The Los Angeles Dodgers became the last Major League team to play their home opener as they hosted the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday afternoon. The game was delayed a few minutes due to Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, who is in his 67th and final season, being honored in a ceremony that included many Dodger greats.
Kenta Maeda got the start and made his Dodger Stadium debut. He began by hitting Jean Segura on the hand to put the leadoff man on base. However, Maeda rebounded as he retired the next three batters to throw a scoreless first inning.
With left-hander Patrick Corbin on the mound for the Diamondbacks, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts used a lineup heavy on right-handed hitters. Kiké Hernandez got the start in left field and led off with a base hit.
Just like Maeda, Corbin then retired the next three hitters to ending the inning. Maeda found himself in trouble in the top of the second by giving up a single and double to put runners at second and third with no outs.
But, Maeda was able to escape the jam with a strikeout and two groundouts leaving both runners stranded. In his first at-bat of the 2016 season, Howie Kendrick hit a line drive base hit to right field to open the bottom of the second.
Trayce Thompson followed with a dribbler to third that went for an infield single. After Kendrick advanced to third on a fly out, A.J. Ellis laid down a bunt with Kendrick coming down the line. Kendrick scored on the suicide squeeze and the Dodgers took a 1-0 lead.
After another scoreless inning from Maeda, Hernandez led off the bottom of the third with his second single of the game. However, he was stranded by Yasiel Puig, Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner.
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David Peralta drew a leadoff walk in the fourth inning, then advanced to second base as Kendrick booted a grounder hit to his left, allowing Yasmany Tomas to reach. The two-out error didn’t cost the Dodgers as Turner made a nice play on Corbin’s bunt single attempt.
Seager drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, but was stranded as Ellis grounded out to shortstop. Seagura reached on a one-out infield single in the fifth. He was later thrown out attempting to steal second base, ending the inning with Paul Goldschmidt at the plate.
Puig hit a hustle double with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, needing a nifty head-first slide and quick hand movement to avoid Segura’s tag. The Diamondbacks lost their challenge on the safe call at second base. Corbin kept the Dodgers lead at 1-0 by getting Gonzalez to fly out on the next pitch.
Seager helped his pitcher out by making a nice stop and throw on a grounder up the middle to keep Goldschmidt hitless on the day. Maeda then got David Peralta swinging for the second out. Welington Castillo kept the inning alive by dropping a single into left field.
Jake Lamb followed with a double to the right field corner, though the inning ended as Puig threw a dart to the cutoff man (Turner — as part of a shift), who threw home with plenty of time for Ellis to apply the tag.
With six more shutout innings, Maeda moved into fourth on the Dodgers’ all-time list of most scoreless innings to start a career with 12. Pedro Baez entered in the seventh and gave up a two-out solo home run to Nick Ahmed that tied the game at 1-1.
Tyler Clippard came on in relief of Corbin in the bottom half of the inning. Ellis lined a leadoff single to right, only to be erased on pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson’s sacrifice bunt attempt that resulted in a 3-6-4 double play. Clippard struck out Hernandez to end the inning.
Chris Hatcher gave up a solo home run to Goldschmidt with one out in the eighth on a 3-0 pitch. Castillo hit a two-out double, Hatcher intentionally walked Lamb, then walked Tomas to load the bases. Hatcher was replaced by Louis Coleman, who struck out pinch-hitter Rickie Weeks Jr. to end the inning.
After Puig was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the eighth, Gonzalez hit a single to put the tying and go-ahead runners on base with no outs. Nothing came of it, as Daniel Hudson proceeded to retire Turner, Kendrick and pinch-hitter Chase Utley.
The Diamondbacks added to their lead in the ninth behind a Brito RBI triple and Goldschmidt RBI groundout. Seager led off the bottom of the inning with a double, and scored two ground outs later to cut the Dodgers’ deficit to 4-2.
That’s as close as they got, suffering a fourth loss in the last five games.