It was another beautiful Opening day at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday with the Dodgers hosting the Diamondbacks. Newly-aquired Japanese pitching sensation Kenta Maeda, took the mound for the Dodgers facing off against Patrick Corbin.
But not before the traditional pre-game festivities which paid tribute to and honored the legendary Vin Scully as it's his last season providing play-by-play for the team.
Vin tossed the ceremonial first pitch as famous former Dodgers players cheered him on. They were Don Newcombe, Maury Wills, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Bill Russell, Sandy Koufax, Tommy Lasorda, Fernando Valenzuela, Orel Hershiser, among others. Even team owner Magic Johnson joined in on the fun with former owner Peter O'Malley .
The sellout crowd of 53,279 also gave Vin a standing ovation. They have appreciated the 88-year-old's announcing for 67 years.
What the fans didn't appreciate is the Dodgers losing the game 4-2. In Maeda's debut at Dodger Stadium, he threw six scoreless innings with four strikeouts but got no support from the bullpen after he left the game with a 1-0 lead.
Nick Ahmed tied the game in the seventh inning with a solo homer off Pedro Baez and Paul Goldschmidt put the Diamondbacks ahead with an eighth-inning blast off Chris Hatcher, who would go on to get the recorded loss for the Dodgers. Pitcher Tyler Clippard was awarded the win.
Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez took the blame away from Hatcher when he said that the Dodgers need to produce more runs to support the pitching staff.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, also making his regular season debut at Dodger Stadium, talked about his starting pitcher's performance after the game.
"He has a lot of different weapons and knows how to compete," Roberts said. "He seemed a little stressed in the sixth inning, so I took him out of the game."
Maeda also spoke about his performance. "I did my job, but the team lost," Maeda said. "Some pitches were better for me today, especially my slider, but I felt I had less command today than I did in San Diego." "I shook off some pitches to specific hitters, but A.J.(Ellis - catcher) helped me in certain situations."
Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt has confidence in Maeda. He feels he can pitch out of situations and is not predictable with his pitches.
Diamondbacks manager Chip Hale was satisfied with how his team handled Maeda. "Maybe the only good thing we did off of him was that we kind of pitch-counted him, so his pitch count got deep," Hale said. "They had to go to the bullpen, but we've had some history against those guys. And now we have a little history against Maeda."
A few notables for the Dodgers were Corey Seager, Trayce Thompson and Kike Hernandez. Seager doubled in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to 11, dating to October 1, 2015. Thompson (2-for-3), son of former Laker great Mychal, and Hernandez (2-for-5) posted multi-hit games.
Mychal's other son, Klay, is a guard for the Golden State Warriors. He and Steph Curry are the dynamic duo they call "The Splash Brothers." Good genetics in the Thompson family.
The Dodgers needed to dust themselves off and tried to right the ship as they won two of three games from the Diamonbacks going into the weekend series against the Giants.
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