Opening Day Recap: Dodgers Blanked In Season Opener

It has finally arrived my fellow Dodgers fans. Opening Day come and gone and the glorious start to the baseball season has arrived. We can once again say in one voice, “It’s time for Dodgers baseball!” Today’s matchup between the Dodgers and the Giants featured Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and the young Giants pitcher Ty Blach. A battle of the lefties, featuring a revamped Giants lineup with new additions Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen, and Austin Jackson.

#ITFDB pic.twitter.com/74QZaWCaZs

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 29, 2018

Right from the get-go, it was clear that Kershaw did not have his best stuff. Despite this, he still managed to keep the Giants off the board until the 5th inning, when Joe Panik took Kershaw deep on a 2-2 fastball. Overall it was not a bad showing by our Ace but it was clear that he wasn’t as sharp as he had been in Spring Training. His final line on the night was 6 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K. Kershaw was lifted in the 7th inning for JT Chargois who had a perfect inning for his Dodger debut, striking out two Giants. The Dodgers can only hope that they have more innings like this out of Chargois throughout the year.

2 Ks in a perfect Dodgers debut for Chargois.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) March 30, 2018

Beyond Chargois we also had Josh Fields and Tony Cingrani throw immaculate innings. Kershaw was pretty good, but not necessarily great by his own standards. However, our bullpen was excellent tonight.

Up until the 7th inning, the Dodgers hadn’t threatened very much on offense. Ty Blach induced multiple double plays to render the Dodgers without runs in the first few innings. But ironically Kershaw had a perfect night at the plate having two singles in two at-bats. They threatened to at least tie the game in the seventh inning when Yasmani Grandal and Chase Utley singled. After Utley stole second base, unfortunately, Chris Taylor struck out looking on a slider to end the threat.

The bottom of the ninth inning for the Dodgers saw Matt Kemp singling to centerfield. Grandal, stepped up to the plate, having gone 2-2 with a walk already, and struck out on five pitches. Forsythe then stepped up to the plate and probably popped up to third base. Then Joc Pederson stepped up. Despite his postseason heroics, he was unable to do any damage.

FINAL: Giants 1, #Dodgers 0

Back at it tomorrow… (6pm Dodgers on Deck, 7:10 first pitch)

— AM 570 LA Sports (@AM570LASports) March 30, 2018

Unfortunately, this is not how any Dodger fan wanted to start the season. Especially against our sworn rivals the Giants. However, the beautiful thing about baseball is that the season is 162 games long. This was merely game 1. And we know that our Boys in Blue will certainly have many glorious games and memories this year. Welcome back Dodgers baseball. We’ve been missing you all off-season long.