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LOS ANGELES — Trayce Thompson not only took out his frustrations on a left-hander, he helped one as well with a career night to spark the Los Angeles Dodgers to an easy victory.

Thompson hit three home runs, including a grand slam in his first at-bat of the season, and had a career-high eight RBIs as the Dodgers rolled to a 10-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday. He’s the first player to drive in eight or more runs in a season debut since the RBI became an official statistic in 1920.

The offensive outburst came in support of lefty Clayton Kershaw, who got the best of an old personal rival as Los Angeles beat Arizona for the 16th time in the past 22 meetings. Kershaw earned the victory opposite Arizona’s Madison Bumgarner, with the left-handers facing each other for the 12th time.

After struggling to hit left-handed pitching as a platoon player last season, with the right-handed hitting Thompson batting .174 with a .621 OPS against lefties, his first-inning grand slam off Bumgarner felt like an exclamation point.

Was it satisfying since the struggles were a topic of conversation in the spring?

“Not necessarily because I know I can do it,” said Thompson, the brother of Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson and son of former NBA player Mychal Thompson. “It’s just a good way to start the year. It’s still early. You still have to wake up tomorrow and go out and help this team win a game but I know I can do it.”

Kershaw (1-0) gave up one run on four hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in an efficient 76 pitches over his first start of 2023. Bumgarner (0-1) gave up five runs on four hits with four walks and two strikeouts in four innings (85 pitches). Each pitcher’s team has won six times in the all-time meetings.

“I have a lot of respect for Bum,” Kershaw said. “We’ve done it a lot now and we’re still trying to do it. I think there is a level of respect on both sides that it’s fun to compete against [each other] and we’ll probably do it again here in a few days [at Arizona].”

Thompson’s grand slam came in a five-run first inning for the Dodgers before he added a three-run shot in the fifth inning.

“I couldn’t be happier for Trayce; it was really cool,” Kershaw said. “That’s a good month right there. He can sit on that for a while. But he’s the best, man, so I’m happy for him and it’s a great way to get going for the season.”

Christian Walker hit a home run for the Diamondbacks, the fifth of his career against Kershaw.

The Dodgers wasted little time jumping on Bumgarner. Mookie Betts opened the bottom of the first with a double, Freddie Freeman singled and Max Muncy was hit by a slow curveball to load the bases. Chris Taylor‘s sacrifice fly gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead with a Miguel Vargas walk loading the bases again before Thompson’s slam.

“My mechanics were fine, it was just one of those days you have during the year and mine just happened to be the first one,” Bumgarner said. “It wasn’t like I went out there and threw the ball really well, but I was just one pitch away in the first of it being a completely different game. After that, it wasn’t bad.”

Walker’s home run in the second inning pulled the Diamondbacks to 5-1 and gave him nine hits in his first 29 career at-bats against Kershaw.

Bumgarner gave way to right-hander Kevin Ginkel in the fifth inning before Thompson cashed in a double from Martinez and another walk to Vargas with his second-career multihomer game for an 8-1 lead.

J.D. Martinez‘s first home run in a Dodgers’ uniform came in the seventh inning, while Thompson’s third of the night came in the eighth. All three of Thompson’s home runs went to left-center field and traveled 409, 418 and 440 feet, in that order.

“It’s just one night but I felt really good tonight and I felt like I was seeing the ball well,” said Thompson, who received a curtain call from Dodgers fans after his third home run. “That last week of spring training, I felt pretty good. We worked on some stuff and it started to click.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thompson will start in the outfield again Sunday with Betts getting his first start of the season at second base.

“I developed a new three-homer rule,” Roberts said. “It you hit three homers, you’ll play the next day.”

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Devers fans twice more, now at 12 K’s this year

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Devers fans twice more, now at 12 K's this year

ARLINGTON, Texas — Boston Red Sox designated hitter Rafael Devers became the first major leaguer to strike out 12 times in a season’s first four games.

Devers went 0-for-4 with two more strikeouts Sunday in Boston’s 3-2 loss to the Texas Rangers.

Devers’ latest mark for futility came a day after he became the first big leaguer to be fanned 10 times in the first three games of a season.

He’s 0-for-16, though he did draw a two-out walk in the ninth Sunday to keep the inning alive and put the potential tying run in scoring position.

The 12 strikeouts broke the previous record of 11 in the first four games, which had been done four times previously since 1901, according to SportRadar.

Brent Rooker of the Athletics struck out 11 times to open last season. The others were Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2020, Minnesota’s Byron Buxton in 2017 and Houston’s Brett Wallace in 2013.

Devers is now solely the Red Sox DH after their offseason acquisition of third baseman Alex Bregman.

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Hamlin gets 1st win at Martinsville in 10 years

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Hamlin gets 1st win at Martinsville in 10 years

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Denny Hamlin ended an agonizing 10-year winless streak at Martinsville Speedway, holding off teammate Christopher Bell in his home state.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star, who was raised a few hours away in the Richmond suburb of Chesterfield, leads active Cup drivers with six victories at Martinsville. But Sunday was Hamlin’s first checkered flag on the 0.526-mile oval in southwest Virginia since March 29, 2015 and also his first with crew chief Chris Gayle, who joined the No. 11 team this season.

With the 55th victory of his career (tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace for 11th on the all-time list), Hamlin also snapped a 31-race winless streak since last April at Dover. He led a race-high 274 of the final 275 laps after taking the lead from Chase Elliott.

