dodgers will hit eight homeruns. Arizona will start Robbie Ray(LHP) against the Dodgers and I heard during the Dodgers broadcast(Hershisher & Davis) that Ray gives the Dodgers fits. Will Pederson(2 homeruns opening day) start, if so, will he lead-off? ESPN is stating the Giants will start three-LHP(Pomeranz,Bumgarner,Holland) against the Dodgers after the four-game set vs. Arizona.
Robin, I am not sure but I wonder if those 10 combined HR’s yesterday was a Dodger Stadium record. Maybe someone here can answer that for me. But it goes to show that even though it was a day game, Dodger Stadium is not as ‘pitcher friendly’ as many make it out to be. On May 25, 1979 I went to a Dodger game and sat in the LF Pavilion and saw Dodgers hit 7 HR’s in that game at night. Dodgers beat the Reds in that game by a 17 to 6 score and the following Dodgers hit HR’s in that game:
Gary Thomasson;
Steve Garvey
Davey Lopes
Dusty Baker
Joe Ferguson
Darrel Thomas
And Rick Sutcliffe the pitcher!
As it was said a while ago by Howard Cosell…”What a performance”! And it was but let’s temper the enthusiasm just a bit because Greinke appeared to be averaging between 88 and 90 MPH on his fast ball and the Dbacks are not the same team that began last year on a tear. Now folks…here comes a LHP in Ray tonight, to whom I thought that he would be the OD starter being the history Dodgers currently have with struggles against lefties. Let’s hope Dodgers can show something tonight because on many occasion last year when the Dodgers scored 10+ runs and hit a bunch of HR’s they fell flat the next day and seemed to not be able to buy a hit or run so WSS. Note…IDK if the platooning will resurface but it looks like Joc sits tonight of course against a LHP. IDK about you all here but I could not possibly (if I were the manager) sit Joc tonight after a 3 for 5 game with 4 RBI”s.
A very nice way to start the season!!!! Beating the Snakes is always nice; beating Greinke is far better. Now, we need to continue!!! As Oral said, we must defeat western division teams, as we are in a weak division. The NL East is rough and tough. I was not impressed with Stewart, and if he continues on this pace, his tenure with the Dodgers will be short lived. Interestingly, everyone looked good at bat yesterday except Big Red……..but I do not worry about JT as he is a gamer. Go Blue!!
Happy Friday BLUE LOU! If ya haven’t heard, Martin starts tonight as catcher and Joc probably sits tonight against the LHP Ray. Now we must see if Dodgers can get off on the right foot against a LHP who normally is very tough on them and strikes out about every Dodger hitter he sees.
“Wilmer Flores hit a week ground-rule double….” Really, can someone proof-read and edit this stuff? Tjere are likely more things that need to be fixed in this story, but I just scanned it quickly. The “week” double just jumped out at me.
And I should proof-read my comments as well. Consistently hit the J when going for an H.