Happy Opening Day!
Joc Pederson, Yasmani Grandal and Corey Seager all homered and the Los Angeles Dodgers blew the doors off Dodger Stadium, defeating the San Diego Padres, 14-3, on Opening Day at the Ravine.
San Diego struck first, capitalizing on a first inning error by Seager, but the Dodgers struck harder, hanging a high-five on the Padres in the third inning, thanks in part, to a grand slam from Pederson.
It was the first time a Dodger player had hit a grand slam on Opening Day since Eric Karros did it on April 3, 2000, against the now non-existent, Expos.
"I had some Opening Day jitters," admitted Pederson. "I was just trying to slow the whole game down. I got some runners on base, so I just wanted to put a good swing on a pitch I could hit...and I hit it."
Pederson also tallied five total RBI in the game, the most by a Dodger on Opening Day since Raul Mondesi had six on April 5, 1999.
Grandal followed with a home run, marking the first time in franchise history the Dodgers hit back-to-back home runs on Opening Day.
"I was very excited to have my first start on Opening Day," the former Padre set of his afternoon at the plate. "It was very exciting to do it here at Dodger Stadium. The atmosphere was like a postseason game."
Two innings later, Seager crushed a fastball from former catcher turned reliver Christian Bethancourt. It was the first homer of the season for the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, and the first home run allowed in Bethancourt's pitching career.
The 25-year-old native of Panama was converted into a reliever at the end of last season, and famously homered against the Dodgers while playing catcher in the infamous 17-inning game at Petco Park last May.
Grandal would later homer again, this time from the right side of the plate, becoming the first Dodger since Mondesi to have a multi-homer game on Opening Day.
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The four total home runs by the Boys in Blue, was also the most ever hit on Opening Day in franchise history.
The Padres learned the hard way that you don't give one of the best pitchers on the planet a lead. Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers Opening Day starter for the past seven seasons, improved to 6-0 on Opening Day.
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Kershaw improved to a perfect 82-0 in the regular season when given a lead of four runs or more. Kershaw also got a hit at the plate, giving him as many hits as the Padres entire team through six innings, before allowing a homer run to Ryan "Don't call me Detlef" Schimpf in the seventh inning.
Kershaw (1-0) tied the Dodgers all-time franchise record for Opening Day starts with Don Drysdale and Don Sutton.
"If you don't get butterflies on Opening Day, it's tie to do something else," said Kershaw of his seventh consecutive Opening Day start.
The three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
Clayton KKKKKKKKershaw likes #OpeningDay starts. pic.twitter.com/GDOLqCf6vC — Chavez Ravine Fiends (@RavineFiends) April 3, 2017
Up Next:
The Padres (0-1) will start left-hander Clayton Richard on Tuesday.
The Dodgers (1-0) counter with Kenta Maeda at 7:10PM PST
