LOS ANGELES ― Freddie Freeman stood on second base, soaking it all in. His first home game at Dodger Stadium had allowed a rare baseball moment, a natural pause in the action as a sold-out crowd chanted his first name over and over.

The noise grew loud enough that Freeman had to acknowledge it. He removed his helmet, waved to the crowd with his left hand, then tapped his helmet against his chest with his right. The Orange County native waited out a Cincinnati Reds pitching change on Thursday night in a place where he figures to spend the next six years: the center of the action.

Freeman’s ground-rule double, followed by Trea Turner’s RBI single against reliever Tony Santillan snapped a tie in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 9-3 victory over the Reds.

Will Smith knocked Santillan out of the game with a three-run home run, turning what had been a close, pitching-heavy contest into a comfortable victory in the Dodgers’ home opener.

Starting pitcher Walker Buehler threw 5⅔ solid innings in his second start of 2022. The right-hander allowed five hits, walked three and struck out four. A two-run home run by Aristides Aquino ended Buehler’s day and spoiled the Dodgers’ shutout bid in the sixth inning.

The Dodgers used five consecutive singles in the first inning to score three runs. Their 2-through-6 hitters – Freeman, Turner, Justin Turner, Max Muncy and Smith – effectively sacrificed power for contact against Reds opener Luis Cessa. Smith’s dribbler under the glove off shortstop Kyle Farmer never left the infield while Justin Turner scored to give the Dodgers a 3-0 lead.

Cessa gave way to left-hander Reiver Sanmartin to begin the second inning, and a new game broke out. Cody Bellinger scorched a line-drive single to right field, but the next 10 Dodgers were retired in order. The announced crowd of 52,995 grew quiet.

Buehler, meanwhile, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the second inning, then found trouble again with two outs in the sixth. The right-hander walked Tyler Stephenson on five pitches. The next batter, Aquino, took a powerful hack at a letter-high fastball on a 2-and-2 count. Buehler’s velocity was routinely touching 96 mph in the first inning but had fallen to 93.5 on his 98th and final pitch, which Aquino planted over the fence in right-center field.

Sanmartin effectively pitched to contact over five shutout innings, striking out two and leaving with a 3-2 deficit. That would have qualified as the most surprising performance of the night were it not for Brandon Drury.

The veteran utility player wasn’t in the Reds’ starting lineup. He took over as a pinch runner in the fifth inning when Jonathan India injured his hamstring running out an infield single. In his first at-bat of the night, Drury greeted Dodgers pitcher David Price with a solo home run in the seventh inning, tying the score at 3-3.

Blake Treinen (1-1) tossed a scoreless eighth inning for the Dodgers, earning the victory when the Dodgers scored six runs in the bottom of the frame.

Freeman was the Dodgers’ prize free agent acquisition of the offseason. He signed a six-year, $162 million contract in March after leading the Atlanta Braves to a World Series title last fall.

More to come on this story.