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SEOUL: Shohei Ohtani got his Los Angeles Dodgers career off to a winning start on Wednesday (Mar 20) in a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in their Major League Baseball season-opening clash in Seoul.
Japan’s Ohtani, who has been likened to a modern-day version of Babe Ruth, joined the Dodgers in December in a 10-year deal worth US$700 million.
His every move this week in baseball-loving South Korea has been headline news and Gocheok Sky Dome was packed with fans wearing his number 17 jersey for the first MLB regular-season game to be played in the country.
He made a tentative start to his official Dodgers debut but hit a run-scoring single in the eighth inning as Los Angeles came from behind to win the game.
The 29-year-old finished with two hits from five appearances at the plate, with one RBI.
“The bigger picture is significant because you’ve got such a generational talent that is on your ball club in a big market in Los Angeles,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“There’s a lot more eyeballs on the Dodgers and on Major League Baseball.”
Ohtani announced last month that he had got married and his wife Mamiko was in the crowd wearing a white Dodgers jersey and blue cap.
Police searched the stadium ahead of the game in response to a reported bomb threat against Ohtani but said they found no explosives.
Fans were treated to a pre-game performance by K-pop group Aespa before Park Chan-ho, the first South Korean to play in MLB, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
The party atmosphere continued as the game began, with music blaring and drums pounding as Dodgers lead-off batter Mookie Betts faced Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish.
“It was loud – a cool atmosphere,” said Dodgers starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow.
“Everyone was occupied by the game. No one was on their phone or looking around, everyone was locked in, so that was cool.”
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