It wasn’t the smoothest of pitching performances from Zack Greinke, but the Los Angeles Dodgers came through with their first win this season on American soil, beating the San Diego Padres 3-2 thanks to a two-run homer from Yasiel Puig and a finishing touch from Dee Gordon.
After losing on the official opening day, the Dodgers had to come back with something, providing early scores from Puig and Gordon to give the Dodgers a 3-0 in the 4th. First it was Puig, hitting his second home run of the season, to bring home Carl Crawford as well, and Dee Gordon followed with a single helping Juan Uribe score.
The Padres weren’t having the best of hitting days (6-of-32), as Greinke allowed only two hits in the five innings he played in, but eventually his formula was cracked as Sean Smith hit his second consecutive home run to score the first points for the Padres in the game and later a wild pitch from Greinke allowed Jedd Gyorko to reach home.
The Dodgers did allow four hits through their relief pitching and even the save from Kenley Jansen could have gone a lot smoother, but the Padres couldn’t get enough traction going and Jansen picked up his second save of the season while Greinke got his first win. Ian Kennedy started for the Padres, picking up the loss, allowing five hits and three earned runs on his start.
The Padres kept messing up with men on base, leaving seven of them and finishing 0-for-6 with runners in scoring positions. Chris Denforia and Chase Headley finished without a hit on four at bats, while Smith continues to look hot through the first two games of the season – not just his home run, but hitting a .750 up to this point, which will surely drop once this season progresses.
The Dodgers are thinking championship, no doubt. Who won’t with the highest payroll in the league spread across the lineup and pitching staff quite impressively? Their bullpen is giving them some worries early on in the season, but it doesn’t seem to be concerning their manager too much.
We’ve had one bad inning, really. We’re getting it done, but it’s just a little rough right now. It’s not as smooth as it can be. Confident with our guys I think as we get into the normal work, normal days, we’ll be OK.
The Dodgers and Padres will conclude their three game series on Wednesday as Dan Haren on his first season with the Dodgers and Tyson Ross for the Padres will make their 2014 debuts.