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 field gap to further pad his new team's lead. It was precisely how the Los Angeles Dodgers envisioned it when they signed Tucker, the best free agent on the market, to a four-year, $240 million contract in January -- except the end.
Tucker attempted the Dodgers' indelible dance, in which they awkwardly sway their arms and their hips from side to side upon driving in runs, but Tucker got only halfway there. His arms moved, but his hips did not.
"Gotta maybe clean up the celebration thing a little more," Tucker admitted after his team'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 one of 162 regular-season games, the first of what the Dodgers hope are many more wins and many more Tucker-aided runs -- but it provided a snapshot of what makes them so dangerous.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the D-backs to only a Geraldo Perdomo two-run homer in six innings, using a six-pitch mix to continually keep them off balance. And a Dodgers offense that was held to just two baserunners against Zac Gallen in the first four innings exploded for four runs each in the fifth and seventh, during which it received home runs from Andy Pages and Will Smith and combined for 12 baserunners. All told, the Dodgers cranked out 10 hits, seven of which occurred with two strikes. Ten of their batted balls traveled more than 100 mph, including 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 manager Dave Roberts said. "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 began his day by placing a bottle of 90-proof Traveller Whiskey in each of his players' lockers, an offering to commemorate the start of another long journey. He was upstaged by Ohtani, who gifted each of his teammates and coaches Seiko watches worth thousands of dollars.
"Happy Opening Day!!!" a note on Ohtani's gift bag read. "Three-Peat!!!"
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