Shohei Ohtani is not yet ready for his Los Angeles Dodgers debut, but the team got off to a roaring start in Cactus League play with a 14-1 win over the San Diego Padres at Peoria Sports Complex.
Fellow newcomer Teoscar Hernández immediately found himself in position to contribute with the bases loaded and nobody out in the first inning, and he delivered with a ground-rule double that put the Dodgers up 2-0.
Chris Owings connected for a two-run, ground-rule double as well, and Dodgers prospect Andy Pages brought in two more on a base hit. Kevin Padlo’s two-run homer capped off the Dodgers’ eight-run inning.
That was more than enough run support for the Dodgers pitching staff that was led by Gavin Stone getting through a perfect inning with one strikeout.
Michael Grove also struck out a batter in his lone inning of work, but allowed a hit and issued one walk. Ricky Vanasco made it a third scoreless inning for the Dodgers before Alex Vesia surrendered a solo home run to Jake Cronenworth in the fourth.
Elieser Hernández, Stephen Gonsalves, Kevin Gowdy, Eduardo Salazar and John Rooney also pitched in the Dodgers’ win.
The Padres and Dodgers play again Friday at Camelback Ranch. Landon Knack is scheduled to start for L.A.
It’s going to be the final meeting between the two teams before they open the 2024 regular season with the Seoul Series in South Korea from March 20-21.
Dodgers prospects break game open
What already was a commanding lead for the Dodgers turned into a laugher behind their six-run inning in the sixth.
After RBI singles from Travis Swaggerty and Drew Avans, Jose Ramos ripped a two-run double into left field and Kody Hoese later added an extra-base hit to bring in a pair of runners as well.
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