"Championship or Bust" Dodgers stifle the Giants 8-1, Mookie shines in debut
Los Angeles-- A day after the exhilaration and jubilation with locking in Mookie Betts as a Dodger for the rest of his career, the sport of baseball knows how to humble you very fast. With the unfortunate result of Clayton Kershaw's back flaring up, Dustin May was forced into his first Opening Day start, and he showed why the Dodgers are so high on him in an 8-1 victory over the lowly San Francisco Giants. May, 22, became the first Dodgers rookie to start on opening day since Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
Since he was penciled in at the very last-minute as an Opening Day starter, you can't expect May to pitch a complete game shutout. Instead, he turned in a solid performance, squandering seven singles in 4.1 innings, surrendering no walks, and striking out four.
Now, there wasn't much action throughout the game for San Francisco offensively, but surprisingly the Giants had a couple of opportunities early to blow the game open, but they squandered pretty much every opportunity, which is a sign of a bad baseball team. After three consecutive singles to start the third inning, it was looking like it could be a short start for May, but after allowing a Pablo Sandoval sacrifice fly he buckled down and escaped without further damage by inducing a strikeout also a groundout. In the 5th inning, more trouble came when two runners reached, but Caleb Ferguson immediately did his job thanks to poor baserunning by the Giants.
Los Angeles bats didn't do much better until the second half of the game, but that's when the floodgates started to open up. Down 1-0 in the 4th, Corey Seager smoked a two-out double and Kike Hernandez drove him immediately after with a bloop single to tie the game. When the 7th came around, it was evident the Dodgers were ready to put the game away with a 5-run seventh inning. A one-out single from Betts, a double from Cody Bellinger (The Killer B's?), and then clever baserunning play from Betts gave LA a 2-1 lead. “I was running on contact,” Betts said. “I saw it on the ground and I tried to turn on the turbo to get there and I was able to get in safe.” More two-out magic appeared with Hernandez two-run single, an Austin Barnes RBI single, and Max Muncy drew a walk which made it 6-1. To cap off his great night, Hernandez pulled a two-run home run to make it 8-1 and the cardboard cutouts of the Dodger faithful were smirking from ear to ear.
A day after signing a 12-year, $365-million contract before playing a significant game in a Dodgers uniform, the star right fielder launched his career by kneeling during the national anthem in protest of racial injustice and police brutality. It was a beautiful sight to see. "It was just unity," Betts said. "We're all on the same team, we're all here for change, even the Giants." Betts' view on kneeling has evolved since 2016 when he said he wouldn't take such action. His father, Willie, served in Vietnam with the U.S. Air Force. "I wasn't educated, and that's my fault," Betts said. "I know my dad served and I'll never disrespect the flag, but they also have to be change. Kneeling is for the injustice."
He struggled in his first three at-bats, striking out in his first plate appearance, before picking it up in the 7th inning. “It felt like a weight came off my back, just trying to get that first one,” Betts said. “The first one seems like it’s the hardest to get.”