SAN DIEGO—The Los Angeles Dodgers started the season off red-hot with a 15-0 victory over the San Diego Padres on Monday, April 4 at Petco Park.
The Dodgers were rolling in all facets of the game, especially on the mound, where Los Angeles ace Clayton Kershaw proved once again why he is one of the best and most dangerous pitchers in the game.
Kershaw pitched a pretty much flawless 7-inning, one-hit, no runs game. The impressive victory enhanced Kershaw’s Opening Day line to 4-0 with a 0.93 ERA in such games. That ERA is the second lowest all-time for an opening day starter with at least five starts and puts him behind Rick Mahler by one percentage point.
“It was just a fun day,” Kershaw said to MLB.com. “Fifteen — hopefully I can make that stand-up.”
He proved that he would do more than enough to make the score stand.
The game featured a managerial debut for both clubs as Andy Green made his first appearance as skipper for the Padres, and Dave Roberts became the first minority manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Just last year, Roberts was the bench coach for the Padres and it showed that he knew how to attack his old pitcher Tyson Ross by pounding him with nine hits and eight runs (seven earned) in just five and one-third innings.
Louis Coleman and Yimi Garcia pitched shut-outs during the 8th and 9th innings respectively to complete the dominating win.
The victory was the largest opening day shut-out in Major League history, and the Dodgers biggest opening day win and most hits on opening day since moving to Los Angeles.
It was the Padres worst opening day loss and their worst loss at Petco Park.
The two ball clubs will take the mound again Tuesday night at Petco Park at 7:10 p.m. Scott Kazmir gets the start for the Dodgers, as he will try to replace last year’s number two starter Zach Greinke who signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the offseason.
The Padres will give James Shields the start with a chance to give his manager, Andy Green, his first Major League victory as skipper.
