The Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates his two-run home run with Shohei Ohtani during the third inning on Thursday.
Jae C. Hong | AP photo
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LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani reached three times in his home debut for the Dodgers, and Los Angeles beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 Thursday in the Dodger Stadium opener to a season of sky-high expectations.
Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman homered in the third inning, and Tyler Glasnow pitched six innings of two-hit ball for the Dodgers. One week after Los Angeles began the season with two games in South Korea, the club showed off the talent throughout an expensive, star-studded roster headlined by three former MVPs at the top of the batting order.
No addition was bigger than Ohtani, who showed no signs of distraction after a tumultuous week in which he emphatically denied betting on sports after the firing of his longtime interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.
After receiving a standing ovation from the raucous sellout crowd of 52,667, Ohtani doubled in his first official at-bat at Chavez Ravine since agreeing to his record 10-year, $700 million contract. The two-time AL MVP followed with a walk and a single as the Dodgers’ designated hitter.
Freeman had two hits and drove in three runs, while Betts scored three runs while reaching base three times. Teoscar Hernández doubled and scored in the sixth inning of his own Dodgers home debut, while Max Muncy drove in two runs.
Glasnow (1-0) was sharp in his home debut for his hometown team, striking out five and allowing just one run over 81 pitches. Glasnow, who also started the Dodgers’ opener in Seoul last week, is expected to be a pillar for Los Angeles after its rotation was decimated by injuries and off-field troubles last season.
Ryan Yarbrough pitched three innings of one-hit relief for his first save.
Paul Goldschmidt homered off Glasnow, and Miles Mikolas (0-1) yielded seven hits and five runs for the Cardinals, who managed just three hits on their opening day.
PADRES 6, GIANTS 4
SAN DIEGO — Jake Cronenworth’s two-run double highlighted a four-run seventh inning for San Diego, which beat San Francisco to spoil Bob Melvin’s return to San Diego.
While it was opening day for the Giants, the Padres began the season by splitting a two-game series last week against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Seoul, South Korea.
Melvin managed the Padres for the last two seasons before leaving for the Giants with a year left on his contract. He skippered the Padres into the 2022 NL Championship Series and then presided over a disappointing season that included reports of an irreparable relationship with general manager A.J. Preller. He was replaced by Mike Shildt.
BLUE JAYS 8, RAYS 2
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — George Springer, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered to lead Toronto to a season-opening victory over Tampa Bay.
Alejandro Kirk and Bo Bichette drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who scored five times in the sixth inning after being limited to one hit — Springer’s solo homer in the fourth — off Rays starter Zach Eflin (0-1) through five innings.
José Berríos (1-0), making his second opening-day start for the Blue Jays and fourth overall, gave up a leadoff homer to Yandy Díaz on his fifth pitch of the day and also yielded a RBI double to the defending AL batting champion in the sixth.
TWINS 4, ROYALS 1
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pablo Lopez allowed one run over seven innings, Royce Lewis homered before leaving with an injury, and Minnesota beat Kansas City to begin defense of its AL Central crown.
Carlos Correa added three hits and two RBIs to back a near-peerless performance by Lopez, who picked up where he left off last postseason. The right-hander allowed four hits and struck out seven without a walk in his first opening-day start.
The lone run Lopez (1-0) allowed was a homer to Maikel Garcia, the first batter he faced.
REDS 8, NATIONALS 2
CINCINNATI — Nick Martini homered twice and drove in five runs in his first opening-day start, Frankie Montas pitched six shutout innings in his Cincinnati debut and the Reds cruised to a win over Washington.
Martini, a 33-year-old designated hitter with his fourth major league team since 2018, hit a two-run homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the third for a 7-0 lead off Josiah Gray (0-1). Martino became the first Cincinnati player to hit two homers on opening day since Adam Dunn in 2007.
TIGERS 1, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO — Tarik Skubal pitched six innings of three-hit ball and Detroit opened a promising season on a winning note, beating Chicago.
Skubal and three relievers combined to retire the final 17 batters. The White Sox did not advance past first base and wasted a terrific start by Garrett Crochet.
Javier Báez singled and scored on Andy Ibáñez’s sacrifice fly in the third. The Tigers finished with six hits.
ORIOLES 11, ANGELS 3
BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes allowed one baserunner in a dominant debut for Baltimore, and Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins both homered as the Orioles began their AL East title defense with a rout of Los Angeles.
Mike Trout hit a first-inning home run off Burnes, but the Angels managed nary a peep against the new Baltimore ace after that. Burnes (1-0) struck out 11 in six innings in his first start after the Orioles acquired the right-hander from Milwaukee in an offseason trade.