Dodgers' Snell Dominates in Home Opener, Ohtani Homers!

2025-03-28 06:00:43.51

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Snell won his Dodgers debut, Teoscar Hernández hit a three-run homer and Los Angeles defeated the Detroit Tigers 5-4 in its home opener Thursday. Shohei Ohtani launched his second home run of the season and scored twice for the Dodgers. Tommy Edman also went deep. Snell (1-0), a two-time Cy Young Award winner who signed a $182 million, five-year contract with Los Angeles as a free agent in the offseason, allowed two runs and five hits over five innings. The left-hander struck out two and walked four. Hernández connected off Tarik Skubal (0-1) on his first pitch with two outs in the fifth, putting the Dodgers back in front 4-2. Ohtani reached on a fielder’s choice and Mookie Betts walked to set up Hernández. Ohtani’s solo homer in the seventh extended the lead to 5-3. The Dodgers improved to 3-0, having opened the season with two wins over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo this month. The defending World Series champions and a sellout crowd of 53,595 saw the Commissioner’s Trophy arrive on the field in a blue convertible driven by rapper Ice Cube before the game. Snell’s wild pitch led to Spencer Torkelson scoring the Tigers’ first run in the fourth. Snell gave up back-to-back singles to Gleyber Torres and Riley Greene before walking Torkelson to load the bases in the fifth. Detroit took a 2-1 lead on Manuel Margot’s sacrifice fly. Torkelson homered to cut the Tigers’ deficit to 4-3 in the seventh. They again got within a run in the eighth on Kerry Carpenter’s sacrifice fly off Tanner Scott. Key moment: Blake Treinen entered to pitch the ninth with the Dodgers leading 5-4. He put two runners on, then retired Trey Sweeney and Colt Keith for the save. Key stat: Skubal, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, gave up four runs and six hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out two and walked one. Up next: RHP Jack Flaherty, who left the Dodgers in the offseason to return to Detroit, makes his 2025 debut. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 1.80 ERA) goes for Los Angeles.