Shohei Ohtani mania hits Seoul: Japanese star tallies two hits as Dodgers beat Padres 5-2
The LA Dodgers designated hitter went 2-for-5 with a run batted in as Major League Baseball played its first-ever regular-season games in the Republic of Korea.
Baseball Softball
All eyes were on Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday (20 March) evening for the Japanese baseball superstar's regular-season debut as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
His presence in Seoul, Republic of Korea, where Major League Baseball is staging regular-season games for the first time, has even overshadowed the presence of Seoul native Kim Ha-seong on the opposition San Diego Padres, due to his status as a two-way "unicorn" adept at both hitting and pitching.
Although Ohtani will not pitch in 2024 as he recovers from elbow surgery, he remains a fearsome hitter in the box and showed that on Wednesday at the Gocheok Sky Dome, registering two hits in his five at-bats and making hard contact as his Dodgers took advantage of an eighth-inning fielding error to overturn a one-run deficit into a 5-2 win.
Ohtani, who recently announced his marriage to former Japanese basketball player Tanaka Mamiko and is one of Japan's most widely followed sports heroes, began his Dodgers career by grounding into a first-inning fielder's choice forceout.
He didn't have to wait long to register his first big-league hit in a uniform not belonging to his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, with a scorching line-drive single to right field in the third inning.
That hit had an exit velocity – the speed at which the ball came off the bat – of 112.3 miles per hour (180.7 km/h), making it the hardest-hit ball put in play the entire game. Ohtani also successfully stole second base, but did not come around to score.
It was the Padres who struck first in the bottom of the third inning through a Xander Bogaerts RBI single, and while the Dodgers tied the game in the top of the fourth on a Jason Heyward sacrifice fly, San Diego regained the lead in the bottom of that inning with a runner scoring from third on a bases-loaded double-play ball.
Ohtani, for his part, also seemed to be having a quiet game after his third-inning rip. He grounded into another fielder's choice forceout in the fifth inning and then to the pitcher in the seventh.
However, the Padres bullpen collapsed in the top of the eighth. Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy before reliever Jhony Brito loaded the bases by allowing a single to Teoscar Hernández and another walk to James Outman. Enrique Hernández drove Muncy in on a sac fly to tie the game at 2-2, which was enough for Brito to be replaced by Adrián Morejón.
And, as luck would have it for the Dodgers, a potential inning-ending double-play turned into a run. Gavin Lux grounded to Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth, who saw the ball burst through the seams of his glove and sneak into right field.
That opened the door for Teoscar Hernández to come home, before Mookie Betts drove in Outman. Up stepped Ohtani, sitting on a relatively quiet 1-for-4 day.
On a pitch inside that he was jammed on, the man most people had come to see managed to get his bat on the ball and loop it to the opposite field for a single to drive Lux home.
Just one game may have been played in Ohtani's career with the Dodgers – he has a 10-year contract reportedly worth the most in team sports history – but Dodgers fans will no doubt be dreaming of a trophy-laden future with baseball's unicorn.