LOS ANGELES—Freddie Freeman had three hits, Teoscar Hernández homered for the second straight game, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants 8–3 Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
James Paxton (1–0) threw five scoreless innings in his debut for the Dodgers, who have won four of their past five games.
“There’s been no let off,” manager Dave Roberts said of Los Angeles’ 5–2 start to the season. “We had the start in [South] Korea, then to come back here, reset and find a way to win three in a four-game series against the Cardinals, and start this series against the Giants with a win is a good start.”
San Francisco’s Michael Conforto hit a solo home run down the right-field line in the sixth inning. Keaton Winn (0–1) allowed three runs and struck out six in five innings.
“It’s a good start,“ said Conforto, who has three homers. ”There’s still some at-bats where I feel like I’m missing some pitches and could get some things going. But overall, it is nice to see the ball leave the ballpark.”
Freeman—second in the major leagues last season with 211 hits—had his third multi-hit game in his past five. He also had two RBIs on a base hit in the third inning and a double in the seventh.
The first four batters in the Dodgers’ lineup—Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freeman, and Will Smith—accounted for eight of the team’s nine hits and five RBIs. Smith drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly in the third inning and single in the seventh.
“It’s just fun,“ Freeman said. ”If you would talk to a lot of us, we would say we’re not feeling the best but we’re still getting hits. It’s good to score some runs, and James grinded out five really good innings today.”
Hernández blasted a hanging slider by Tyler Rogers halfway up the bleachers in left-center field for a three-run homer in the sixth to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 6–1. It was the fourth time in four games the right fielder has gone deep.
Paxton allowed four hits, walked five, and struck out five. The left-hander retired the Giants in order only once and had three innings where there were two or more runners aboard. San Francisco had the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth, but Wilmer Flores grounded out to end the inning.
The Dodgers struck quickly against Winn. Betts led off with a triple off the wall in left center when center fielder Jung Hoo Lee crashed into the wall as he tried to make the catch. Betts scored on Ohtani’s grounder.
