Shohei Ohtani‘s RBI single capped a four-run eighth-inning rally in his Dodgers debut as Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday’s season opener in Seoul, South Korea, as the game turned when a routine grounder went through the webbing of first baseman Jake Cronenworth.
Teoscar Hernandez scored the go-ahead run on an error that could be construed as an equipment malfunction. Gavin Lux‘s grounder off Adrian Morejon went through Cronenworth’s glove, and the ball eventually settled in right field as Hernandez scored from second base to give Los Angeles a 3-2 lead.
“It could have gone through innings before that. It just happened at that situation, and it sucks,” Cronenworth said. “I mean, I thought it was an easy double play, I caught it on the first bounce.”
Watching from the dugout, Padres manager Mike Shildt was thinking San Diego had gotten out of the inning.
“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 capped their two-hit performances with run-scoring singles in the eighth inning.
“That’s a tough error for Cro,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Fortunate break for us. You got to take them when you can get them.”
Ohtani went 2-for-5 in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. A crowd of 15,952 was on hand to watch at the Gocheok Sky Dome for Major League Baseball’s first game in South Korea.
The two-way star, limited to batting after elbow surgery, had a mental error that caused the final out of the eighth inning. He was called out when he passed second base and then failed to retouch the bag while retreating on Freddie Freeman‘s flyout, causing an inning-ending double play.
Xander Bogaerts had an RBI single among his two hits for the Padres, who mustered just four singles against five Dodgers pitchers.
The Padres were nursing a 2-1 lead before Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy to lead off the eighth inning and reliever Jhony Brito (0-1) loaded the bases after Hernandez singled to center and James Outman walked on four pitches. Muncy scored on a sacrifice fly by Enrique Hernandez to end Brito’s evening before Cronenworth’s glove trouble changed the complexion of the game.
San Diego opened the scoring in the third inning after Tyler Wade came home on Bogaerts’ single to center against a drawn-in infield.
Los Angeles answered in the fourth. Hernandez advanced to second base following a throwing error by third baseman Wade. Hernandez moved to third on a groundout and scampered home on Jason Heyward‘s sacrifice fly to deep right field.
Machado walked on four pitches to lead off the fourth inning and advanced to second after Tyler Glasnow walked Ha-Seong Kim. A well-placed bunt by Jurickson Profar loaded the bases before Machado scored on a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Luis Campusano.
Glasnow allowed two runs on two hits with four walks and three strikeouts in five innings. 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.
“The whole day was kind of a grind,” Glasnow said. “Loud — cool atmosphere.”
Daniel Hudson (1-0) got the win after throwing a one-hit seventh. Evan Phillips pitched a perfect ninth for the save, finishing a four-hitter that gave the Dodgers their sixth straight win over the Padres in an opener.
Padres pitchers walked nine and hit a batter, and the Dodgers had seven hits, none for extra bases. In the first game since MLB shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18, Padres pitchers were called for four violations, including two by Peralta and one each by Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui.
Using the glove from his first major league appearance, former Dodgers and Padres pitcher Chan Ho Park threw the ceremonial first pitch.
Before the game, Park, who works as an adviser with San Diego, expressed pride about how his achievements and those of his former Japanese teammate, Hideo Nomo, inspired younger generations of Asian players to try to reach the majors. Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995.
“When I look at all these Asian players today, I feel that the tree planted by Hideo Nomo has grown strong and the tree planted by Chan Ho Park has grown strong, and that the fruits of those trees are now leading the majors and inspiring new hope,” Park said.
Betts, Ohtani and Freeman became the first MVPs to hit 1-2-3 in a batting order since Philadelphia‘s Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt during 10 games in 1993. The only other instances were 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 Dodgers addition this offseason, makes his major league debut Thursday after agreeing to a 12-year, $325 million contract. He had an 8.38 ERA over 9⅔ innings in three spring training outings.
“I’m not really concerned about the numbers,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter.
Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres on Thursday after going 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 17 starts last year.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.