Before the Seoul Series started there were a ton many questions facing the 2024 Padres.
Will the new-look pitching staff be able to overcome the loss of the Cy Young Award winner (to a division rival!)? Will the superstars on offense bounce back from a collective down year that led to a disaster of an 82-80 record? Did they make the right choice in letting Bob Melvin leave for San Francisco and replacing him with Mike Shildt?
One thing we did not expect to have to answer: is Jake Cronenworth's glove defective?
An 8th inning ground ball that should have been an inning-ending double play busted right through the webbing of Cronenworth's leather and led to a 4-run outburst that doomed the Friars in a 5-2 loss in the first Major League Baseball game ever played in Korea.
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Yu Darvish got the start for the Friars and was not as sharp as he will be later in the season. He threw 35 pitches in the 3rd inning alone, loading the bases on two walks and a Shohei Ohtani single. Yu wiggled off the hook with a strikeout of Max Muncy to keep the game scoreless.
In the bottom half, we got a little history. Xander Bogaerts lofted a single to centerfield off LA starter Tyler Glasnow, bringing home Tyler Wade with the first run of the year. Bogaerts also becomes the first big leaguer ever to get a hit in five different countries (USA, Canada, England, Mexico, and Korea).
In the 4th inning Teoscar Hernandez hit a routine grounder to 3rd base, which is where Manny Machado would usually be. He's relegated to designated hitter duties as his surgically-repaired elbow continues to heal so newcomer Tyler Wade was at the hot corner. He made an oopsie daisy. Wade's throw was well up the line, allowing Hernandez to reach 2nd base on an error. Two batters later he scored on a sacrifice fly by Jason Heyward to tie it 1-1. That was Darvish's 72nd and final pitch of the day.
The Padres immediately threatened, loading the bases with nobody out on a pair of walks and a bunt single from Jurickson Profar. Then the thing that hurt them all of 2023 bit the Friars again: situational hitting. Luis Campusano grounded into a double play to score Manny Machado then Wade struck out. San Diego had a 2-1 lead but only getting one run in that situation is a huge missed opportunity.
When the Dodgers got their chance with the bases loaded, they didn't miss. Wandy Peralta walked Max Muncy to lead off the 8th, aided by the Padres' 3rd pitch clock violation of the game. Peralta was replaced by Jhony Brito, who's the 5th starter but available in the bullpen for these first two games. He gave up a single, a walk, and a sac fly to tie it 2-2.
Brito was replaced by Adrian Morejon, who got Gavin Lux to hit a soft grounder to Cronenworth. It was a double play ball straight from central casting. Instead it broke through and broke the Padres backs. Teoscar Hernandez scored to make it 3-2 then Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani followed with RBI singles to put it away.
The good news is, this is 1 of 162 and the Friars get a chance to split the series on Thursday morning when Joe Musgrove gets his first start of the year against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
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