In the first game of their historic Seoul Series in Korea, the Padres only mustered four hits and two runs in a frustrating loss to the Dodgers.
Oh, what a difference a day makes.
San Diego's offense went bonkers, scoring five times in the 1st inning and ruining the MLB debut of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and kept on swinging in a 15-11 slugfest win over LA.
Padres slugger Xander Bogaerts set the tone on the very first pitch of the game. Bogaerts bounced Yamamoto's first offering, a 97-MPH fastball, back up the middle for a single to touch off the rally. Then the man LA gave $325 million to this off-season just unraveled. He hit Fernando Tatis Jr. with a pitch and gave up a laser of a triple down the right field line to Jake Cronenworth (insert joke about his bats not having holes like his gloves here). It took the Friars all of three batters to match their run total from nine innings of the opener.
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They didn't stop there.
Luis Campusano and Tyler Wade also had base hits as the Padres batted around in the 1st inning, knocking Yamamoto out with a less-than-ideal 45.00 ERA.
San Diego put up another crooked number in the 3rd inning, highlighted by a 2-run single from Bogaerts. The Padres scored four times in the frame to take a 9-2 lead. But, against this Dodgers lineup no lead is safe.
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It didn't help that Joe Musgrove was not sharp in his 2024 debut. Joe never looked comfortable, going just 2.2 inning and allowing five runs on seven hits with just a pair of strikeouts. By the end of the 3rd inning the lead had been cut to 9-6. We've seen the Dodgers crush the Padres spirit by winning games like this more times than anyone would like to admit.
This time the Friars stayed in control. In the 5th inning Cronenworth singled home Jackson Merrill, who got the first two hits of his big league career, to make it 10-6. An inning later catcher Luis Campusano smoked his 2nd double of the day down the left field line to bring home Jose Azocar. Thanks to Michael King, that would be enough.
The lynchpin of the Juan Soto trade who locked up a role in the starting rotation early in Spring Training was available out of the bullpen for the quick 2-game series in Seoul. Aside from giving up a 2-run homer to Mookie Betts (and really, who HASN'T done that) King was pretty good. He struck out five in 3.1 innings, getting the game to the 7th inning when it looked like that was going to be a struggle.
That's not to say the rest of the game was a leisurely stroll. Stephen Kolek made his big league debut in the 8th inning, trying to set up closer Robert Suarez. The rookie didn't get off to a great start. He walked Teoscar Hernandez and hit James Outman with a pitch to put two runners on with nobody out. Kolek rallied to get a pair of outs but with Betts coming up, Padres skipper Mike Shildt went to Suarez for a 4-out save.
Betts is an MVP for good reason. He hit a hard ground ball up the middle the Bogaerts was able to keep on the infield, but both runs scored to cut the lead to 12-11. Suarez induced a ground ball out to Ohtani to end the inning then his offense got him a little more breathing room.
In the 9th, Cronenworth capped his monster night with his 4th hit, a single to right that moved Tatis from 1st to 3rd and set up Manny Machado, who tried to punch a hole in the back of the Gocheok Sky Dome. Manny ripped a missile to left field, a 3-run shot that made it 15-11 and finally dealt the kill shot to a pesky Dodgers club.
Suarez made it stand up with a 1-2-3 final frame to give the Padres a split in Seoul and make the 13-plus hour flight home a whole lot more enjoyable.
The Padres have their FanFest on Sunday at Petco Park, then host the Mariners for a pair of exhibition games before resuming games that count on Thursday, March 28 when they start a 4-game set against the San Francisco Giants. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m. in the East Village.
LISTEN: With NBC 7 San Diego's Darnay Tripp and Derek Togerson behind the mic, On Friar will cover all things San Diego Padres. Interviews, analysis, behind-the-scenes...the ups, downs, and everything in between. Tap here to find On Friar wherever you listen to podcasts.
