The Los Angeles Dodgers open up their 2026 season on a high note.
The defending back-to-back champions welcomed their National League West Division rivals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, to open up their season. They made quick work of Arizona, defeating the snakes 8-2 behind a Dodgers’ offensive outpour.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 2025 World Series MVP, was tasked with taking the rubber in the season opener. He went his intended distance of six innings, allowing two earned runs, while striking out six and giving up two walks.
It would be the Diamondbacks that would etch their offense on the scoreboard first.
Corbin Carroll led off the top of the fourth inning with a leadoff single that set the table for Geraldo Perdomo to launch a 398-foot, two-run home run.
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“From the first inning, I was able to pitch with full commitment,” Yamamoto said in the postgame following his start. “I did give up a leadoff home run, but I was able to switch gears properly and move on to the next, so I think the rhythm gradually improved like this.”
After five innings, the Dodgers were finally able to figure out Arizona starter Zac Gallen.
Before the start of the fifth, Gallen had retired the first 12 of 13 Dodgers hitters. The lone batter he was unable to get out was Shohei Ohtani when he led off the game with a 111.1-mph single.
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Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández led off the inning with singles, and Andy Pages capitalized with the runners on base, driving in the first three Dodgers runs via a 400-foot, three-run home run to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
Gallen continued to struggle in the inning. After Pages’ homer, he gave up a single to Miguel Rojas and walk to Ohtani. That ended it for Gallen, ending his bid to win on Opening Day. Gallen went four innings and gave up four earned runs, five hits, walked two, and struck out two.
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Later on in the inning, Will Smith provided extra insurance with an RBI single on a little dribbler down the right-field line.
The Dodgers continued their offensive onslaught in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After Ohtani was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Kyle Tucker drove him in with an RBI double. Mookie Betts drove in Tucker with an RBI single, and Smith added to his RBI count with a two-run shot to give Los Angeles a commanding 8-2 lead.
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Will Klein and Tanner Scott recorded a scoreless eighth and ninth innings to secure the Opening Day win for Los Angeles.
Emmet Sheehan will take the bump for the Dodgers tomorrow, looking to secure the series win, as the Diamondbacks will start Ryne Nelson in hopes of splitting the opening series.
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