Shohei Ohtani”s RBI single in the first innings put an end to the eighth inning rally of his Los Angeles Dodgers in the opening match of the season in Seoul, South Korea, where Los Angeles lost to the San Diego Padres 5-2. The game took a turn when a routine grounder passed through the webbing of Cronenworth’s glove.
Teoscar Hernandez made a crucial score advancement due to an error that could be seen as an equipment malfunction. Gyeon Lux’s grounder slipped through Cronenworth’s glove, and the ball finally ended up in right field as Hernandez scored from second, giving Los Angeles a 3-2 lead.
Cronenworth expressed that it could have been a different inning for them. “I thought it was an easy double play,” he said. “I picked it on the first bounce.”
Watching from the dugout, Padres manager Mike Shildt contemplated pulling Diego from the innings. “I felt pretty confident it was a 3-6-1,” he said. “But it goes through his webbing, and the rest is history.”
Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani completed their performances with singles scoring runs in the eighth inning.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it a tough break for Cron. “It’s a tough one for Cron,” he said. “Fortune favors the bold. When you can get them, you gotta take them.”
Ohtani succeeded in his first game after leaving Los Angeles with a 5-2 victory, changing the record with a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. A crowd of 15,952 was present to witness the first Major League Baseball game in South Korea at Gochiok Sky Dome.
“A good night overall for Shohei,” Roberts said. “Big picture, it’s important because you have such generational talent that’s in your ball club in Los Angeles. A lot of eyes on the Dodgers and Major League Baseball.”
Ohtani, a two-way star limited to hitting only after Tommy John surgery, had a mental lapse that led to his exclusion from the eighth inning final. When he crossed from the second base, he was tagged out and failed to touch the bag again on Freddy Fry’s flyout, resulting in a double play to end the innings.
Xander Bogaerts had an RBI single for Pederson in his two hits, consolidating just four singles against five Dodgers pitchers.
Pederson was leading 2-1 before Wandy Peralta sent Max Muncy to bat eighth, and reliever Johnny Brito (0-1) loaded the bases after Hernández’s single to center, and James Outman walked on four pitches. Muncy hit a flyout, and Enrique Hernández sacrificed a fly to score the run from Brito’s walk before Cronenworth’s glove trouble changed the game.
San Diego started scoring in the third inning when Tyler Wade drove to center on Bogaerts’ single.
In the fourth, Los Angeles responded. Hernandez reached second base after a second base error from Hernández. Hernández went out on a groundout, and Jason Heyward’s sacrifice fly deep to right field shattered the home.
Machado took charge in the fourth inning and struck out four on patches, coming second after Song’s Sung Kim’s three strikeouts. Jurickson Profar’s well-placed bunt loaded the bases before Machado scored on a 6-4-3 double play with Luis Campusano’s bat.
Glaznow allowed two runs on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts in five innings. The Dodgers acquired Glaznow in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on December 16, extending him for five years for $136.5 million.
Glaznow said, “It was a long day in a way.” “Loud crowd — cool atmosphere.”
Daniel Hudson (1-0) secured the win after one hit in the seventh inning. Evan Phillips delivered a stellar relief, completing a four-hitter that led the Dodgers to a consecutive win against Pederson.
Pederson’s glove clocked nine innings and struck one batter, and the Dodgers had seven hits, no extras. Since MLB shortened the clock from two seconds to 18 seconds with runners on bases, Pederson’s pitches played out four confrontations, including two from Peralta and one each from Drew Smyly and Yuki Matsui.
Using their presence in the Major Leagues, former Dodgers and Pederson wore gloves in the pre-game toss.
Before the game, Park, who works as an advisor to San Diego, expressed pride in how their successes and their former Japanese partner, Hideo Nomo, inspired young Asian generations to reach the majors. Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995.
“When I see all those Asian players today, I feel like Hideo Nomo’s planted tree has grown strong and Chan Ho Park’s planted tree has grown strong, and that the fruits of those trees are now leading big players and inspiring new ones,” Park said.
Betts, Ohtani, and Free Man became the first MVP trio in the batting order after Philadelphia’s Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, and Mike Schmidt during the 1993 10 games. Only two other examples were the Big Red Machine of Cincinnati, with Morgan and George Foster on May 13, 1978, and Rose, Morgan, and Johnny Bench on May 5, 1976.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another big addition for the Dodgers this season, starts his Major League debut on Thursday after agreeing to a 12-year, $325 million deal. He struggled during the spring with an ERA of 8.38 over 9⅔ innings.
Yamamoto said through a translator, “I’m not really concerned about the numbers.”
Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres on Thursday after going 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA last year.
