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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 4:37 p.m., Monday, April 6, 2009

MLB: Kuroda pitches Dodgers past Padres in opener

By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer

SAN DIEGO — Joe Torre's trust in Hiroki Kuroda paid off with an opening-day win for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Kuroda outpitched San Diego Padres ace Jake Peavy, leading the defending NL West champions to a 4-1 victory Monday without a hit from Manny Ramirez.

The enigmatic slugger went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run on his first opening day with the Dodgers. Matt Kemp drove a 418-foot homer to straightaway center field off Peavy, and James Loney had three hits, including a two-run single.

The crowd of 45,496 was the largest in Petco Park's six-year history.

Torre said he figured Kuroda could handle the pressure of an opening-day start based on his two big wins in the postseason, against the Chicago Cubs in the division series and the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL championship series.

The right-hander came through, holding San Diego to four hits in 5 2-3 innings.

Kuroda (1-0) gave up a run in the first inning, then allowed only one baserunner over the next four. The Padres finally chased him in the sixth after he allowed singles by David Eckstein and Brian Giles and walked Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases with two outs. Cory Wade came on and got Kevin Kouzmanoff to hit a weak grounder to the right side of the mound.

Jonathan Broxton, who threw a handful of 99 mph fastballs, pitched the ninth for the save.

Peavy (0-1), who was on the trade market for much of the offseason, allowed four runs — three earned — and seven hits in seven innings while striking out eight and walking two.

He opened the game by giving up two singles on his first five pitches, to Rafael Furcal and Orlando Hudson. That brought up Ramirez with runners on first and second and no outs, but Peavy got him to fly out to center. Andre Ethier flied out before Peavy walked Russell Martin and allowed Loney's two-run single.

San Diego got one run back in the first when Jody Gerut hit a leadoff double, advanced on Eckstein's sacrifice and scored on Brian Giles' chopper over Kuroda's head to second base for the second out.

Ramirez scored with two outs in the third to make it 3-1. He walked, advanced on Peavy's throwing error on a pickoff attempt and came around on Ethier's single up the middle.

Notes: Former Padres greats Tony Gwynn, Randy Jones, Dave Winfield and Ollie Brown simultaneously threw out ceremonial first pitches as part of pregame ceremonies celebrating the Padres' 40th anniversary. ... Padres OF Cliff Floyd was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained right shoulder, retroactive to Sunday. OF Drew Macias was recalled from Triple-A Portland to fill Floyd's roster spot. ... The Dodgers finalized their roster when they purchased the contracts of RHP Ronald Belisario, INF Doug Mientkiewicz and LHP Will Ohman from Triple-A Las Vegas. ... The previous largest crowd at Petco Park was 45,389 on Sept. 30, 2004.