The Dodgers picked up the win on Opening Day by defeating Arizona Thursday night.
The Los Angeles offense managed five runs against D-backs ace Zac Gallen, who finished fifth in Cy Young voting last year. It was a good turnaround for the Dodgers after Gallen dominated them in 2022.
Leading the charge for L.A. was Will Smith. He had a great first game of the season, going 3-4 with four RBI.
Smith knocked in each of the first three Dodger runs with singles in the third and fifth innings. Smith also scored a run to top off his productive night.
“Just happy to be back at Dodger Stadium. It was a great Opening Day, playing in front of our fans so just having a lot of fun overall,” Smith said to SNLA after the game.
James Outman and Miguel Vargas each made their first career Opening Day starts. Outman excelled, going 2-3 with a two-run homer, a walk and three runs scored. The long ball was the second of Outman’s short major league career. He now has 16 total major league at-bats under his belt and has posted a 1.600 career OPS.
Although Vargas did not tally a hit, he reached base twice via walk and scored a run. The rookie was also part of two 5-4-3 double plays the Dodgers infield turned.
Three major league veterans in J.D. Martinez, David Peralta and Miguel Rojas made their Dodger debuts in the win.
Both Peralta and Rojas posted two-hit performances, with Peralta driving in a run and Rojas scoring one. Martinez also drove in a run in a 1-4 performance.
Furthermore, Freddie Freeman kicked off his season successfully by going 2-4 with a walk and a run scored.
Mookie Betts and Max Muncy struggled at the plate, combining for eight strikeouts across nine at-bats. Muncy went down on strikes all five times he batted. Betts drew one walk and scored, but he finished 0-4.
Julio Urías battled through a slow start to throw six solid innings. After giving up an earned run in each of the first two frames, Urías only allowed one hit while shutting out Arizona over the next four innings.
In total, the Dodgers ace allowed four hits while striking out six and walking none. Urías picked up his first win of the season in the effort.
Perfect frames from Phil Bickford, Shelby Miller and Yency Almonte across the final three innings secured the win for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers are now 1-0 in the new year. They are tied for first in the NL West with the Rockies, who defeated the Padres 7-2 in their Opening Day matchup.
Los Angeles will play the Diamondbacks again Friday for the second matchup of their four-game set. Dustin May will face off with Arizona starter Merrill Kelly with first pitch set for 7:10 P.M. The Dodgers will have their first Dodger Stadium Drone Show following the game.
“Tonight, I hope was a sign of things to come,” Dave Roberts said postgame.
