Dodgers rout KBO’s Heroes in exhibition game in Seoul
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Korean club Kiwoom Heroes 14-3 on Sunday in the first of their two exhibition games, as they get ready for the regular season opening-series against the San Diego Padres here later in the week.
Freddie Freeman homered and came up a triple shy of a cycle, while Jason Heyward paced the offense with four RBIs, as the Dodgers cruised to an easy win past the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club in front of 14,671 fans at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Today, the Padres will face the defending Korean Series champions LG Twins at noon, and the Dodgers will play Korea at 7 p.m.
The Dodgers and the Padres will then play each other for a two-game Seoul Series on Wednesday and Thursday, back at Gocheok. These will be the first MLB regular season games played in Korea.
Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese superstar for the Dodgers, struck out in both of his two at-bats against Heroes starter Ariel Jurado.
Right after striking out Ohtani in the first inning, Jurado surrendered a solo shot to Freeman for the Dodgers’ opening run of the game.
Heyward’s RBI double and a run-scoring groundout by Gavin Lux made it 3-0 for the Dodgers in the second inning.
A broken-bat single by James Outman put the Dodgers up 4-0.
The Heroes did not get a hit off starter Michael Grove through two innings. But they scored their first run off the Dodgers’ third pitcher, Ryan Brasier, in the bottom fourth.
Ronnie Dawson, one-time major leaguer, led off the inning with a single and stole second base.
Two batters later, Choi Joo-hwan drove him home with a single to left, as Dawson ran through the stop sign put up by his third base coach Park Jeong-eum.
But the Heroes couldn’t get any closer, with the Dodgers batting around putting up a four-spot in the top fifth.
A sacrifice fly by Heyward made it 5-1 Dodgers, and three straight RBI singles blew the game wide open at 8-1.
The Dodgers tacked on four more runs in the seventh, highlighted by Heyward’s two-run double.
For the Heroes, No. 8 hitter Song Sung-mun hit a big double off Evan Phillips in the seventh to salvage two more runs.
The Dodgers rounded out the scoring with a run in the top ninth.
Seven Dodgers pitchers struck out 15 batters.
Padres squeeze past Korean national team
The San Diego Padres eked out a 1-0 win over the Korean national team in their first exhibition game in Seoul on Sunday.
The Padres scored their only run on a wild pitch by Korean starter Moon Dong-ju in the top of the first inning at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Korea outhit the Padres 5-4, but squandered some late scoring opportunities against the Padres bullpen.
Kim Ha-seong, the Korean shortstop for the Padres, batted 1-for-4 in his homecoming in front of 12,497 fans. He spent the final five seasons of his seven-year Korea Baseball Organization career with Gocheok as his home park.
The Padres scored their run without the benefit of a hit.
Korean starter Moon Dong-ju walked the bases loaded. And after retiring the next two batters, Moon threw a wild pitch that allowed Xander Bogaerts to come home.
Moon settled down and had a three-up, three-down second inning. And four pitchers that followed held the Padres to just four hits and a walk the rest of the way.
Korea could have pulled off an upset with some timely hits.
Moon Bo-gyeong’s one-out double in the seventh didn’t amount to anything. Korea pieced together two straight singles with two outs in the eighth, but No. 3 hitter Kang Baekho hit a weak grounder back to the mound.