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The Los Angeles Dodgers picked up where they left off in their return to Rogers Centre.
Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman hit two-run homers, Dalton Rushing went deep twice and Shohei Ohtani had a solo shot as the Dodgers walloped the hometown Toronto Blue Jays 14-2 on Monday night in their first game in Toronto since winning Game 7 of the World Series last fall.
Starter Max Scherzer lasted only two innings due to right forearm tendinitis as the Blue Jays dropped their fifth straight game.
“This is going to happen over the course of the year,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of the skid. “Bad offence, bad defence, bad pitching, giving up homers, it’s going to happen.
“It just seems like right now the baseball world is trying to throw it all at us at once.”
The teams treated baseball fans to a memorable seven-game Fall Classic last year in a battle considered one of the greatest championship series of all time.
The Dodgers still looked like champions Monday night, pumping out 17 hits en route to their fourth straight victory.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have stumbled mightily since a season-opening three-game sweep. The team is mired in a rut, injuries keep piling up and several players in the clubhouse have battled flu-like symptoms in recent days.
Earlier in the day, Schneider confirmed catcher Alejandro Kirk would undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a fractured left thumb.
Scherzer hopeful of making next start
Now there are questions about Scherzer, who remained hopeful he’d be able to make his next start.
“I’m not long-term concerned here,” said Scherzer, who threw 24 of his 36 pitches for strikes. “I had an issue. It just prevented me from making a full start today.”
It was the latest blow to an injury-battered staff. Sidelined pitchers include Trey Yesavage (shoulder), Shane Bieber (forearm), Jose Berrios (elbow), Cody Ponce (knee) and Yimi Garcia (elbow), among others.
“We’re going to be extra careful,” Schneider said. “Max is brutally honest. That’s one of his many great qualities. So I don’t want to say very, but [we’re] fairly to quite fairly confident he’ll make his next start.
“And that was the thinking in taking him out when we did.”
There was plenty of pre-game buzz ahead of the three-game series opener and the usual round of boos during Dodger player introductions.
Energy faded after a lively first inning as the near-sellout crowd of 40,991 realized a rout was in the making.
Hernandez staked the Dodgers to an early lead that the Blue Jays halved in the bottom of the frame.
Defensive mistakes
Toronto struggled after that against Justin Wrobleski (1-0), who allowed two hits and one earned run over five innings.
Scherzer was replaced by left-hander Josh Fleming, who made a throwing error on his first ball in play, one of two Toronto miscues in the inning.
Freeman homered later in the frame and Kyle Tucker drove in Rushing on a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Ohtani welcomed reliever Joe Mantiply to the game in the sixth with a blast to straightaway centre.
Some spectators started heading for the exits a few batters later when Andy Pages smacked a two-run double that gave L.A. an eight-run lead.
Rushing gave Los Angeles a double-digit run total with his leadoff homer in the seventh. He went deep again in the eighth.
Both teams used position players on the mound in the ninth inning.
“A loss is a loss and you’ve got to move past it,” Schneider said.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman (0-0, 0.75 earned-run average) was scheduled to face fellow right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 3.00) on Tuesday at 7:07 p.m. ET.
