Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman hit home runs, Blake Snell went five strong innings and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers capped a day of celebration with a 5-4 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
In his Dodgers debut, the free-agent addition Snell (1-0) gave up two runs on five hits over five innings with two strikeouts. The two-time Cy Young Award winner was able to work around four walks. Blake Treinen pitched a scoreless ninth for his first save.
Ohtani hit his second home run in the third game of the season as the Dodgers played at home for the first time since a victory in Game 2 of the 2024 World Series against the New York Yankees.
In his first start since winning the American League Cy Young Award last season, Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal (0-1) gave up four runs on six hits over five innings with a walk and two strikeouts. Spencer Torkelson hit a home run with four walks for Detroit, while Manuel Margot had a sacrifice fly in his Detroit debut.
Edman, the MVP of the NLCS last season, gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his homer. The Tigers tied the game when Torkelson scored in the fourth on a Snell wild pitch. Margot’s sacrifice fly put Detroit up 2-1 in the fifth.
The Dodgers answered in the bottom of the fifth, getting a single from Andy Pages and a walk from Mookie Betts. Hernandez hit a two-out, first-pitch fastball from Skubal over the wall in center field for a 4-2 Los Angeles lead.
Torkelson’s home run came in the top of the seventh before Ohtani responded with his homer in the bottom of the inning. Kerry Carpenter’s sacrifice fly pulled Detroit within a run in the eighth.
The Tigers put two aboard with one out in the ninth before Treinen finished off the victory by striking out Trey Sweeney, then Colt Keith fouled out to first base.
The Tigers were facing their Dodgers to open the season for the first time in franchise history, while Los Angeles opened its home schedule against an American League club for the first time.
