SAN DIEGO — Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda homered in the second at-bat of his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night and beat the Padres 7-0, making San Diego the first team in major league history to be shut out in its first three games.
The Padres were outscored 25-0 in the opening series against the Dodgers. They set the MLB mark with 27 straight scoreless innings to open a season. The old mark was 26 by the 1943 St. Louis Browns, according to STATS.
With one out in the fourth, Maeda drove an 0-2 pitch from Andrew Cashner (0-1) into the seats in left field.
Maeda (1-0) waved to the crowd as he rounded third base and then got the silent treatment in the dugout from his teammates, who then mobbed him.
The right-hander signed an eight-year deal with the Dodgers in January after spending eight seasons with the Hiroshima Carp of the Japanese Central League.
His delivery bears some resembles to that of former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo, with a pause at the top. He threw a full repertoire of pitches: two- and four-seam fastballs, sliders, curveballs and a changeup. Nomo, the first Japanese player to permanently join the majors, is now a special adviser to the Padres’ baseball operations.
Maeda scattered five hits in six innings, struck out four and walked none.
Yasiel Puig also homered for the Dodgers, his first.
The Padres thought they’d ended their scoreless streak in the sixth. Although Cory Spangenberg was called out trying to score on a grounder to first, the Padres appealed. A replay appeared to show Spangenberg got his foot across the plate before being tagged by A.J. Ellis. After a review of 3:02, the call was upheld.
The Padres had runners on first and third with one out in the fourth before Maeda retired Yangervis Solarte and Derek Norris.
Cashner labored in the first, throwing 43 pitches, and the Dodgers jumped on him for four runs on four hits.
Chase Utley tripled on Cashner’s sixth pitch and scored on Justin Turner’s one-out RBI. Adrian Gonzalez drew the first of his three walks and scored on Carl Crawford’s two-out double. Joc Pederson followed with a two-run single.
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