Kyle Tucker getting into groove as Dodgers begin three-peat quest
LOS ANGELES — Kyle Tucker‘s first three at-bats produced hard-hit balls that resulted in outs. On his fourth, in Thursday’s seventh inning, Shohei Ohtani broke to second base and Tucker turned on a full-count fastball out over the plate, lining it into the right-center area hole to additional pad his new staff’s lead. It was exactly how the Los Angeles Dodgers envisioned it after they signed Tucker, one of the best free agent in the marketplace, to a four-year, $240 million contract in January — besides the tip.
Tucker tried the Dodgers’ indelible dance, wherein they awkwardly sway their arms and their hips back and forth upon driving in runs, however Tucker obtained solely midway there. His arms moved, however his hips didn’t.
“Gotta maybe clean up the celebration thing a little more,” Tucker admitted after his staff’s 8-2 drubbing of the Arizona Diamondbacks on Opening Day, “but we’ll have plenty of time to work on that.”
Indeed, it was merely considered one of 162 regular-season video games, the primary of what the Dodgers hope are many extra wins and plenty of extra Tucker-aided runs — however it supplied a snapshot of what makes them so harmful.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the D-backs to solely a Geraldo Perdomo two-run homer in six innings, utilizing a six-pitch combine to repeatedly maintain them off stability. And a Dodgers offense that was held to simply two baserunners in opposition to Zac Gallen within the first 4 innings exploded for 4 runs every within the fifth and seventh, throughout which he acquired house runs from Andy Pages and Will Smith and mixed for 12 baserunners. All instructed, the Dodgers cranked out 10 hits, seven of which occurred with two strikes. Ten of their batted balls traveled greater than 100 mph, together with three from Ohtani.
“It certainly has to be taxing when you’re facing our guys, and when you feel like you have to be perfect,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “Just to continue to keep executing and executing, it’s tough mentally, physically. As long as we can be disciplined like we were tonight, we should have opportunities to put up big numbers.”
Roberts started his day by inserting a bottle of 90-proof Traveler Whiskey in every of his gamers’ lockers, an providing to commemorate the beginning of one other lengthy journey. He was upstaged by Ohtani, who gifted every of his teammates and coaches Seiko watches price 1000’s of {dollars}.
“Happy Opening Day!!!” a word on Ohtani’s present bag learn. “Three-Peat!!!”
Throughout Major League Baseball’s extended historical past, solely two franchises — the New York Yankees and the then-Oakland Athletics — have three-peated. The Dodgers need to turn out to be the primary to take action out of the National League, on the heels of turning into the primary back-to-back champions in a quarter-century. In hopes of doing so, they splurged as soon as once more this offseason, signing Edwin Diaz to shore up their questionable ninth inning and including Tucker to safe their place as the deepest, most proficient staff within the sport. The hope is that guys like Diaz and Tucker do not simply make their roster higher, however that frequently including affect gamers injects power into their clubhouse and prevents complacency. Dodgers normal supervisor Brandon Gomes noticed that present up in spring coaching, throughout which he famous “almost another level of focus from what we saw last year.”
“The biggest thing that we talked about is that last year has nothing to do with this year,” Gomes mentioned, “just like it had nothing to do with the year before.”
To commemorate the beginning of their season Thursday, the Dodgers aired a skit that ended with comic Will Ferrell driving a blue lowrider with Miguel Rojas and Freddie Freeman every holding a championship trophy within the again seat. On Friday, the Dodgers will maintain their ring ceremony, with Clayton Kershawan analyst for the Opening Day broadcast on NBC, additionally anticipated to be in attendance.
The gamers are joyful to indulge within the pomp and circumstance, however of their minds, they’ve moved on.
“We obviously enjoyed going back-to-back,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts mentioned, “but it’s almost like it’s old news. We’re not really focused on that anymore. Now we’re focused on Game 2. We do a really good job here of just taking it day by day. We know we have a big goal, but the only way to get there is just one step at a time.”
