WASHINGTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer in the third inning, and Kyle Tucker, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman went deep as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers pummeled the Washington Nationals 13-6 on Friday.
Andy Pages also homered for the Dodgers, but it was the top of their order — which had been struggling — that really broke out. Ohtani hadn't driven in a run all season before hitting a drive to right that tied the game at 3. Betts' two-run shot later that inning put Los Angeles ahead to stay.
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An American flag is held across the field during the national anthem as F-16C Fighting Falcons flyover before the Washington Nationals home-opener baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run during the third inning of an baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, left, is greeted by teammates at the dugout after hitting a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning of an baseball game, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Worker set name plates along a wall for the starting lineup for the Washington Nationals' home-opener baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) watches his three-run home run during the third inning of an baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
It was 9-4 after Freeman's two-run homer in the fifth. Tucker's first home run as a member of the Dodgers was a solo shot that made it 12-4 in the seventh.
Miles Mikolas (0-2) allowed a career-high 11 runs on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
Emmet Sheehan (1-0) gave up a three-run homer to CJ Abrams in the first, but the Nationals only scored once more in his 5 2/3 innings.
Washington lost its home opener for the fifth straight year. This was the most runs the Nationals have allowed in a home opener since moving to Washington in 2005.
Sheehan allowed four runs and seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts.
Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 38 games dating to last season. He was able to keep it going despite being just 3 for 18 entering Friday's game. After his home run, he added a single the following inning. He also hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who hit an RBI double in the fifth, was taken out after striking out in the sixth. Hernandez and Tucker had three hits each.
Tyler Glasnow (0-0) starts for the Dodgers on Saturday against Washington's Jake Irvin (1-0).
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
An American flag is held across the field during the national anthem as F-16C Fighting Falcons flyover before the Washington Nationals home-opener baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) runs the bases after hitting a three-run home run during the third inning of an baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Washington Nationals' CJ Abrams, left, is greeted by teammates at the dugout after hitting a three run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning of an baseball game, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Worker set name plates along a wall for the starting lineup for the Washington Nationals' home-opener baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (17) watches his three-run home run during the third inning of an baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Friday, April 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV lifted a wooden cross and held it aloft from his waist at the start of the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope has set out to carry the cross to every station.
“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”
Inside the Colosseum, Leo began the procession flanked by two young people holding torches, and followed by clergy.
At the first station, marking the moment Jesus was condemned to death, the meditation prepared especially for Leo's first Good Friday underlined that those with authority will have to answer to God for how they exercise their power.
"The power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge, or for reconciliation,'' read the meditation written by Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custodian of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites.
Thousands gathered outside the pagan monument, where the procession continued, following the stations as they were recited over loud speakers.
They included Sister Pelenatita Kieoma Finau from Samoa and a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.
"We have been part of our parish stations of the cross, but this is so exciting. It is very meaningful to have the experience of being with the people of Rome on this special occasion,'' she said.
John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.
For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.
Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.
Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.
The Way of the Cross commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.
“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”
At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.
On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a late night Easter vigil, during which he will baptize new Catholics, and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.
On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city of Rome and the world.
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Barry reported from Milan.
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful attend the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession led by Pope Leo XIV at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
