The Los Angeles Dodgers picked right where they left off in 2018 as MLB’s second-best home-run-hitting team, setting another Opening Day record with eight home runs in a 12-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Left defender Joc Pederson opened the Dodgers’ 2019 record in the base of the second inning with a two-run, 420-foot homer to center field off of D-backs starter Zack Greinke.
Center fielder Enrique “Kiki” Hernandez repeated Pederson’s two-run pop two innings later. Catcher Austin Barnes barely let Hernandez’s crush land before he hit his own solo shot, and shortstop Corey Seager didn’t let the bottom of the fourth end before including another solo homer. L.A. held a 7-0 lead heading into the fifth.
Pederson’s second home run of the afternoon, another two-run shot, came in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The bottom of the seventh was the grand finale as Hernandez, right fielder Cody Bellinger and second baseman Max Muncy each jacked solo homers.
The past MLB Opening Day record for homers was six, initially set in 1988 by the New York Mets and tied last season by the Chicago White Sox.
The eight home runs tied a Dodgers franchise record for the most in any single game.
The Dodgers couldn’t have asked for a better start to 2019 as they embark on a quest to make it back to their third World Series in a row and win it for the first time since 1988.