Kershaw Dominant Against Diamondbacks in MLB Opener Down Under

By Francisco Romero

In his fourth consecutive opening Day with the Los Angeles Dodgers Clayton Kershaw gave his team what they expected of him, a dominant game to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-1 on Opening Day. 

An Unorthodox Opening Day Game: 1.  It was played in another continent (Australia).   2.  It was played in a converted cricket field. 3.  Both teams have to come to the United States and finish playing Spring Training Games.

The game was delayed 14 minutes because of rain. 

38,266 fans enjoyed Kershaw’s performance.  The 2013 Cy Young Award Winner allowed only one run in 6.2 inning of work, walked 1 and struck out 7 while throwing 102 pitches.

Scott Van Slyke shined on the offensive side, for the dodgers going 2-3 with a double, a home run a run scored and 2 RBI’s.  Yasiel Puig batting first in the line up went 0-5.

Arizona got to Kershaw in the sixth inning; Paul Goldschmidt led off the inning with a double, moved to third base on a wild pitch and scored on Mark Trumbo’s grounder to second.

Arizona’s starter Wade Miley got the loss.  In five inning of work he allowed 3 earned runs on 3 hits, he walked 2 and struck out 8.

Kenley Jensen got the save for the Dodgers tossing inning, walking 1 and striking out 1.

“Offensively, I think we’re a much better club than we’ve shown while we’ve been here,” Gibson said. “We battled through the game. I thought our pitching was pretty good. Theirs was good. We’ll have to come back and get them tomorrow,” mentioned Gibson to MLB.com.

The Arizona Diamondbacks open up the regular season in the United States March 31^st against the San Francisco Giants at home.