Major League Baseball

Yoshinobu Yamamoto blasted in Dodgers debut as Padres win in South Korea

Updated Mar. 21, 2024 12:33 p.m. ET

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was chased after one inning of a nightmarish MLB debut as the San Diego Padres outlasted the Dodgers 15-11 on Thursday.

Mookie Betts had four hits and six RBIs for the Dodgers, including the first home run of the major league season. Shohei Ohtani hit three deep flyouts on a 1-for-5 night and was 3-for-10 with one RBI in the series.

Jake Cronenworth tied a career high with four hits and had four RBIs for San Diego, which gained a split in the opening two-game series, MLB's first games in South Korea. After the Dodgers rebounded from a 9-2 deficit and closed to 12-11, Manny Machado hit a three-run homer in the ninth off J.P. Feyereisen.

San Diego outhit the Dodgers 17-16. Luis Campusano had three hits and 20-year-old center fielder Jackson Merrill got his first two major league hits.

Yamamoto (0-1) signed a $325 million, 12-year contract, a record amount for a pitcher that created high expectations. San Diego batted around against the two-time Pacific League MVP, and he left with a 45.00 ERA, allowing five runs, four hits, one walk, a hit batter and a wild pitch.

Cronenworth's two-run triple, Ha-Seong Kim's sacrifice fly, Campusano's RBI double and Tyler Wade's run-scoring single built a 5-1 lead. Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run single in a four-run third inning off Michael Grove.

Michael King (1-0) won in his Padres debut following his acquisition in the trade that sent star outfielder Juan Soto to the New York Yankees. King allowed three runs in 3⅓ innings.

Robert Suarez got four outs for the save.

Padres starter Joe Musgrove gave up five runs, seven hits and two walks in 2⅔ innings.

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy allowed Campusano's first-inning bouncer to get under his glove and down the line for an RBI double, had Fernando Tatis Jr.'s third-inning grounder kick off his glove into left for an error as a run scored, then allowed José Azocar's seventh-inning grounder to bounce off his glove for a run-scoring error. Muncy hit an inning-ending popup that stranded two runners in the eighth.

In the second season of the pitch clock, the game took 3 hours, 42 minutes, a day after the opener lasted 3:05. Bogaerts struck out for the final out in the eighth when a pitch clock-violation was called by plate umpire Andy Fletcher with a 1-2 count.

The Dodgers host the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday and Monday, then play at Anaheim on Tuesday in the annual exhibition Freeway Series. They resume the season March 28 in their home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Meanwhile, The Padres are home against the Seattle Mariners in exhibitions at Petco Park on Monday and Tuesday, then resume the season by hosting the San Francisco Giants in a four-game series starting March 28.

Reporting by The Associated Press.