Ohtani, Dodgers open MLB season with win over Padres at Seoul Series

Shohei Ohtani's RBI single capped a four-run eighth-inning rally in his Dodgers debut, and Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday night's season opener in Seoul.

The game turned when a routine grounder went through the webbing of the glove of first baseman Jake Cronenworth as the tying run scored.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record 10-year, $700-million US 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 following elbow surgery, also had a mental error that caused the final out of the eighth. 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.

A bomb threat did not seem to affect pre-game preparations. Police found no explosives and said they acted on a tip that the threat was against Ohtani.

San Diego led 2-1 entering the eighth when Max Muncy led off with a walk against Wandy Peralta. Teoscar Hernandez, also making his Dodgers debut, singled off Jhony Brito (0-1), among the players the Padres obtained in the trade that sent star Juan Soto to the New York Yankees.

Josh Outman walked — Padres pitchers issued nine free passes — and Kike Hernandez's sacrifice fly tied the score. Adrian Morejon relieved and Gavin Lux hit a chopper to Cronenworth that the two-time all-star tried to backhand. The ball went through the webbing of the large first baseman's mitt.

"It could have gone through innings before that. It just happened at that situation and it sucks," Cronenworth said. "I thought it was an easy double play."

Hernandez came home for a 3-2 lead.

"That's a tough error for Cro," Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts said. "Fortunate break for us. You got to take them when you can get them."

First for MVPs

Mookie Betts and Ohtani followed with RBI singles.

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.

Betts, moved to shortstop this season, combined with Ohtani to go 4-for-9 at the top of the order.

Daniel Hudson (1-0), the third of five Dodgers pitchers, threw 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.

With new wife Mamiko Tanaka watching from the strands, Ohtani got his first hit with the Dodgers in a 112.3 mph single to right against Yu Darvish. He tried to steal second but was sent back because of umpire interference by Lance Barksdale on Campusano behind the plate.

Xander Bogaerts put the Padres ahead in the third with a run-scoring single off Tyler Glasnow. Bogaerts became the third player with hits in five nations after Edgardo Alfonzo and Paul Goldschmidt, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Bogaerts also has hits in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and England.

Jason Heyward had a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and San Diego went back ahead in the bottom half when Luis Campusano hit a run-scoring double-play grounder.

Glasnow gave up two runs, two hits and four walks over five innings, throwing 77 pitches. Los Angeles acquired him from Tampa Bay in December and signed the 30-year-old right-hander to a five-year deal worth $136.5 million.

"The whole day was kind of a grind," Glasnow said. "Loud, cool atmosphere."

Darvish allowed an unearned run and two hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Muncy had the first hit of season, lining a single off the end of his bat in the second and into centre.

Starting his 12th season, Bogaerts made his first big league appearance at second as Ha-Seong Kim moved to shortstop.

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 Darvish and Yuki Matsui.

Matsui, the fourth of eight San Diego pitchers, got two outs in the sixth inning of his Padres. He agreed to a five-year, $28-million contract. San Diego's Ha-Seong Kim, playing in his native country, was 0-for-3 with a walk.

Up next

Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his major league debut after agreeing to a 12-year, $325-million contract with the Dodgers. He had an 8.38 ERA over 9 2/3 innings in three spring training outings.

"I'm not really concerned about the numbers," he said through a translator. Fellow righty Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres after going 10-3 with a 3.05 earned-run average in 17 starts last year.