Page 19 - ARUBA TODAY

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SPORTS Friday 29 March 2019
Power surge! Dodgers hit 8

HRs in 12-5 win over Arizona

By GREG BEACHAM Ryu, who retired 13 straight batter stretch in the sixth
AP Sports Writer during one stretch, be- and seventh, abruptly top-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Joc came the second Korean- pling the majors' opening
Pederson and Enrique Her- born pitcher to start on day power record.
nandez each hit two of the opening day in the majors. Pederson delivered as the
Los Angeles Dodgers' eight Meanwhile, Greinke's latest Dodgers' leadoff hitter. Af-
home runs, which set a ma- return to Dodger Stadium ter doubling and scoring in
jor league record for open- was a debacle. the first inning, he hit one Los Angeles Dodgers' Joc Pederson hits a two-run home run dur-
ing day and tied the fran- The $206.5 million right- of Greinke's curveballs 420 ing the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Dia-
chise mark for any game, hander allowed four hom- feet to straightaway center mondbacks, Thursday, March 28, 2019, in Los Angeles.
during a 12-5 victory over ers for the fifth time in his in the second. Associated Press
the Arizona Diamondbacks career, but only the sec- Hernandez drove a two-
on Thursday. ond time this decade. run shot to left in the fourth. run shot off Koch in the day instead of Jake Lamb,
Hernandez, Austin Barnes The Dodgers also hit four Barnes followed with a solo sixth, the Dodgers reached who was injured for part of
and Corey Seager all hom- against their former star shot to left — and two outs historic homer territory with spring. Paul Goldschmidt
ered in the fourth inning to on Sept. 5, 2016, in Chavez later, Seager chased Grein- shots by Muncy, Bellinger had been Arizona's starting
chase Arizona ace Zack Ravine, where Greinke has ke with his first homer since and Hernandez in a four- first baseman for the previ-
Greinke. allowed 14 homers in 34 in- April 28. Seager was back batter stretch of the sev- ous seven opening days. ...
Max Muncy, Cody Bellinger nings since his big-money in the Dodgers' lineup for enth. Ildemaro Vargas made the
and Hernandez then con- move to Arizona. the first time since missing TRAINER'S ROOM opening day roster in place
nected in the seventh for Arizona reliever Matt Koch nearly all of last season due Diamondbacks: Manager of Steven Souza Jr., who is
the power-packed Dodg- allowed the Dodgers' other to Tommy John surgery. Torey Lovullo put Walker out for the year with a knee
ers, whose pursuit of a third four homers over a seven- After Pederson hit a two- at first base on opening injury.q
straight National League
pennant got off to a thrill-
ing start.
Adam Jones and Christian
Walker went deep for the
Diamondbacks, but their
pitching staff's eight hom-
ers allowed also set a team
record.
The Dodgers broke base-
ball's previous opening day
record of six homers, set
by the Mets in 1988 and
matched by the White Sox
in 2008.
Los Angeles also equaled
the franchise mark set
against Milwaukee on
May 23, 2002, when Shawn
Green hit four of the Dodg-
ers' eight.
The Dodgers finished sec-
ond in the majors last sea-
son with 235 homers, and
they were even more po-
tent in their first regular-
season game under new
hitting coach Robert Van
Scoyoc. All eight dingers
were hit by returning play-
ers to the Dodgers, who
have only two new position
players on their opening
day roster.
The Dodgers provided
ample support for Hyun-Jin
Ryu, who yielded four hits
and struck out eight over six
stellar innings as Los Ange-
les' first opening day starter
not named Clayton Ker-
shaw since 2010. Kershaw's
franchise-record streak of
eight consecutive opening
day starts ended due to left
shoulder inflammation.