The Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to have knocked all the rust off in the week of workouts leading up to their Cactus League opener, as they handily defeated the San Diego Padres, 14-1, on Thursday.
As for how the game got lopsided, the Dodgers lineup did their damage in two big innings. Teoscar Hernández, in his Dodgers debut, cashed in on a bases-loaded chance and drove in two runs to chase Padres starter Joe Musgrove in the first inning.
Kevin Padlo put an exclamation mark on the Dodgers’ huge first inning with a two-run home run. Later in the sixth, Jose Ramos and former first-rounder Kody Hoese each chipped in a two-run double to close out the scoring for L.A..
On the pitching side, Gavin Stone began his 2024 campaign for the Dodgers’ fifth starter spot on the right foot as he quickly dispatched the Padres’ first three batters in his one and only inning of work.
Michael Grove also got through a scoreless inning, as did Ricky Vanasco before Alex Vesia gave up a solo homer in the fourth innin.
Dodgers’ familiarity with Joe Musgrove
Mookie Betts set the tone early on for the Dodgers, and his disciplined approach at the plate seemed to be contagious as almost everyone in the lineup worked long at-bats to drive up Musgrove’s pitch count.
“A lot of our guys have seen Musgrove, and he’s a guy that throws a lot of first-pitch strikes. He didn’t really have his command but we didn’t let him chase us off the plate,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the win.
“Mookie taking the 3-2 breaking ball for a ball, I thought James (Outman) had a great at-bat. All throughout the lineup, early on, I thought we got the pitch count up and it just continued throughout the day.”
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