Dodgers 7 Padres 0: 2016 Starts off with a Sweep

High fives all around after Wednesday night’s victory. Dodgers made history and Kenta Maeda made an amazing first impression.

Dodgers got off to a quick start with the offense in the top of the first inning. Chase Utley lead off the game and tested Matt Kemp‘s arm as he stretched a double into a triple, the rally started from there. Then a Justin Turner base hit followed by walk from Adrian Gonzalez, double from Carl Crawford and a base hit from Joc Pederson. Before the first inning was over the Dodgers were already ahead of the Padres by four runs and did not slow down from there.

Kenta Maeda stole the show. Maeda made his debut with the Dodgers and made sure he left a lasting impression. He pitched six innings, threw 84 pitches and only allowed five hits while striking out four. He shined with his arm, but amazed with his bat. Maeda came up in the fourth inning and hit his first major league homerun. The dugout burst with excitement as Maeda giggled rounding the bases. A silent treatment awaited him in the dugout, followed by high fives and laughter. In his first game Maeda struck out his first batter (Wil Myers) in the second inning, committed his first error (which turned out to be no big deal), hit his first home run (and the first Dodger home run of the season). All that leaves me with is, Zack Greinke who?

In the seventh inning Yimi Garcia came in and pitched a beauty. After a 1-2-3 inning we were off to the eighth inning where Yasiel Puig again showed that he is seeing the ball much better than he has been. Puig hit a solo shot and the Dodgers lead extended to six runs.

In the eighth inning J.P. Howell took over on the mound and made his first appearance of the 2016 season. Howell picked up just where he left off in 2015 and kept the scoreless inning streak alive.

Then we were off to the ninth! Enrique Hernandez lead off the ninth inning to pinch hit for Howell. He singled and Corey Seager singled right behind him. Hernandez advanced from first to third on Seager’s single and would score the final run for the Dodgers on a Justin Turner sac-fly to deep right field. Joe Blanton entered the game to finalize the sweep in the bottom of the ninth.

All around it was an amazing game! Dodgers put their first sweep of 2016 in the books, started off the season with three shutout victories and extended the scoreless innings streak to 27 innings. The Dodgers became the second team to start off the season with three shutout victories, joining the Cardinals in 1963. The scoreless innings streak also broke history. The Dodgers set a new record of 27 scoreless innings pitched and passed the 24 innings mark that was set by the team in 1974. Maeda made his own mark in the history book tonight as he became the first Japanese pitcher to homer in MLB debut.

A great game all around! Also, if you follow us on Twitter thank you for bearing with me as I live tweeted for the first time Wednesday night’s game.

Tomorrow’s game is a 1:35 start as Alex Wood and the Dodgers face Jake Peavy and the Giants in San Francisco for the Giants home opener. Let’s do it all over again tomorrow!