LOS ANGELES – Thursday's residence opener at Dodger Stadium offered a reminder of the bigger scale on which the Dodgers function for the reason that signing of Shohei Ohtani, the game's greatest star. Amidst all of the pomp and circumstance, the staff placed on fairly a present from begin to end.

A full home is anticipated for the house opener, and Dodgers followers delivered, packing 52,667 into Dodger Stadium for the primary sport in Los Angeles. Nevertheless it wasn't simply the gang that was alive, and plentiful. The amount of press overlaying the sport—writers, photographers, tv stories, and the like—felt like the scale normally reserved for a League Championship Collection or possibly even a World Collection.

There have been loads of tales to cowl, together with the Dodgers huge three of Mookie Betts, Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman knocking off the Cardinals in a 7-1 victory. However earlier than that the sport was additionally cool.

Dodgers gamers and supervisor Dave Roberts had been launched earlier than the sport with the usual lineup alongside the foul strains, actually one in all my favourite components of baseball. However all of them entered from heart area, and crossed a blue carpet to succeed in the infield. “I hit my stride,” Roberts joked.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Adrián Beltré, the third baseman who was elected on the primary poll to the Corridor of Fame in January and can be inducted into Cooperstown in July. Beltré performed the primary seven seasons of his profession with the Dodgers, and has been a frequent customer to Dodger Stadium lately, even when solely taking in a sport from the stands. He supplies an excellent column for the Dodgers to take care of a practical relationship with a Corridor of Famer who has departed. It's not at all times that simple.

Beltré threw his first pitch to Clayton Kershaw, who acquired a standing ovation from the gang when he was launched and walked the blue carpet minutes earlier.

Roberts in his three seasons with the Dodgers as a participant was a teammate of Beltré, which provides one other connection to Thursday's festivities.

“Trying again in 2002 to see that that is the place we'd be now, I wouldn't have guessed,” Roberts mentioned. “Watching his first pitch to Clayton Kershaw was loopy, with Clayton going out to get the primary pitch. These are the 2 first-ballot Corridor of Famers.

“I used to be fortunate sufficient to play with Adríán, and to have him right here on the sport was quite a lot of enjoyable. I've been round some nice gamers, and he's proper on the prime of the listing.”

The precise first pitch of the sport was thrown by Tyler Glasnow, who solely wanted 80 extra to complete his six innings. He allowed simply two hits and one run, and struck out 5. Glasnow induced eight swinging strikes in simply 14 swings off his slider.

“The slider labored nicely as we speak. I believe for probably the most half it was my finest pitch. The heater and the curveball wasn't nice, nevertheless it acquired there in the long run,” Glasnow mentioned. “For probably the most half, I used to be capable of throw strikes and keep within the sport.”

After Glasnow's sixth inning, the Dodgers added an insurance coverage run within the backside of the body, which paved the best way for Ryan Yarbrough to finish issues. The left-hander retired 9 of the ten batters he confronted to earn a three-inning save.

The pairing with Glasnow, his former teammate with the Rays, made for an excessive distinction in kinds. The righty Glasnow averaged 96.4 mph on his fastball and 90.7 mph on his slider, with these two pitches accounting for 85 p.c of his choices Thursday. He acquired southpaw Yarbrough averaging 86 mph on his two-seam fastball whereas mixing in a 76 mph curve.

“It's a very good matchup, with fully reverse pitching kinds,” Yarbrough mentioned.

Subsequent

Bobby Miller makes his first begin of the season on Friday evening (7:10 p.m., Apple TV+). Left-hander Zack Thompson begins for the Cardinals.



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