By Jim Allen,
Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-5 with an RBI single and a stolen base in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 5-2 win Wednesday over the San Diego Padres as Major League Baseball opened its season with its first game in South Korea.
Ohtani, a two-time American League MVP who joined the Dodgers over the winter on a 10-year, $700 million contract, chipped in with an RBI as Los Angeles caught a lucky break in a four-run eighth inning at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome.
Trailing 2-1 in the eighth, the Dodgers loaded the bases with no outs, and Enrique Hernandez tied it with the Dodgers' second sacrifice fly of the night. With one out, a potential double-play grounder shot through the webbing of first baseman Jake Cronenworth's glove for an error, and a 3-2 Los Angeles lead.
"Cro's a very good defender over there," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "So that's a tough error for Cro but a good break for us, and you've got to take them when you can get them."
Back-to-back RBI singles by Mookie Betts and Ohtani capped the rally.
Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish started for the Padres. He allowed an unearned run on two hits and three walks while striking out three in 3-2/3 innings. He escaped a third-inning bases-loaded jam to keep the game scoreless but was not around for the Padres lead.
"My pitching wasn't that good, but I was able to hang tough and keep us in the game," said Darvish, who held Ohtani to one hit and one extremely hard-hit foul ball.
"It felt weird facing him. It was so like him to hit a rocket like that."
For his part, Ohtani wanted to pay his respects to Darvish, who had mentored him as a youngster and whom he was facing for the first time.
"I wanted to bow to him in the batter's box but was prevented from doing that by the pitch clock," Ohtani said. "I had to wait until I got on base to do that."
The game, which rocked from start to finish with Korean-style cheering, was preceded by MLB's first Korean player, former pitcher Park Chan Ho, throwing the ceremonial first pitch to Padres shortstop Kim Ha Seong, MLB's first South Korean Gold Glove winner.
San Diego scored twice off new Dodger right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who allowed two hits and four walks while striking out three over five innings.
Both runs came via leadoff walks to Tyler Wade in the third and Manny Machado in the fourth.
Wade, whose two-base throwing error from third set up the Dodgers' run in the top of the fourth, scored on a Xander Bogaerts single, while Machado scored San Diego's go-ahead run on a double play.
Yuki Matsui, San Diego's fourth pitcher, made his MLB debut after recording 236 career saves in Japan, protecting a 2-1 lead by getting two sixth-inning outs. The lefty walked one and struck out one.
The game also had an unfortunate prelude when local police notified the organizers of a bomb threat at the ballpark. After a thorough search, the venue was cleared for play, although security was tightened at entrances.
Related coverage:
Baseball: A new ball game for reliever Yuki Matsui in MLB
Baseball: South Korean fans express powerful respect for Shohei Ohtani
Baseball: Dodgers beat South Korean national team in exhibition finale
