The Los Angeles Dodgers set a franchise record with 31 consecutive scoreless innings to start a season, falling one short of tying the St. Louis Cardinals’ Major League Baseball record of 32 scoreless innings, set in 1963.
Clayton Kershaw began the streak on Opening Day, throwing seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. He was backed by Louis Coleman and Yimi Garcia, who each threw one inning out of the bullpen as the Dodgers routed the Padres, 15-0.
Their win set an MLB record for largest shutout victory on Opening Day. Coming off a Spring Training in which he was at the center of plenty of criticism, Scott Kazmir turned in six shutout innings on Tuesday.
Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher and Kenley Jansen took care of the final three innings, with Jansen earning a save in the 3-0 win. On top of the pressure that came with making his MLB debut, Kenta Maeda more than answered the bell in the series finale against the Padres.
Maeda matched Kazmir’s effort with scoreless innings, and was backed by Garcia, J.P. Howell and Joe Blanton. However, the Japanese right-hander also received a pair of stellar defensive plays from Adrian Gonzalez to preserve the streak.
What’s more, the Dodgers had some luck on their side as a bang-bang play at home plate went in their favor, despite replay during the Padres’ challenge appearing to show Cory Spangenberg slid under A.J. Ellis’ tag.
For good measure, Maeda hit the first home run of his career. Wood didn’t face much trouble on Thursday until the fifth inning.
He issued a leadoff walk, which was followed by a Kelby Tomlinson bunt single to put two on with none out. Angel Pagan’s soft grounder advanced both runners, and Denard Span’s RBI groundout ended the Dodgers’ streak.
