Friday, March 27, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

The night started with a beautiful ring ceremony and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw throwing out the first pitch. The Los Angeles Dodgers inched out the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-to-4.

Emmet Sheehan had command issues through his 3.1 innings. He gained weight during the offseason to build his endurance, but he hasn’t figured out how to repeat his mechanics. He threw 83 pitches, and 51 were strikes. He couldn’t retire Alek Thomas, who had two doubles and drove in four runs. Sheehan couldn’t use his breaking pitches yet, but he will.

The Dodgers had a four-run third inning. Alex Freeland, who beat out Hyeseong Kim for the platoon job at second base and caused controversy, showed that the team made the correct decision. He hit a solo home run to begin the inning.

Following two walks to Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts, coming off a disappointing 2025 season, blasted a three-run homer. He showed the pent-up emotion while rounding the bases. This offseason, he worked hard to regain the strength he lost while battling a horrible stomach virus, even adopting Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s workout regimen.

Jack Dryer, Ben Casparius, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, and Eduardo Henriquez were brilliant in relief. They took advantage of the Diamondbacks’ fastball aggressiveness.

To start the eighth, Freeland doubled, advanced to third on Ohtani’s grounder to second, and scored on Tucker’s single.

With a live trumpet player performing “Narco,” Edwin Díaz calmly saved the game despite walking a batter.

Everybody can be accustomed to this version of the Dodgers without any drama but keep on winning.