Relief pitcher Cory Wade also suffered a recurring of a shoulder injury and underwent arthroscopic surgery on March 17. The Dodgers, led by manager Joe Torre, took a squad of players to Taiwan for a series of three exhibition games against an all-star team from the Chinese Professional Baseball League during the spring. The squad included Manny Ramirez and Taiwanese players Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-lung Hu. Hitting coach Don Mattingly managed the Dodgers split-squad team in Cactus League games while Torre was overseas. Setup reliever Ronald Belisario did not show up for spring training as scheduled because of visa problems in his native Venezuela. His visa status was complicated by a driving under the influence charge filed against him in Pasadena. Belisario eventually arrived in camp on March 26 and the Dodgers placed him on the restricted list, meaning he would not be on the opening day roster. On March 25, the Dodgers announced that Vicente Padilla would be the opening day starter. On March 30, the Dodgers sold starting pitcher Eric Stults to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japanese League. On March 31, they released outfielder Jason Repko. On April 1, the Dodgers announced the knuckleball pitcher Charlie Haeger had locked up the fifth starter position and that Blake DeWitt would be the starting second baseman. The Dodgers concluded their Cactus League schedule with a record of 11–13–2. The Dodgers opened the regular season on April 5 in Pittsburgh, as opening day starter Vicente Padilla was roughed up in an 11–5 loss to the Pirates. After dropping the second game of the season on a walk-off hit by Ronny Cedeño in the 10th inning, the Dodgers rebounded and avoided being swept by posting a 10–2 rout in the series finale. Ronnie Belliard came up big with a home run, double and triple to back a solid start by Chad Billingsley. The Dodgers traveled to Florida to take on the Marlins in their next series and Hiroki Kuroda started things off by allowing only one unearned run and striking out seven in eight innings as the Dodgers won the series opener 7–3. The Dodgers blew a two-run lead in the ninth inning in the next game, as George Sherrill failed in a save opportunity and they lost 7–6. In that game, Manny Ramirez recorded his 2,500th career hit with a fifth-inning infield single. The team concluded its opening road trip on April 11, Charlie Haeger struck out 12 batters in six innings but the bullpen again faltered and the Dodgers fell 6–5 to the Marlins.