Steve Webb
Game 1, 3/20/2024 @ Seoul, Korea: Dodgers 5, Padres 2
SEOUL, KOREA — Never a doubt in my mind. After seven innings of frustration at the plate, the Dodgers finally came alive in the 8th inning of their season opener with the San Diego Padres, pushing four runs across to take a 5-2 win.
Tyler Glasnow started the game for the Dodgers, and though he’s had better command (4 walks), he acquitted himself well in his first game for his hometown team, going five innings and only giving up a couple of runs. It could have been a lot worse, but Glasnow was able to work out of a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam in the fourth inning thanks to a double play ball and a strikeout. Limiting the damage to just one run proved crucial, as the Dodgers pen was nearly perfect in the last four innings of the game, holding the Padres to just two hits and no runs over the final frames of the ballgame. Glasnow didn’t end up with the win (that went to Daniel Hudson), but still a solid debut in Dodger Blue: 5.0 IP, 2 H 2 ER, 4BB, 3 K.
The big story in the first part of the game was the Dodgers’ lack of hitting with runners on base. They too squandered a bases-loaded opportunity early in the game and were only able to scratch across an unearned run thanks to a Jason Heyward sac fly in the top of the fourth. The Padres took the lead in the bottom of the frame on that aforementioned bases-loaded chance, scoring through the backdoor on the Betts-to-Lux-to-Freeman double play.
The Dodgers’ bats were quiet until the eighth. Max Muncy led off with a walk, one of nine free passes surrendered by the Padres’ pitchers on Wednesday. After a Teoscar Hernandez single and another walk, the bases were juiced for Kiké Hernandez. After striking out in his first AB, Hernandez hit one on the screws to the left field corner. It would have been a bases-clearing double had it not been for some nifty defense by outfielder José Azocar. Instead it was a game-tying sac fly.
Then came the weirdest play of the game. Gavin Lux came up and hit what looked like a double play ball toward first baseman Jake Cronenworth. Cronenworth appeared to field the ball cleanly, but the thing went actually THROUGH THE WEBBING of the glove, allowing the go-ahead run to score. Gotta feel for Croneworth. He did everything right but was betrayed by his equipment. Such a pity. LOL.
Mookie and Shohei then came through with back-to-back RBI singles and the lead ballooned to 5-2, where it stayed for the remainder of the game. Joe Kelly pitched an uneventful eighth, and Evan Phillips sent the Friars down 1-2-3 in the ninth to secure his first save of the year.
The Dodgers and Padres are right back at it tomorrow morning, same ridiculous time, 3:00 AM in Los Angeles. It’ll be Joe Musgrove for San Diego, and for LA, the much anticipated debut of Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Should be must-see TV. But you can set your DVR for it. We won’t tell anybody.
