An unbelievable error by first baseman Jake Cronenworth (30) cost the San Diego Padres an opening day victory.
San Diego lost 2-5 in the season opener of the MLB World Tour Seoul Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul, South Korea.
San Diego led the game until the seventh inning. In the bottom of the third inning, Xander Bogaerts led off with an RBI single with two outs. In the top of the fourth, the Dodgers tied the game 1-1 on Jason Heyward’s RBI single with the bases loaded, but San Diego regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Luis Campusano singled with the bases loaded to score Manny Machado from third base.
After holding on to a slim one-run lead through seven innings, the Padres faced a big threat in the top of the eighth. After reliever Wandy Peralta walked leadoff hitter Max Muncy in the seventh, the Padres brought in Johnny Brito for Peralta, but Brito also gave up a single to Teoscar Hernandez and a walk to James Outman. With the bases loaded, Enrique Hernandez hit an RBI sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2-2.
The crisis wasn’t over. With runners on first and second, bad luck struck San Diego. Adrian Morejon took the mound for Brito, and Morejon induced a grounder to Gavin Lux at first base. In a normal defense, the ball would have been a double play, but Lux’s throw went through the first base mitt netting of first 토토 baseman Jake Cronenwirth. The hit was recorded as a fielding error by Cronenweth. The unfortunate and ridiculous error allowed Hernandez to score from second base, tying the game and setting up a runner on first and second.
After giving up the lead, San Diego quickly fell apart. Back-to-back RBI singles by Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani made it a 5-2 game. The Dodgers had a leadoff walk in the bottom of the eighth, but Fernando Tatis Jr, Cronenworth, and Machado were all retired to end the threat.
San Diego had one last chance in the top of the ninth, but the lineup of Ha-Sung Kim, Graham Foley, and Luis Campusano went silent and the game ended there. For San Diego, it was an unfortunate mistake that cost them the game.
“I knew something was wrong,” said San Diego manager Mike Schmidt in the postgame interview, “I made a good play, but the ball just went through my glove. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts echoed the sentiment, saying, “He’s a great defensive player, but the glove ripped and the ball got away. We got lucky,” Roberts said.
