LOS ANGELES — The star-studded high of the Dodgers’ order has lengthy been established as such: Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernández.
However when all 4 had been in the identical regular-season lineup for the primary time this 12 months, supervisor Dave Roberts opted to deviate from his fastidiously laid plans with robust left-hander Tarik Skubal on the mound, shifting Hernández to the three-hole and batting Freeman cleanup.
“There is a Teoscar tax to get by way of Freddie the third time,” a prescient Roberts mentioned earlier than the Dodgers beat the Tigers, 5-4, of their home dwelling opener on Thursday.
Certainly, the Tigers needed to pay up.
Hernández took reigning AL Cy Younger Award winner Skubal deep within the fifth, crushing a three-run shot to straightaway middle that returned the result in the Dodgers. It was the second of three L.A. homers, as Tommy Edman opened the scoring with a solo shot within the second and Ohtani added some insurance coverage with an opposite-field blast within the seventh.
Los Angeles grew to become accustomed to Hernández’s heroics final 12 months, when he put collectively arguably the very best offensive season of his profession to arrange a return to the Dodgers on a three-year, $66 million deal.
After sweeping the Cubs in final week’s two-game Tokyo Collection, the Dodgers performed their first significant sport of their dwelling ballpark because the World Collection. There was a festive air because the crew walked in from middle discipline on a blue carpet for the pregame introductions, carrying particular gold jerseys as a part of a celebration of final season’s championship.
