Jake Cronenworth ripped a two-run triple to highlight a five-run first inning against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, helping the San Diego Padres outlast Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers, 15-11, on Thursday in Seoul, South Korea.
Cronenworth had a sacrifice fly in the third inning and an RBI single in the fifth. The four-hit, four-RBI performance came on the heels of an error due to a glove malfunction contributing to a four-run eighth inning in Wednesday’s 5-2 loss to the Dodgers.
Betts went 4 for 5 with six RBIs — including a two-run homer and two-run double. His two-run single with two outs in the eighth inning shaved San Diego’s lead to 12-11 but Padres third baseman Manny Machado answered with a three-run homer in the ninth off J.P. Feyereisen to punctuate San Diego’s 17-hit attack.
Signed to a record $325-million, 12-year contract, Yamamoto (0-1) allowed five runs on four hits in one inning in which he threw just 23 of 43 pitches for strikes. The two-time Pacific League MVP also struggled in three Cactus League starts, posting an 8.38 ERA in 9 2/3 innings of work.
Cronenworth opened the scoring by ripping a 1-0 splitter from Yamamoto into the right-field corner to plate both Xander Bogaerts and Fernando Tatis Jr. Cronenworth came around to score on a sacrifice fly by South Korean Ha-Seong Kim, and Luis Campusano added an RBI double and scored on Tyler Wade’s RBI single to propel the Padres to an early 5-0 lead.
Campusano capped his three-hit performance with an RBI double in the sixth inning, giving San Diego an 11-8 advantage. Bogaerts scored his third run of the game in the seventh after third baseman Max Muncy booted a grounder by Jose Azocar for his second error of the day.
Los Angeles’ Will Smith highlighted his four-hit performance with an RBI double in the first inning and a run-scoring infield single in the seventh.
Shohei Ohtani went 1-for-5 with a sacrifice fly in the second inning. He was playing after questions surrounding at least $4.5 million in wire transfers sent from Ohtani’s bank account to a bookmaking operation led to the firing of interpreter Ippei Mizuhara.
Michael King (1-0) picked up the win after allowing three runs on four hits in 3 1/3 innings to pick up the win. Two pitchers bridged the gap to Robert Suarez, who completed a four-out save by retiring the side in order in the ninth.
–Field Level Media
