Tyler Glasnow made his second start for the Los Angeles Dodgers during Domestic Opening Day at Dodger Stadium, and he turned in a strong outing against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Aside from the honor of being the Opening Day starter, the outing had some extra meaning behind it for Glasnow, who grew up as a Dodgers fan in Southern California attending games at Dodger Stadium.
While he was never able to make it to an Opening Day at Dodger Stadium before, Glasnow recalled memories of watching Clayton Kershaw open the season in L.A.
Now as the ace of the Dodgers pitching staff, Glasnow was able to experience taking the ball at Chavez Ravine. “It was awesome,” Glasnow said.
“Warming up, doing everything inside prior, then being at the perspective of being on the mound is unique. Going out on the mound was extremely special.”
The right-hander pitched six innings to earn the victory, giving up just one run on two hits while striking out five and walking one. The only player to record a hit against him was Paul Goldschmidt, with one being a home run.
“I think the slider was working well,” Glasnow said. “I think that for the most part was probably my best pitch. Curveball wasn’t that great until the end. I think for the most part I was able to throw strikes and stay in the zone.”
Glasnow record 13 swings and misses in the start, with eight of them coming on the slider. He threw it 28 times total in the game, and received 14 swings against it, but only two of them were put in play.
“It felt good,” Glasnow said. “It was kind of inconsistent at times but I think later in the game I kind of got two different shapes on it; I had the strikeout one and a little bit for strikes. It started to feel good toward the end.”
The 30-year-old is now 1-0 on the season with a 2.45 ERA and 0.82 WHIP with eight strikeouts in 11 innings pitched.
Tyler Glasnow appreciated pitching with Dodgers lineup support
Glasnow left the game with the Dodgers giving him six runs to work with, and the top of the lineup did the majority of the damage as they combined for five hits with four RBI in the game.
It was a nice look at what the Dodgers’ lineup can do with Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman leading the charge, and Glasnow was among those who appreciated what they were able to do.
“Scored a bunch of runs,” Glasnow said. “It was awesome. Great lineup, everyone is a hard out. It was awesome. It’s great to be a starting pitcher behind a lineup like that.”
While the Dodgers provided him with two runs in the first inning and another three in the third, Glasnow did not want to let the offense allow him to get too complacent.
“I think each inning in the big leagues is so hard, that I try to keep the focus every inning and not let the score dictate too much because every inning, someone could do damage,” Glasnow said. “But I do think if you have a lead going into it, there’s a little bit less nerves or whatever it is, I guess.”
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