Lineup change pays off for Dodgers as they sweep Tigers to go 5-0

Based on the Dodgers’ original lineup, Teoscar Hernández would have been in the dugout during the biggest at-bat of Saturday night’s game.

Originally, on a night the Dodgers gave normal No. 2 hitter Mookie Betts a scheduled day off following his battle with a stomach virus last week, switch-hitter Tommy Edman was supposed to follow leadoff man Shohei Ohtani in the batting order.

About an hour before first pitch, however, the team announced a late change.

In the new lineup, Hernández was bumped up to second from the cleanup spot. Edman, who has been a significantly worse hitter from the left side of the plate since joining the Dodgers last year, was dropped to eighth against Detroit Tigers right-hander Reese Olson.

The switch meant that, when the Tigers intentionally walked Ohtani with a runner on third and two outs in the fifth, it was Hernández who came to the plate in what was then a tied ballgame.

Sometimes in baseball, those are the fine margins on which contests can be decided.

On cue, Hernández produced the biggest swing of the Dodgers’ 7-3 win over the Tigers in his pivotal fifth-inning at-bat, lining a two-run double inside the third-base bag to help the Dodgers extend their perfect record to start the season to 5-0 — making them just the fourth defending champion in MLB history to begin their season with five consecutive wins.

“Just kind of thinking through things, I just felt that if you slide Teo up, I felt good about that,” manager Dave Roberts explained. “And it just worked out.”

Like the four wins that preceded it, the Dodgers’ performance was far from flawless.

Rookie phenom Roki Sasaki failed to get out of the second inning in his first career Dodger Stadium start, struggling with his command again in a two-run, four-walk, 1 ⅔-inning outing.

The Dodgers’ bats only mustered two early runs off Olson, with Freddie Freeman hitting a solo home run in the first and Andy Pages scoring on Michael Conforto’s double in the second (despite running through a stop sign from third-base coach Dino Ebel and getting bailed out by a wayward throw to the plate).

Then, in the seventh, the Dodgers almost let the Tigers back into the game on two defensive miscues. Hernández dropped a fly ball while crashing into the wall on a running catch attempt, resulting in a leadoff triple. Two batters later, reliever Luis García created more traffic for himself by failing to cover first on a ground ball, albeit after appearing to tweak something on his pitch.

And yet, in what has become an early theme of the team’s title defense this season, the Dodgers nonetheless found a way to pull away late.

Hernández’s double gave them their first lead in the fifth. Will Smith and Edman extended it with solo home runs in each of the next two innings. And despite being called upon for more than seven innings of work, the bullpen posted almost nothing but zeroes the rest of the way, completing the club’s second-straight series sweep to open the season.

“The bullpen did a fantastic job … and obviously the offense picked us up and scored some runs when we needed to,” Roberts said. “That’s a good ball club over there. So for us to win three at home was a huge series for us.”

Like the first two nights of this home-opening series, Saturday began with another (albeit more muted) round of pregame ceremonies. Hernández, Betts and Ohtani were given their Silver Slugger Awards from 2024. One of last year’s postseason heroes for the Dodgers, Tigers pitcher Jack Flaherty, was presented with his World Series ring by a group of his former teammates on the field. The same thing happened back in the clubhouse, with Dodgers players distributing rings to members of their behind-the-scenes staff.

“I think we’ve been able to compartmentalize,” Freeman said. “It’s been a great weekend.”

It didn’t include a great start from Sasaki, though. Just like in his MLB debut in Tokyo last week, when he sprayed the ball around with shotgun-esque command, he put the Dodgers in an early hole amid more command issues.

In the top of the first, Sasaki found the zone on just 24 of 41 pitches, fell behind on five of the eight batters he faced, and gave up two runs on three singles (one of them, a swinging bunt by Manuel Margot that opened the scoring) and two walks (the second, a bases-loaded free pass that forced in another run).

In the second, Roberts pulled him with two outs after Sasaki issued two more walks, giving him nine in less than five total innings.

Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki delivers during the first inning Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

“Roki, throughout his entire career, he’s been a command guy,” Roberts said of the 23-year-old right-hander, who only averaged two walks per nine innings during his four professional seasons in Japan. “Right now it’s just not syncing up. So we’re going to keep working on it.”

That work, however, will have to come later.

Roberts then turned to his bullpen, counting on the group to pick up the slack in the same way they did so often in October.

“Those guys are ready for it whenever that happens,” said Smith, who caught six relievers over the next 7 ⅓ innings. “Like they say, they’re dawgs down there. We’re fortunate to have all of them.”

Indeed, the Tigers’ only other run scored after Hernández’s dropped ball in the seventh.

And by then, the right-field slugger already put the Dodgers in front.

Although Hernández said he didn’t realize he’d been bumped up to No. 2 spot in the batting order until he got to the dugout shortly before the game, he was fully locked in after watching Ohtani get intentionally walked in front of him.

“Any hitter that gets the guy in front of them intentionally walked, you put a little more effort and focus on the things you have to do in that at-bat,” Hernández said. “Just to do damage and help the team.”

This time, Hernández’s damage came in the form of a scorching one-hopper that snuck past Zach McKinstry at third base. Conforto, who led off the inning with a walk, scored easily from third. Ohtani, who was motoring around the bases from first, slid in safely behind him.

It already marked the fourth time this season the Dodgers managed to erase an early deficit.

And, with the help of another insurance run in the eighth — when Freeman’s RBI double scored Ohtani from second following his first stolen base of the season — the unbeaten Dodgers never looked back again.

“To go out there and play a good baseball game, get the sweep in front of our fans, while we celebrate last year,” Freeman said, “I think that was just a great job by all of us this weekend.”