Los Angeles – As you would expect from a season-opener in Hollywood, there was quite a bit of theatre in the Tigers’ 5-4 opening day loss against the defending champion Dodgers before a sellout crowd (53,595) at Dodger Stadium Thursday.
It started with Ice Cube driving the World Series trophy the Dodgers won last fall onto the field in his vintage Chevy Bel Air. Then there was the blood rush of a full military fly-over capped by a touching ceremonial first pitch – Kirk Gibson (the hero of the 1988 World Series) throwing to Freddie Freeman (the hero last year).
More: Watch: Gibby meets Freddie in ceremony before Tigers-Dodgers game in L.A.
BOX SCORE: Dodgers 5, Tigers 4
And that was just the warmup act. The main attraction was the duel between lefty Cy Young winners Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell. But that didn’t exactly stay on script. Both pitchers were out of the game after five innings.
The Tigers stayed patient against Snell, who has made a handsome living on the edges of the strike zone over his career. They worked four walks, three by Spencer Torkelson and he needed 92 pitches to get through five innings.
They had nine base runners in those five innings, twice putting pressure on Snell going first to third on singles to right field. But all they had to show for it was two runs.
Going 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position against Snell (0 for 14 overall) was a problem. Also, in the second inning, Torkelson was thrown out in a rundown between third and home for the first out of the inning. He got too far down the line on a tapper at the plate by Colt Keith.
Torkelson walked and scored on a wild pitch in the fourth. He also blasted a 423-foot homer off lefty reliever Alex Vesia in the seventh that cut the deficit to 4-3.
Newest Tiger Manny Margot, who got singles in his first two at-bats, plated the second run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth.
The Dodgers took the fight to Skubal right out of the gate. Shohei Ohtani hit his first pitch 109.6 mph but right at Keith at first base. They hit four balls over 100 mph in the first two innings.
One of those was a 401-foot solo home run by Tommy Edman, who smashed a 1-1, center-cut fastball.
Skubal was 20 pitches in before he got his first swing and miss. He was 12 batters in before he got his first strikeout.
Aside from living too much in the heart of the plate, Skubal’s stuff was strong as ever. He was hitting 99 mph with his four- and two-seam fastballs and throwing firmer-than-usual changeups (90 mph) and sliders (88-91).
Subscribers: Tigers’ Flaherty facing former mates on Dodgers’ ring ceremony night: ‘Special’
He also got some defensive help from center fielder Ryan Kreidler, who was making his first career big-league start in center. He raced 103 feet to right-center, dived and made a spectacular catch on the track of a blast by Edman in the fourth.
Skubal took a 2-1 lead into the fifth inning. With two outs and runner on first, he walked Mookie Betts on four pitches. His next pitch to Teoscar Hernandez, a 97-mph four-seamer that was up and over the plate, changed the course of the game.
Hernandez hit it over 400 feet into the bleachers in left center, putting the Dodgers up 4-2.
The final four innings featured an intriguing bit of baseball chess between Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Tigers’ AJ Hinch.
Roberts used right-hander Ben Casparius against a pocket of right-handed hitters at the bottom of the Tigers’ lineup in the sixth. Hinch countered by using lefty pinch-hitters Zach McKinstry (walk) and Kerry Carpenter (pop out).
Hinch let righty-swinging Andy Ibanez hit against Casparius because Roberts had lefty Vesia warm and ready in the bullpen. Also, he knew lefty Tanner Scott would be lurking later in the game.
Roberts’ move got two right-handed hitters out of the game (Javier Baez and Kreidler). But he had to pick his poison again in the seventh. He brought in Vesia with lefty Riley Greene leading off and Vesia struck Greene out.
But Vesia had to face Torkelson and that was advantage Tigers. Torkelson’s blast hit off the fencing behind the Dodgers’ bullpen.
But Roberts’ bullpen is arguably the deepest in baseball. He was able to use Scott (with McKinstry and Carpenter coming back around). Lefties last season were 9 for 68 against Scott.
McKinstry greeted him with a triple to lead off the eighth. It was the first triple Scott allowed a lefty since 2022. Carpenter knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to left, again making it a one-run game.
Scott was able to get out of the eighth, getting lefty-slayer Andy Ibanez to fly to the track in right center.
Roberts then called on his closer, right-hander Blake Treinen to finish it off. And things got tense.
Gleyber Torres led off with a single and stole second. Torkelson, for the fourth time, walked. The Tigers had two chances to tie the game. Treinen struck out lefty pinch-hitter Trey Sweeney, the former Dodgers’ farmhand who came to the Tigers in the Jack Flaherty trade last July.
That left it up to Keith, the lefty who was facing a right-hander for the first time in the game. Treinen broke his bat on a foul pop out to first.
@cmccosky
