Teoscar delivers in Dodgers win

Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – The home opener for the Los Angeles Dodgers proved why they are the best team in baseball. The Dodgers are loaded offensively. Someone can explode at the plate up and down their lineup at any time on any given day.

Sometimes, all it takes is one at-bat to do the damage. That’s exactly what Teoscar Herndandez did. With the Dodgers being relatively quiet offensively for the game (seven hits), Hernandez delivered the blow that put the Dodgers over the top against the Detroit Tigers. 

It was the bottom of the fifth inning. The stage was set up perfectly for Hernandez. Shohei Ohtani reached base with a single. Mookie Betts followed by getting on base as well. Hernandez then stepped up to the plate and crushed the first pitch offering from Detroit pitcher Tarik Skubal, with the ball landing in the left field bleachers. 

For about 30 seconds, Hernandez stood at the plate, majestically watching his bombshell beauty take flight, much to the roaring delight of Dodgers fans across the ballpark. 

When Hernandez unloaded his three-run home run, the Dodgers trailed Detroit 2-1, with the Tigers taking a short-lived lead at the top of the fifth inning. Hernandez erased that deficit with one swing of the bat with the Dodgers going up 4-2. The Dodgers would go on to beat Detroit 5-4 in their home opener. 

Hernandez’s home run seemed like an anti-climatic moment, especially with the Dodgers bringing their World Series trophy to the field for their fans to enjoy before the game. Leading the celebratory parade was rapper Ice Cube, who brought the hardware to the field, being chauffeured in a convertible classic. 

Dodgers newcomer Blake Snell pitched five innings and picked up the win, but was long gone when his team actually secured the victory. That’s because the rest of the game still needed to be played out. 

Hernandez’s home run blast was not the end of the game, and Detroit played like it, adding two more runs in the seventh and eighth innings. 

The Tigers had the opportunity to play spoiler and could have won this game. However, they stranded 11 runners on base after collecting nine hits. That would be their undoing. Detroit also had a porous night in putting the ball in play with runners in scoring position.  

The Tigers went 0-for-15 when they had runners in scoring position. On the other hand, the Dodgers stranded just three base runners in the evening and picked up the winning run in their half of the seventh inning.