The Los Angeles Dodgers victoriously completed their second game season opener today in Australia, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks seven to five. The Sports X-Change reported 38,079 people gathered in the Sydney Cricket Ground. Players Dee Gordon and Yasiel Puig together scored six hits the Dodgers, three runs and three RBIs.
Yesterday, the Dodgers defeated the Diamondbacks in the opening game, scoring three runs to one. “We’d like to score more runs, and I think offensively we’re a much better club than we’ve shown here,” Kirk Gibson, the Manager of the Diamondbacks, told the Associated Press, “We have 161 games left, so you try and learn some things and learn what they’re trying to do against us and hopefully we’ll do better.”
According to the Associated Press, the last time a season opener played outside the United States was Tokyo in 2012. The last time baseball was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground was 100 years ago in an exhibition game played by the Chicago White Sox and the New York Giants. Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig was unsure of the next time baseball would travel overseas but did say “It won’t be 100 years until we’re back here, I can promise you that.”
As they departed Australia to return to the United States, both teams tweeted messages of thanks. First from the Sydney Cricket Ground itself:
Thank you to @MLB, @Dodgers, @Dbacks and to 76,345 fans who attended #MLBinOZ this weekend #OpeningSeries was fun! pic.twitter.com/raCEbYUpOD
— Sydney Cricket Grnd (@scg) March 23, 2014
Then from the Los Angeles Dodgers:
What an experience! Thank you Australia, @MLB, and Dodger fans around the world for sharing this with us. #OpeningSeries
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 23, 2014
And finally from the Arizona Diamondbacks:
In a word, Sydney, thanks. @QantasAirways pic.twitter.com/ZUTJy4kBhv
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 23, 2014
Further games in the upcoming season are set to begin on Sunday.
Image via Destination NSW, YouTube