As Joe Davis put it, the Dodger’s 2019 is off to a roaring start. The Dodgers set a major league record by blasting 8 home runs in their 12-5 opening day bludgeoning of the Arizona Dbacks at Dodger Stadium on Thursday afternoon. The game couldn’t have gone any better as six different Dodgers (Joc Pederson, Enrique Hernandez, Corey Seager, Austin Barnes, Cody Bellinger, and Max Muncy) hit home runs. There was ten home runs hit overall in the game with the Snakes hitting two (Adam Jones, Christian Walker) solo shots later in the game.
The pitching match-up pitted old frenemy Zack Greinke against southpaw Hyun-jin Ryu. With Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill both opening the year on the injured list, the Dodgers turned to Ryu and he was fantastic. Ryu dominated for the majority of the day, while Greinke got lit up like a Christmas tree. It certainly was a sight to see.
It’s important to note that the Dodgers had hit 14 home runs against Greinke previously. Greinke gave up five homers in his 3.2 innings, which brings the total up to 19 for this current Dodger group. This was constant fireworks throughout the day. Wasn’t it wonderful that it came against Greinke?
Dbacks 5 9 0
Dodgers 12 12 0
WP-Ryu-1-0
LP-Greinke-0-1
HR-Pederson-1-2-Hernandez-1-2-Barnes-1-Seager-1-Jones-1-Walker-1-Muncy-1-Bellinger-1
The Dodgers started out by scoring one run in the bottom of the first, two more in the second and four in the fourth, eventually chasing Greinke from the game in that fourth frame. Joc Pederson, (the star of the game with a 3 for 5 2 HRs 4 RBI performance) collected the first hit of 2019 with a double to left over David Peralta’s head. Later in the inning he would score on a Max Muncy grounder.
The Dodgers kept the pressure on Greinke as the veteran continued to leave balls up in the zone. The Dodgers made him pay. In the bottom of the second Austin Barnes singled into left and after a Ryu Sacrifice bunt advanced him to second, he would score on a two-run bomb from Joc that landed over the center field wall. That made the score 3-0 Dodgers.
Fast forward to the bottom of the fourth. The Dodgers would go back-to-back. With Bellinger aboard, Enrique Hernandez homered, (hits first of two) and then Barnes would follow with a blast of his own. The Dodgers would take a 6-0 lead.
Meanwhile Ryu was cruising. He worked around an Eduardo Escobar singled in the first inning and struck out the side. (Wilmer Flores, Peralta and Jones) He then retired the side in order in the top of the second, and struck out John Ryan Murphy in the third to keep the Snakes off the board. He struck out two more in the fourth inning en route to another scoreless frame.
The Dodgers continued to smash. In the bottom of the sixth, Joc hit another home run, a massive blast deep into the right field corner with Hernandez aboard that made the score 9-1 Dodgers. The only blemish on the night for Ryu was a solo home run from Jones in the sixth. Overall Ryu pitched six innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits. He walked none and struck out eight while tossing 82 pitches.
The Dodgers hit three more home runs in the bottom of the seventh. First a Max Muncy blast, and then a Belli bomb to deep center. Finally Hernandez hit his second home run of the game, a line drive smash to left center. The Dodgers were up 12-2.
So with the Dodgers up by ten runs, the dredges of the pitching staff, (I.E. Yimi Garcia, and Brock Stewart) were called into the game to get some low leverage outs. Garcia’s first pitch was a home run to Christian Walker. Then he settled down and retired the side in order. Next was Brock Stewart. The potential long man tossed a scoreless top of the eighth, including getting Escobar to ground into an inning ending double play. Then he allowed three runs in the top of the ninth, which included two doubles, two sacrifice flies, and a single. He secured the final out when Murphy grounded out to short and the Dodgers win it.
More than anything, this game tells you the disparity of talent between the two clubs. The Dbacks are terrible. They’re almost like playing the Padres and the Dodgers are clearly more talented. It’s not even close folks. So go celebrate today, grab a beer and toast to the Dodger’s first victory of 2019. One down and 161 to go. The Dodgers and Dbacks play on Friday evening in the second game of the four game set. Left hander Robbie Ray will counter Ross Stripling at 7:10 PM PST.
It’s just one game.
Joc and Muncy had been borderline horrid during ST, so hopefully this gives them some confidence.
Yueh
Come on man, give the boys some credit. It was a fun day and 8 HRs are awesome! I am not even going to put down Roberts. I know there will be plenty of games for that. Even he can’t screw up 12 runs and give him credit for keeping in Stewart. Why work the BP when it is not necessary? Right?
Last year we had a lot of hot and cold offense. Today was not one to gauge how this team has improved in situational hitting.
Lefty tomorrow. Cue the platoon.
We have good starting pitching with depth, defense and I believe a potentially solid bullpen. Improved situational hitting is the key.
On MLBN Radio Roberts already said the Martin catches Stripling tonight. This after Barnes has a great game! And watch as Joc sits tonight after his great game and THAT is where I get upset, when Dodgers sit someone after a great game just because of the hand the pitcher throws with… Can we all say here comes the platooning?
Amazing opening day. Believe it or not, I, Bluefan4Life, have nothing to whine about… well maybe one thing…. Stewert got smacked around.
Good to see Greinke get slapped around.
Ryu was on point today…. proved me wrong. 1 earned run, 8 Ko’s in 6 innings…. Whew!
8 HR’s. Good to see Barnes step up…. he needs to play more consistantly. Corey was solid. Pederson and Kiké… what can I say?
I would like to see this same lineup tomorrow. When your hot, your hot! Missed today’s game with Jury Duty….bummer. I heard Pederson might sit tomorrow due to this lefty/righty crap…. that is rediculous. Give Peddie a chance to prove he can hit Lefties.
Oh well…. I eat crow, today! Taste pretty good! Go Blue!
I am not sure but I wonder if those 10 combined HR’s yesterday was a Dodger Stadium record. Maybe someone here can answer that for me. But it goes to show that even though it was a day game, Dodger Stadium is not as ‘pitcher friendly’ as many make it out to be. On May 25, 1979 I went to a Dodger game and sat in the LF Pavilion and saw Dodgers hit 7 HR’s in that game at night. Dodgers beat the Reds in that game by a 17 to 6 score and the following Dodgers hit HR’s in that game:
Gary Thomasson;
Steve Garvey
Davey Lopes
Dusty Baker
Joe Ferguson
Darrel Thomas
And Rick Sutcliffe the pitcher!
That was fun.
Then I saw that the Padres only scored 2 yet they are tied for first place. Doesn’t seem right.
Yes Paul, here comes the platooning.
I also heard Pederson would sit, as well… that lefty/righty crap.
IMO, it does not make any sense to sit two guys who are showing positive signs at the plate, just because you feel that Martin needs a chance to play? What happened to 6-4 playing time in Barnes’ favor? And Pederson might sit, just because you think he cannot hit lefties? These guys deserve to start today. You do not bench hitters who are showing signs of being hot, and disrupt the lineup.
Sit these guys, and you run the possibility of cooling them off. They are obviously seeing the ball well, should not matter which side or the rubber the ball is coming from… especially early in the season.
I hate ANAL-ytics.