In his Dodgers debut, Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single ended a four-run eighth-inning comeback as Los Angeles defeated the San Diego Padres 5-2 in the season opener on Wednesday in Seoul, South Korea. The game was tied after a simple grounder. Jake Cronenworth, first baseman, straps.
On a mistake that might have been caused by a malfunctioning piece of equipment, Teoscar Hernández scored the winning run. Los Angeles led 3-2 after Hernández scored from second base on a ground ball by Gavin Lux off Adrián Morejón. The ball ultimately settled in right field after going through Cronenworth’s glove.
Before then, it might have continued for an innings. It was terrible that it happened in that circumstance, according to Cronenworth.
Mike Shildt, manager of the Padres, watched from the bench and believed San Diego was out of the inning.
“I felt pretty confident it was a 3-6-1,” stated the player. “But it goes through their networks and the rest is history.”
In the eighth inning, run-scoring singles from Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani completed their two-hit outings.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated, “That’s a big mistake for Cro.” Our fortunate break. You need to seize them while you can.”
Ohtani, who signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers, left the Los Angeles Angels after just one game, going 2-for-5. The inaugural Major League Baseball game in South Korea was witnessed by 15,952 fans at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
The two-way player, who had to undergo elbow surgery and was only allowed to hit, made a mental mistake that resulted in the eighth inning’s last out. After retiring on Freddie Freeman’s fly ball, he was called out as he was passing second base and did not touch the bag, which resulted in a double play that ended the inning.
With just four singles against five Dodgers pitchers, Xander Bogaerts led the Padres with his two hits, including an RBI single.
Before Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy to start the eighth inning, the Padres were leading 2-1. Then, reliever Jhony Brito (0-1) loaded the bases after Hernandez singled to center and James Outman walked on four pitches. Muncy ended Brito’s night with a score on Enrique Hernandez’s sacrifice fly, but Cronenworth’s glove problem turned the tide of the game.
Tyler Wade scored the first run for San Diego on a hazy infield single by Bogaerts to center field in the third inning.
In the fourth, Los Angeles answered. Wade, the third baseman, threw a ball that got Hernandez to second base. Jason Heyward’s sacrifice fly to deep right field brought Hernandez racing home after he was put on third base by a groundout.
In the fourth inning, Tyler Glasnow walked Ha-Seong Kim, which allowed Machado to advance to second base after he walked on four pitches. Before Machado scored on a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Luis Campusano, Jurickson Profar bunted the ball beautifully, loading the bases.
In five innings, Glasnow gave up two runs on two hits, three strikeouts, four walks, and one walk. In a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays on December 16, the Dodgers acquired Glasnow, and he inked a $136.5 million contract extension with them.
As Glasnow put it, “the entire day was kind of routine.” “Noisy – cool atmosphere.”
After throwing a one-hit seventh inning, Daniel Hudson (1-0) was given the win. In an opener that saw the Dodgers win six straight over the Padres, Evan Phillips closed out a four-hit game with a spotless ninth inning to earn the save.
Pitchers for the Padres hit one batter and walked nine, while the Dodgers managed seven hits with no extra-base hits. Padres pitchers were called for four violations in the first game since MLB reduced the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to eighteen, with two calls coming from Peralta and one each from Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui.
Former Dodgers and Padres pitcher Chan Ho Park threw out the ceremonial first pitch while sporting the glove from his debut major league performance.
Park, a San Diego consultant, was proud of the way his accomplishments and those of his old Japanese teammate, Hideo Nomo, encouraged a new generation of Asian players to aim for the major leagues prior to the game. The Dodgers signed Nomo in 1995.
“After observing all these Asian players, I feel that the trees planted by Chan Ho Park and Hideo Nomo have grown stronger, and the fruits of those trees are now dominating the majors and encouraging new players.”optimism,” Park remarked.
Since Philly’s Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, and Mike Schmidt did it for ten games in 1993, Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman became the first MVPs to hit 1-2-3 in a batting order. The Big Red Machine of Cincinnati featured Rose, Morgan, and George Foster on May 13, 1978, and Rose, Morgan, and Johnny Bench on May 5, 1976. These were the only other occurrences.
After agreeing to a 12-year, $325 million contract, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another significant offseason addition for the Dodgers, makes his major league debut on Thursday. After three spring training outings, he has an 8.38 ERA in 9⅔ innings.
Yamamoto stated through an interpreter, “I’m not really worried about the numbers.”
Joe Musgrove, who made 17 starts for the Padres last year and was 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA, will start for them on Thursday.
Contributors to this report were Field Level Media and the Associated Press.