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.
Shohei Ohtani launched his second home run of the season and scored twice for the Dodgers. Tommy Edman also went deep.
Snell (1-0), a two-time Cy Young Award winner who signed a $182 million, five-year contract with Los Angeles as a free agent in the offseason, allowed two runs and five hits over five innings. The left-hander struck out two and walked four.
Hernández connected 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’s solo homer in the seventh extended the lead to 5-3.
The Dodgers improved to 3-0, having opened the season with two wins 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. Detroit 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.
Blake Treinen entered to pitch the ninth with the Dodgers leading 5-4. He put two runners 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 2025 debut. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-0, 1.80 ERA) goes for Los Angeles.
Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a solo home run during the seventh inning of the home-opening baseball game against the Detroit Tigers in Los Angeles, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