“Chris Gayle, all the engineers, the pit crew, everybody really just deciding they were going to come here with a different approach than what we’ve been over the last few years,” said Hamlin, who was a frequent contender during his 19-race win drought at Martinsville with 10 top fives. “It was just amazing. The car was great. It did everything I needed it do to. Just so happy to win with Chris, get 55. Gosh, I love winning here.”

Bell, who leads the Cup Series with three wins in 2025, finished second after starting from the pole position, and Bubba Wallace took third as Toyotas swept the top three. The Chevrolets of Elliott and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

“It was a great weekend for Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Bell, who had finished outside the top 10 the past two weeks. “Showed a lot of pace. All four of the cars were really good. Really happy to get back up front. The last two weeks have been rough for this 20 team. Really happy for Denny. He’s the Martinsville master. Second is not that bad.”

Hamlin had to survive four restarts — and a few strong challenges from Bell — in the final 125 laps as Martinsville produced the typical short-track skirmishes between several drivers.

The most notable multicar accident involved Toyota drivers Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick, who had a civil postrace discussion in the pits.

Bubba’s big day Bubba Wallace tied a season best and improved to eighth in the Cup points standings but was left lamenting his lack of speed on restarts after being unable to pressure Hamlin.

“I’m trying to scratch my head on what I could have done different,” said Wallace, who drives the No. 23 Toyota for the 23XI Racing team co-owned by Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. “My restarts were terrible. One of my best traits, so I need to go back and study that. The final restart, I let that second get away. I don’t know if I had anything for Denny. It would have been fun to try. But all in all, a hell of a day for Toyota.”

Special day turns sour

After being honored Sunday morning with a Virginia General Assembly proclamation commending Wood Brothers Racing’s 75th anniversary, Josh Berry led 40 laps in the team’s hometown race before disaster struck. Berry’s No. 21 Ford was hit in the left rear by the No. 23 Toyota of Wallace while exiting the pits, causing Berry’s car to stall in Turn 2.

Berry, who can withstand a poor finish because his Las Vegas victory qualified him for the playoffs, returned after losing two laps for repairs. He still managed to lead the most laps for Wood Brothers Racing at Martinsville since NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson led 180 on April 29, 1973 (the team’s most recent victory at the track just east of its museum in Stuart, Virginia).

Up next

The Cup Series will race next Sunday at historic Darlington Raceway, the South Carolina track that will celebrate a “throwback weekend” that encourages teams to feature vintage paint schemes and crew uniforms.

It’s the first of two annual races on the 1.366-mile oval that dates to 1950. Brad Keselowski won last year’s throwback race, and Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500 last September.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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23XI, Front Row want countersuit to be dismissed

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23XI, Front Row want countersuit to be dismissed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The two teams suing NASCAR over antitrust allegations said Wednesday in a filing that a countersuit against 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports and Michael Jordan’s manager is “an act of desperation” and asked that it be dismissed.

NASCAR’s countersuit contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.

23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs.

The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold the charters, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI — co-owned by Jordan — and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly.

Wednesday’s filing claims that NASCAR’s counterclaim is “retaliatory” and “does not allege the facts necessary to state a claim.”

“NASCAR is using the counterclaim to engage in litigation gamesmanship, with the transparent objective of intimidating the other racing teams by threatening them with severe consequences if they support Plaintiffs’ challenge to the unlawful NASCAR monopoly,” the response says.

23XI and Front Row have requested NASCAR’s counterclaim be dismissed because it “fails at the threshold because it does not allege facts plausibly showing a contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade.

“The counterclaim allegations instead show each racing team individually determining whether or not to agree to NASCAR’s demands through individual negotiations — the opposite of a conspiracy.”

The filing also defends Polk, who was specifically targeted in NASCAR’s counterclaim as the mastermind of the contentious two-year battle between the teams and the stock car series. NASCAR claimed in its countersuit that Polk threatened a team boycott of Daytona 500 qualifying races, but the teams argued Wednesday “there is no allegation that such a threatened boycott of qualifying races ever took place.”

“None of NASCAR’s factual claims fit into the very narrow categories of blatantly anti-competitive agreements that courts summarily condemn as per se unlawful,” the teams said.

Jordan, through a spokesperson, sent word to The Associated Press that Polk speaks for him and the NBA icon views any attack on Polk as “personal.”

NASCAR’s attorney has warned that a consequence of the 23XI and Front Row lawsuit could lead to the abolishment of the charter system outright — NASCAR argues it would be a consequence and not what NASCAR actually wants to do — and that 23XI first made this personal by naming NASCAR chairman Jim France in the original antitrust lawsuit.

The teams struck back at the threat to eliminate the charter system in Wednesday’s filing. It alleges it is an empty threat meant to scare the 13 organizations that did sign the charter agreements.

The claim also says Front Row should be dismissed from NASCAR’s countersuit because “NASCAR does not allege any specific conduct by Front Row or its owners or employees to support a claim that it participated in the alleged conspiracy.”

“The other allegations in the counterclaim against Front Row are all entirely conclusory or improper group pleading that seeks to lump in Front Row with 23XI Racing, Mr. Polk, and “others,” while never identifying what — if anything — Front Row Motorsports itself has done to purportedly participate in the alleged conspiracy.”

There is no deadline for a judge’s decision.

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