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.
Snell (1-0), a two-time Cy Young Award winner who signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in the offseason, allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. The left-hander struck out two and walked four.
Hernández homered 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 homered in the seventh, extending the lead to 5-3.
The Dodgers improved to 3-0, having opened the season with a pair of victories 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. The Tigers 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 came in to pitch the ninth with the Dodgers leading 5-4. He put the potential tying and go-ahead runs 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 season debut. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 1.80 ERA) goes for Los Angeles.
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