Dodgers' Vicente Padilla doesn't look like an ace

Dodgers Manager Joe Torre stopped well short of calling Vicente Padilla his staff ace, even when he announced the veteran right-hander would start against the Pittsburgh Pirates on opening day.

Smart man.

Padilla didn't make it out of the fifth inning, giving up seven earned runs in 4 1/3 innings. The Dodgers are trailing, 8-5, going in to the bottom of the seventh at PNC Park.

A two-run single by Matt Kemp gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first, but Padilla couldn't get Garrett Jones out in either of his first two at bats.

Jones tied the score with a two-run homer into the Allegheny River in the bottom of the first, then gave the Pirates a 3-2 lead in the third, belting an opposite field home run that barely cleared the wall in left.

-- Mike Hiserman

Photo: Vicente Padilla has a rough outing in Pittsburgh. Credit: Keith Srakocic / Associated Press.