The Los Angeles Dodgers went 3-1 in their Korea era, having won both of their exhibition games, and split their series with the San Diego Padres.
In Game 1 against the Padres, the offense was sluggish early, but eventually battled back from a 2-1 deficit to win the game 5-2. Tyler Glasnow was shaky, allowing two runs over his five innings of work. The bullpen buckled in, and held the Padres scoreless, allowing the Dodgers to capitalize on a four-run eighth inning.
The second game however was, literally, a whole different ball game.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto only lasted one inning, allowing five runs to the Pads. He seemed unable to put his splitter where he wanted it, and was missing all around the zone. Nerves and issues surrounding the team could be at play (more on the issues later). Yamamoto likely will take some time getting adjusted to MLB and will most certainly return to his stellar pitching.
Also not helping Yamamoto was the play of the defense. Max Muncy came into Spring Training knowing he had to be better at third base, and has worked on it all offseason. Unfortunately it’s not quite translating to in game play. Muncy had two key errors in the game, one in the first that essentially made Yamamoto get four outs in one inning.
Unlike the first game, the bullpen did not hold the line. The Padres scored 10 more runs over the course of the game.
But the Dodgers offense did not quit. They had game tying chances in the second, fourth, seventh, and eighth innings. Ultimately they fell short, losing to the Padres, 15-11.
Mookie Betts was the MVP of the series for the Dodgers. Over the two games he went 8-for-10 with a home run, in a ballpark that seemed like it wouldn’t allow any homers. He also was his usual fantastic self at defense, getting some key outs.
However the most concerning news to come out while these games were happening was that Shohei Ohtani’s personal interpreter, Ieppi Mizuhara allegedly was involved in a massive gambling debt, and money was moved from Ohtani’s account to that of a bettor in Southern California. Ohtani is reportedly not under investigation himself, although his name was on multiple wire transfers.
Ieppi was fired by the team Wednesday night.
Mizuhara told ESPN reporters that he placed bets on college football, NBA, NFL and international soccer. Regardless of if this is true, and if baseball was not involved, this is a massive story that is sure to have far reaching implications that we are yet to know about.
Ohtani refused to speak to the press following Thursday’s game.
The Dodgers now fly home amid a swirl of uncertainty to play three exhibition games before they start the rest of the regular season against the St Louis Cardinals on March 28th. Stay tuned as more updates are sure to emerge in the coming days.