It was a pretty safe assumption that the Dodgers weren’t going to lose 162 games this season, but it was still a huge relief when the first Dodger finally stepped on home plate on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium – albeit three games into the new season. That Dodger was center fielder Chris Taylor, who led off the bottom of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants in game-3 of the four-game opening series with a seven-pitch walk. This was followed by a double off the bat of shortstop Kiké Hernandez and a sacrifice fly by right fielder Yasiel Puig, and just like that the Dodgers near-record-breaking 18 shutout innings was over. One batter later, Dodgers left fielder Matt Kemp lined a sharp single to center to score Hernandez, and Dodger fans around the world breathed a collective sigh of relief.

It took 19 innings, but Chris Taylor finally brought home the Dodgers first run of 2018 on Saturday night on a sacrifice fly by Yasiel Puig. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Dodgers would add three more runs, two of which were unearned when Giants center fielder Grégor Blanco dropped a routine fly ball off the bat of Kyle Farmer. When the dust finally settled, the Dodgers ended up with five runs on four hits and were aided by three costly errors by the Giants. And even though the Giants collected nine hits on the night, they did not score and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

A huge reason for that RISP thing was some absolutely outstanding defensive plays, non greater than an impossible diving grab of a (very) hard grounder off the bat of Giants third baseman Evan Longoria down the left field line that was snagged by Dodgers third baseman pro temp Kyle Farmer to prevent at least a double. Farmer recovered quickly and made the long throw across the diamond to nail Longoria by a good three steps.

Kyle Farmer’s diving grab in the top of the second inning prevented what most likely would have been a double for Giants third baseman Evan Longoria.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA. Click on image to view video)

But without question, the real hero of the night was Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda, who pitched 5.0 scoreless innings during which he allowed five hits and one walk while striking out 10.

“Five innings and just on the attack from the beginning,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts of Maeda’s brilliant outing. “Fastball velocity was really good. He attacked up in the zone, really all quadrants. His change was good tonight and obviously he had his slider. He kept those guys off balance, doubled up on some pitches.”

Just as Clayton Kershaw and Alex Wood were before him, Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda was outstanding on Saturday night. The big difference is that his teammates gave him five runs of support, whereas Kershaw and Wood received none. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The Dodgers are hoping to salvage a split with the Giants on Sunday afternoon in the fourth and final game of the 2018 season-opening series. The Dodgers will send left-hander Rich Hill to the hill, with the Giants countering with right-hander Chris Stratton. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN, with first pitch scheduled for 5:37 p.m. PT.