TOKYO — Maybe the Hanshin Tigers are baseball’s real evil empire.
One day after the Japanese team, which plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, shut out the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition at the Tokyo Dome, they did the same to the Dodgers on Sunday, winning 3-0 in the Dodgers’ final tuneup before their season-opening series here against the Cubs.
Behind a superb start from Hiroto Saiki, the Osaka-based Tigers didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning, when Max Muncy lined a single.
By then the Tigers had a 3-0 lead, courtesy of a fourth-inning homer from Teruaki Sato off of Dodgers starter Blake Snell.
The victory was punctuated by a raucous Tigers crowd that traveled to Tokyo, with loud chants echoing around the Dome every time the team batted.
For the Dodgers, however, the real focus came before the game, when shortstop Mookie Betts — who is questionable for the season-opening contests Tuesday and Wednesday because of an illness — went through pregame hitting and fielding drills.
On several occasions Betts looked visibly fatigued while taking ground balls. And after the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that Betts “showed some fatigue, understandably so.”
Asked the likelihood of Betts starting opening day, Roberts didn’t sound optimistic.
“He hasn’t taken live at-bats or played any games [since we’ve arrived in Japan],” Roberts said. “We don’t want to put him in a position to get hurt.”
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