Kemp has 3 RBIs in Padres opening day 6-3 loss to Dodgers

Kemp has 3 RBIs in Padres opening day 6-3 loss to Dodgers

Published Apr. 7, 2015 12:10 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- New Padres right fielder Matt Kemp spent seven seasons as Clayton Kershaw's teammate with the Dodgers. Facing the reigning NL MVP and three-time Cy Young Award winner for the first time on opening day, the slugger was in uncharted territory.

Kemp had the upper hand against Kershaw on Monday, driving in all three of the Padres' runs. But Nick Vincent gave up a tying RBI double to Howie Kendrick in the seventh, and Shawn Kelly surrendered a tiebreaking three-run homer by Jimmy Rollins in the eighth inning of San Diego's 6-3 loss to the defending NL West champions.

"We lost today, so my main concern is just trying to get wins," Kemp said. "I needed to try to do a job, and we didn't do enough to win. I like facing the best, and Kershaw's the best pitcher in baseball, hands-down. You've got to always respect him and grind against a guy like that, and I'm going to battle no matter what. He made a couple of mistakes and I just put some good swings on him."

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Kemp homered in 29 of Kershaw's 209 starts when they were teammates. On Monday, he singled in a run in the first, and then hit a two-run double off the left-hander in the fifth.

Kemp received a long standing ovation from the crowd of 53,518 when he came to the plate for the first time. Kershaw gave him a few extra seconds to step out of the batter's box to soak it all in, and he tipped his helmet.

"It was exciting. Overwhelming. It was great, just to come back here and get the love that I got," Kemp said. "Kershaw is a very respectful person. I've got a lot of respect for him and I feel like he has a lot of respect for me. I think he saw the crowd's reaction and kind of stepped back and let it play out. Then we went at it."

Kemp's presence no doubt will give a boost to an offense that had difficulty producing runs last season. And manager Bud Black made a point of mentioning how eager he was to get the season started.

"The emotion probably worked for him today," Black said. "He was a longtime Dodger. If you look at Matt and what he's done in his career, I think he does rise to the occasion. This was a special day for him, no doubt about it."

James Shields struck out eight in six innings in his first start with San Diego. The right-hander, who agreed to a $75 million, four-year contract with the Padres in February, allowed two runs and six hits.

Shields grew up in nearby Newhall and frequently attended games at the stadium.

"It was pretty surreal for me, being able to pitch here after growing up down the street," he said. "But once I got into the bullpen, I was nice and relaxed and felt pretty good. Obviously, it was a tough loss. Any time you're facing Kershaw, it's going to be a tough game and a tough battle."

The Padres had a 3-2 lead when Vincent replaced Shields to start the seventh. He retired his first two batters before Adrian Gonzalez doubled and scored on Kendrick's double to right-center.

Kelley (0-1) got the third out in the seventh after Frank Garces intentionally walked pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke, but walked rookie Joc Pederson leading off the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Andre Ethier reached on an error by Kelley, who mishandled the toss from first baseman Yonder Alonso, and Rollins hit a drive into the lower seats in the right-field corner after falling behind 0-2 in the count.

"The leadoff walk to Pederson in the eighth sort of put him behind the 8-ball," Black said. "They had some good at-bats. The Ethier at-bat proved to be costly, and Rollins obviously hung in there. He laid off some low sliders and got a fastball he could handle."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Padres: RHP Josh Johnson and LHP Cory Luebke were both placed on the 15-day disabled list. They are recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Dodgers: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder) was expected to play catch either Monday or Tuesday.

UP NEXT

Padres: RHP Tyson Ross starts in the middle game of the series on Tuesday night. He set career highs in starts (31), innings pitched (195 2-3), strikeouts (195) and ERA (2.81) in his first full year as a starter last season, when he was a first-time All-Star.

Dodgers: RHP Zack Greinke gets his first start of the season. He won a career-high 17 games with a 17-8 record and 2.71 ERA in 32 starts last year.

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