Glove miscue helps Dodgers defeat Padres in South Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — The Los Angeles Dodgers started their Shohei Ohtani era with a memorable win on a night of firsts.
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 on Wednesday in Major League Baseball’s first game in South Korea.
“Just a good night overall for Shohei,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “The bigger picture is significant because you’ve got such a generational talent that is on your ballclub in a big market in Los Angeles. There’s a lot more eyeballs on the Dodgers and on Major League Baseball.”
The second of two games in Seoul was played early Thursday morning U.S. time.
Wednesday’s game turned when a routine grounder went through the webbing of the glove of first baseman Jake Cronenworth as the go-ahead run scored.
Ohtani went 2 for 5 with an RBI in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. A crowd of 15,952 was on hand to watch at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
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 pregame preparations. Police found no explosives and said they acted on a tip that the threat was against Ohtani.
Padres pitchers walked nine and hit a batter, and the Dodgers had seven hits, none for extra bases.
San Diego led 2-1 entering the eighth when Max Muncy started with a walk against Wandy Peralta. Teoscar Hernández, 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.
James Outman walked and Kiké Hernández’s sacrifice fly tied the score. Adrián Morejón 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.” Hernández came home for a 3-2 lead.
“That’s a tough error for Cro,” Roberts said. “Fortunate break for us. You got to take them when you can get them.”
Angels in 2017, the team hired Mizuhara to work as his personal interpreter. ESPN said Mizuhara told the outlet this week he has been paid between $300,000 and $500,000 annually.
ESPN said it spoke to Mizuhara on Tuesday night, at which point the interpreter said Ohtani had paid his gambling debts at Mizuhara’s request. After the statement from Ohtani’s attorneys saying the player was a victim of theft, ESPN says Mizuhara changed his story Wednesday and claimed Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
Mizuhara said he incurred more than $1 million in debt by the end of 2022 and his losses increased from there.
“I’m terrible (at gambling). Never going to do it again. Never won any money,” Mizuhara said. “I mean, I dug myself a hole and it kept on getting bigger, and it meant I had to bet bigger to get out of it and just kept on losing. It’s like a snowball effect.”
It would be the biggest gambling scandal for baseball since Pete Rose agreed to a lifetime ban in 1989 after an investigation for MLB by lawyer John Dowd found Rose placed numerous bets on the Cincinnati Reds to win from 1985-87 while playing for and managing the team.
The MLB gambling policy, posted in every locker room, prohibits players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball and also bans betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers. Betting on baseball is punishable with a oneyear ban from the sport. The penalty for betting on other sports illegally is at the commissioner’s discretion.
Ohtani’s stardom has spread worldwide, even as the two-way player has remained largely mediashy. The news of his recent marriage to Mamiko Tanaka shocked fans from Japan to the U.S. While he underwent surgery on his right elbow last September and will not pitch this season, he will be used as a designated hitter and there is a possibility he could play in the field.