Ohtani wins in Dodgers home debut as US MLB games begin

Los Angeles: Japanese star Shohei Ohtani made a triumphant Los Angeles Dodgers home debut on Thursday, getting help from fellow Most Valuable Player teammates in a 7-1 rout of St. Louis.

Leadoff hitter Mookie Betts bashed a solo home run in the third inning and scored three times, Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs and Ohtani went 2-for-3 and scored on Freeman's homer in the third to spark the Dodgers.

"I was the only guy who couldn't hit a homer, but overall I thought I had a pretty good game," Ohtani said. "Overall, I had quality at-bats."

Tyler Glasnow struck out five while allowing only one run on two hits over six innings to earn the victory for Los Angeles, whose fans cheered Ohtani in his first game after signing a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers following six years with the Los Angeles Angels.

"I'm very grateful... being able to be received by the Dodger fans," Ohtani said. "Obviously, I've been here before, as a visiting player, so it was a little intimidating. But I'm very grateful for the fans -- and there are a lot of them."

Ohtani is part of a Major League Baseball investigation looking into alleged illegal gambling activity by his former translator, but controversy took a back seat to success as the US national pastime enjoyed the start of another campaign.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts liked what he saw from the leadoff trio of Betts, Ohtani and Freeman -- all former MVPs producing a furious top of the batting lineup for his club.

"Mookie does what Mookie does, still swinging a hot bat and Shohei put on a nice show," Roberts said. "I think in any discussion you can argue that they're the best hitters in baseball.

"We're fortunate to have three of 'em at the top of the order. Certainly a first word that comes to mind is 'daunting' for me."