The Los Angeles Dodgers returned home Tuesday after a rough road trip that saw them go 1-4 against division foes in the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco Giants.
It appears being home is just what this team needed, as they earned a 4-0 shutout victory over the Oakland Athletics in the opener of their first interleague series of the season.
The Dodgers offense got going early, as the first two batters in the bottom of the first inning, Chris Taylor and Corey Seager, hit back-to-back home runs. Both players had been struggled to begin the season, so it was nice to see them break out of their slump.
Those two runs were all Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu needed, as he looked the best he had since potentially before the arm injuries that cost him almost all of the 2015 and 2016 seasons.
Ryu carried a no-hit bid into the fifth inning, although that was broken up with two outs in the inning on a base hit up the middle by Athletics outfielder Stephen Piscotty.
That was the only hit Ryu gave up in his six innings of work, as he gave up no runs while striking out eight with only one walk.
After the first inning, the Dodgers offense stayed quiet against Athletics starter Sean Manaea. He was finished after five innings though, and Matt Kemp greeted reliever Liam Hendriks with a leadoff home run in the sixth.
That was followed by a single off the bat of Cody Bellinger, who scored all the way from first on a double by Logan Forsythe to extend the Dodgers lead to 4-0.
The Dodgers relievers continued their strong start to the season in relief of Ryu. Tony Cingrani, Ross Stripling and Kenley Jansen combined to toss three scoreless innings to finish out the victory and move the Dodgers to 4-6 on the season.
