Dodgers overcome Cronenworth's glove failure. 2 hits for Ohtani

Shohei Ohtani's RBI single capped an eighth-run home run in his Dodgers debut as Los Angeles beat the San Diego Padres 5-2 in Wednesday's season opener in Seoul, South Korea, turning the game when a routine fielder passed the belt to the first baseman Jake Cronenworth.

Teoscar Hernandez scored the go-ahead shot after a mistake that could be interpreted as an equipment failure. Gavin Lux passed Adrian Morgon through the glove of Cronenworth, and the ball eventually settled into right field where Hernandez scored from second base to give Los Angeles a 3-2 lead.

“It could have been innings before that. It happened in this situation, and it's bad,” Cronenworth said. “I mean I thought it was an easy double play, I caught it on the first bounce.”

While watching from the dugout, Padres manager Mike Shildt thought San Diego was out of the inning.

“I felt very confident that it was a 3-6-1 formation,” he said. “But he gets it under his belt and the rest is history.”

Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani capped off their successful performances with singles in the eighth inning.

“This is a huge mistake for Crowe,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It's a lucky break for us. You have to take it when you can get it.”

Ohtani went 2-for-5 in his first game since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers. A crowd of 15,952 spectators were on hand to watch the first Major League Baseball game in South Korea at the Gocheok Sky Dome.

The two-way star, limited to hitting after elbow surgery, had a mental error that caused the final out of the eighth inning. He was called out when he crossed second base and then failed to pick off the bag while falling back on Freddie Freeman's grounder, causing a double play at the end of the inning.

Xander Bogaerts had an RBI single among his two hits for the Padres, who mustered just four singles against five Dodgers pitchers.

The Padres were leading 2-1 before Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy to lead off the eighth inning and reliever Johnny Brito (0-1) loaded the bases after Hernandez singled to center and James Ottman walked on four pitches. Muncy scored on a sacrifice fly by Enrique Hernandez to end Brito's evening before Cronenworth's glove issue changed the complexion of the game.

San Diego opened the scoring in the third inning after Tyler Wade came home on a Bogaerts single to center field against a pitch.

Los Angeles answered in the fourth. Hernandez advanced to second base after a throwing error by third baseman Wade. Hernandez moved to third on a groundout and raced home on Jason Heyward's sacrifice fly to deep right field.

Machado walked on four pitches to lead off the fourth inning and advanced to second after Tyler Glasnow walked Ha-Seong Kim. A groundout by Juricson Profar loaded the bases before Machado scored on a 6-4-3 double off the bat of Luis Camposano.

Glasnow allowed two runs on two hits with four walks and three hits in five innings. The Dodgers acquired Glasnow in a Dec. 16 trade with the Tampa Bay Rays and signed him to a five-year, $136.5 million contract extension.

“The whole day was kind of a grind,” Glasnow said. “Loud – cold.”

Danielle Hudson (1-0) earned the win after striking out the seventh with a single. Evan Phillips pitched a perfect ninth save, finishing off a four-run home run that gave the Dodgers their sixth straight win over the Padres in the opener.

The Padres pitchers walked nine and struck out a batter, and the Dodgers had seven hits, none for extra bases. In the first game since MLB shortened the pitch clock with runners on base by two seconds to 18, Padres pitchers were called for four violations, including two by Peralta and one each by Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui.

Using the glove from his major league debut, former Dodgers and Padres outfielder Chan Ho Park threw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Before the match, Park, who works as an advisor to the San Diego team, expressed his pride in how his achievements and those of his former Japanese teammate Hideo Nomo have inspired younger generations of Asian players to try to reach major tournaments. Nomo joined the Dodgers in 1995.

“When I look at all these Asian players today, I feel that the tree that Hideo Nomu planted has become strong and the tree that Chan Ho Park planted has become strong, and the fruits of those trees are now leading major tournaments and inspiring new hope,” Park said.

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman became the first MVPs to go 1-2-3 in the batting order since Philadelphia's Joe Morgan, Pete Rose and Mike Schmidt over 10 games in 1993. The only other instances were by Cincinnati's Big Red Machine, with Rose, Morgan and George Foster on May 13 1978, and Rose, Morgan and Johnny Bench on May 5, 1976.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, another big addition to the Dodgers this season, will make his major league debut Thursday after agreeing to a 12-year, $325 million contract. He had an 8.38 ERA over 9 innings pitched in three spring training outings.

“I'm not really worried about the numbers,” Yamamoto said through a translator.

Joe Musgrove starts for the Padres on Thursday after going 10-3 with a 3.05 ERA in 17 starts last year.

The Associated Press and field media contributed to this report.