*Photo from AP News*
The season started early for these two teams. Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts hit RBI singles as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres with a 5-2 victory on Wednesday morning in Seoul.
With the Dodgers and Padres starting the regular season in South Korea, it's the Dodgers who came out on top in the early opening day showdown, riding a 4 run 8th inning to the win. An error in the 8th inning by Jake Cronenworth turned the game in favor of the Dodgers, with a ground ball going right through his glove, ripping it open.
The Dodgers also had a heavy hitting lineup on display for the first game of the season. Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Ohtani hit 1-2-3 in the order, becoming the first 3 MVP winners to hit 1-2-3 in a lineup since Joe Morgan, Pete Rose, and Mike Schmidt did so for Philadelphia in 1993.
Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux said of the lineup that "One through nine, everyone's going to give you a tough at-bat. We're going to grind you down, grind you out, and plus you've got guys that can do damage up and down the lineup, too. Today was a good example that we're not going to give up, not going to give in, and one through nine, we're going to grind you down."
The scoring started in the 3rd inning of the game. Xander Bogaerts gave the Padres a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI single that scored Tyler Wade. The Dodgers tied the game in the top of the 4th when Teoscar Hernandez scored on a Jason Heyward sac fly. Manny Machado scored on a Luis Campusano groundout in the bottom of the 4th to put the Padres ahead by a 2-1 score.
Kike Hernandez tied the game 2-2 in the 8th inning when his sac fly scored Max Muncy. On the error that ripped Cronenworth's glove open, Teoscar Hernandez scored to put the Dodgers ahead 3-2. Betts made it a two run lead when his RBI single scored James Outman before Ohtani added an RBI single of his own, scoring Lux to make it a 5-2 final.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the game that "There’s a lot more eyeballs on the Dodgers and on Major League Baseball. I wouldn’t say tonight was a marquee game, but I thought Tyler kept us in the ballgame and the offense came alive at the end. It was a good ballgame, and I expect a lot more games like this."
Tyler Glasnow was the opening day starter for the Dodgers, allowing two runs on two hits and 4 walks in 5 innings. Ryan Brasier, Daniel Hudson, Joe Kelly, and Evan Phillips each threw a scoreless inning to seal the win, with Hudson credited with the win and Phillips getting the save.
Yu Darvish lasted 3 2/3 innings in his start for the Padres, allowing one run. Tom Cosgrove pitched the next 2/3 of an inning before Enyel De Los Santos worked an inning and Yuki Matsui pitched 2/3 of an inning. Wandy Peralta allowed one run in one inning before Jhony Brito allowed two runs and Adrian Morejon gave up one. Jeremiah Estrada pitched a scoreless 9th inning.
Wade said of the loss that "We competed. We were in there the whole time. I think that there's nothing to really hang our hats on. There's a couple of missed, unfortunate things that happened, but that's baseball, and good thing we've got another one tomorrow."
The second and final game of the quick Seoul series is on Thursday morning at 6:00 AM Eastern Time. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the start for the Dodgers as they look to sweep the series, while Joe Musgrove goes for the Padres as they try to salvage a split.
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