Opening Day Recap: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Overpower Padres
Opening Day Recap: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers Overpower Padres
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

PAGES: 1 | 2

Jay lined a two-out base hit to left field in the bottom of the third to end Kershaw’s early no-hit bid. Norris lined out on the next pitch to end the inning. Pederson fell victim to a shift in the fourth as he made solid contact, but grounded right to Padres second baseman Cory Spangenberg in shallow right field.

Ross then struck out Ellis, and got Kershaw on a little tapper up the first base line. San Diego wasn’t able to get any offense going in the bottom of the fourth as they were retired in order, with Kemp striking out swinging to open the inning, and Alexei Ramirez going down looking for the third out.

Kershaw kept the Padres off the bases in fifth, ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Ross hit Puig with a pitch in the sixth, which was followed by Crawford reaching on an infield single.

Pederson pulled an RBI double inside first base, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0. With the Padres infield playing on the grass, Ellis’ chopper went into center field, plating two more runs.

Kershaw showed bunt, then pulled back to slap a single to center. Ryan Buchter came on in relief of Ross and was greeted by an Utley RBI single. Seager’s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers an 8-0 lead before Buchter could end the inning.

The bottom of the sixth was another easy inning for Kershaw as he extended his streak of consecutive batters retired to 10. Luis Perdomo entered for the Padres in the seventh and promptly walked Gonzalez to start the inning.

Puig then hit a chopper up the middle to give the Dodgers two on with none out. Trayce Thompson capitalized by pulling an RBI double down the left field line. With two outs and the bases loaded, Utley added to his day with a two-run single.

Kershaw struck out two batters in the bottom of the seventh, giving him nine in the game and extending his streak of retired batters to 13. After Turner led off the eighth with a double, he scored on Gonzalez’s RBI base hit.

Gonzalez then came around to score on Puig’s RBI triple, who also scored as the throw to third base got away. Following a Thompson walk and Pederson’s second double of the game, Ellis’ RBI groundout made it 15-0 in favor of the Dodgers.

Louis Coleman and Yimi Garcia combined for scoreless work in the eighth and ninth innings. The win was the Dodgers’ sixth straight on Opening Day. The 15-0 victory was the largest shutout win in Opening Day history.