Los Angeles defeated the San Diego Padres 5-2 in the season opener in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday, with Shohei Ohtani's RBI single in his Dodgers debut, a four-run RBI in the eighth inning, and a routine ground ball. The match moved through the webbing. The story of first baseman Jake Cronenworth.
Teoscar Hernandez scored the go-ahead goal with an error that appeared to be due to equipment failure. Gavin Lux's ground ball from Adrian Morejon went through Cronenworth's glove and the ball ended up in the right field seats, allowing Hernandez to score from second base and give Los Angeles a 3-2 lead.
“We could have gone over an inning before that. It just happened in that situation. It sucks,” Cronenworth said. “I thought it was an easy double play.”
Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani capped off a two-hit performance with singles that led to scoring in the eighth inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “This was a tough mistake for Clos.'' “It's a lucky vacation for us. We should take it while we can.”
Ohtani went 2-for-5 at bat in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels to sign a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. A crowd of 15,952 people gathered at Gocheok Sky Dome to watch the first Major League Baseball game in Korea.
The two-way star, who had been limited to hitting after elbow surgery, made a mental mistake and was denied the winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning. He was called out as he passed second base and then failed to touch the bag while retreating on Freddie Freeman's flyout, causing an inning-ending double play.
Xander Bogaerts had one RBI out of his two hits for the Padres, but he only had four singles against five Dodgers pitchers.
The Padres held a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th inning when Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy to take the lead, Hernandez singled to center field, and James Outman reached base with a walk. After that, reliever Johnny Brito (0-1) loaded the bases. Muncy scored on Enrique Hernandez's sacrifice fly, ending Brito's night before Cronenworth's glove trouble changed the course of the game.
San Diego led the scoring in the third inning when Tyler Wade homered on Bogaerts' single to center field against a drawn-in infield.
Los Angeles answered fourth. Hernandez advanced to second base after receiving a throwing error from third baseman Wade. Hernandez advanced to third base on a groundout and dove home on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly to deep right field.
Machado walked four pitches to start the fourth inning, and advanced to second base after Tyler Glasnow gave up a walk to Kim Ha-seong. Jurickson Profar's exquisite bunt loaded the bases, and Machado scored on a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Luis Campusano.
Glasnow pitched five innings, allowing two hits, two runs, four walks, and three strikeouts. The Dodgers acquired Glasnow in a Dec. 16 trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and signed him to a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension.
“It's been a tough day all day,” Glasnow said. “Loud, cool atmosphere.”
Daniel Hudson (1-0) earned the win by pitching seven innings with one hit. Evan Phillips made a perfect 9th inning, pitching a four-hit shutout as the Dodgers handed the Padres their sixth consecutive win in the opening game.
Padres pitchers had nine walks and a batter hit, while the Dodgers had seven hits and zero extra-base hits. In the first game since MLB shortened the pitch time for runners on base by two seconds to 18 seconds, Padres pitchers had four infractions, including two by Peralta and one each by Yu Darvish and Hiroki Matsui. called.
Former Dodgers and Padres pitcher Jang Ho Park threw out the ceremonial first pitch, using the glove from which he made his first major league appearance.
Before the game, Park, who serves as San Diego's advisor, expressed pride in how his and former Japan teammate Hideo Nomo's accomplishments have inspired a generation of young Asian players to aim for the majors. Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995.
“Looking at Asian players today, the trees planted by Hideo Nomo and Chan-ho Park have grown strong, and the fruits of those trees are now leading the majors and inspiring new players. “I feel like I hope so,” Park said.
Betts, Ohtani and Freeman became the first MVP to go 1-2-3 in the batting order since Philadelphia's Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt in 10 games in 1993. The only other examples are by Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, with Rose, Morgan and George Foster on May 13, 1978, and Rose, Morgan and Johnny Bench on May 5, 1976.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another big addition to the Dodgers this offseason, agreed to a 12-year, $325 million contract and will make his major league debut on Thursday. He appeared in three spring training games, pitching 9 2/3 innings and posting an 8.38 ERA.
“I'm not really concerned about the numbers,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
Joe Musgrove started 17 games last year and had a 10-3 record with a 3.05 ERA and will start for the Padres on Thursday.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
