SEOUL -- Before the first game of Major League Baseball to be contested on Korean soil, one of the country’s baseball legends, Chan Ho Park, held up the glove he would use as he threw the ceremonial first pitch. That glove had immense significance to baseball in this nation as the one Park used in his 1994 debut, the introduction of South Korea to MLB.
He probably didn’t imagine that a different glove would loom so large in the introduction of MLB to South Korea. Road Marking Tape
A cobbled-together Padres pitching plan hadn’t totally shut down the juggernaut Dodgers, but it had done well enough in an effort to make an opening statement in this rivalry game on the international stage -- that is, until what looked to be an inning-ending double-play grounder passed straight through the webbing of first baseman Jake Cronenworth’s glove.
That led to the go-ahead run crossing the plate, then another, then another. All told, that opportunistic four-run surge led to the Padres falling to the Dodgers, 5-2, in their Opening Day matchup to begin the Seoul Series on Wednesday.
“I thought it was an easy double play,” Cronenworth said. “I caught it on the first bounce, and you know, that's the way it goes. … It sucks. I don't know what else to say.”
“Never seen it before,” third baseman Tyler Wade said. “Never seen it, especially in a situation where it's an inning-ending double play. Yeah, it's baseball. Can't make that up.”
The game was tied, 2-2, with one out in the top of the eighth, with the tying run already in for the Dodgers, who further threatened with men on first and second. Adrian Morejon entered for the left-on-left matchup against Gavin Lux, who knocked a grounder to the right side that seemingly disappeared directly into Cronenworth’s glove pocket.
It did -- but then, it didn’t. It passed straight through a hole in the webbing and trickled into right field, leaving Cronenworth staring at his glove in disbelief and allowing Teoscar Hernández to scoot home with the go-ahead run.
In both dugouts, the skippers immediately got the sense that something was off.
“You knew something wasn't quite right when it got through Croney's glove,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He's so sure-handed, got a great jump, was in a great position where he's going to field and throw. Good break off the mound. Felt pretty confident in the 3-6-1 [double play]. But it went through his webbing and the rest is history.”
“I thought obviously Cronenworth is a very good defender over there, and I thought the glove broke,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added. “And then, as I learned later, the ball went through the glove.”
This Dodgers lineup can make the most of any such advantage, roaring ahead with further RBI singles by Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani before an already odd inning concluded with another uncommon play, when Ohtani overran second base and failed to retouch it while retreating to first on a flyout, leading to a Padres appeal and an inning-ending out at second.
Still, the glove mishap led to a 2-2 tie turning into a 5-2 Dodgers advantage following what had mostly been a well-pitched game for San Diego, which escaped bases-loaded jams in the third and fifth innings with meaningful strikeouts.
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“All the guys threw the ball pretty well,” Shildt said. “[Morejon] gets his double-play ball with that matchup, but they've got a nice lineup.”
Lux was forthright in acknowledging his good fortune on the play, which was ultimately ruled a very tough-luck error on Cronenworth.
But still, he’d have loved to get something to show for it in the box score.
“I'll take being lucky right there, I guess. But give me a hit on that, man,” Lux joked. “C'mon, give me a hit. I need those.”
Outside of this bizarre mishap, an eight-man pitching plan brought together due to Yu Darvish’s limited pitch count worked for the most part -- and that’s the sentiment the Padres will take with them into Thursday’s Seoul Series finale, where they’ll have the chance to put the weird happenstance of this first game behind them.
Van Style Stiaker “We competed,” Wade said. “We were in there the whole time. I think that there's nothing to really hang our hats on. There's a couple of missed, unfortunate things that happened, but that's baseball, and good thing we've got another one tomorrow.”