Wally Moon, a left-handed hitter who earned lasting fame for his ability to slice the ball off or over the left field screen, known as Moonshots, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Before the second inning, former Lakers star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar threw another ceremonial pitch, flanked by 15 members of the 1958 Dodgers.

Pregame talk, naturally, centered on the configuration of the field.

Former Dodgers pitching ace Don Newcombe had a difficult time looking at the screen, which clearly brought up some unpleasant memories.

“That’s terrible, isn’t it? I know the hitters are foaming at the mouth,” Newcombe said, his voice rising. “It’s a monstrosity, that’s not a baseball thing. It was a monstrosity then. We knew that.”

Boston manager Terry Francona said he was just happy he wasn’t pitching — or hitting.

“Sadly, my little flares would have carried to the left fielder,” he said.

Torre, who grew up in Brooklyn, recalled playing at the Coliseum as a rookie in 1961, and not faring very well.

“I walked out on that field and I said, ‘Whoa, this is really great for a right-handed hitter.’ I wasn’t that right-handed hitter,” he said.

The Red Sox traveled to Japan for the first two games of the regular season against Oakland before flying to Los Angeles and arriving late Wednesday night. They’re playing three games against the Dodgers before flying to Oakland for another pair with the A’s that count.

“For us right now, it’s play a game and move on,” Boston’s Alex Cora said. “It’s been such a difficult week. Hopefully it’s not like a USC (football) score.”

The Dodgers scored in the first when Rafael Furcal singled, took second on Wakefield’s wild pickoff throw and came around to score on fly balls by Martin and Ethier.

The lead didn’t last long. Third baseman DeWitt committed a two-out error in the second before Bobby Kielty drew a walk, setting the stage for Cash and making all three runs unearned. Kielty and Cora hit RBI singles in the sixth to extend Boston’s lead to 7-1.

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