Dodgers Score Four in Eighth Inning Rally to Win Regular Season Opener: Highlights
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ 2024 regular season is officially underway.
On Wednesday night in Korea (Wednesday morning in Los Angeles), the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 5-2, to officially open the 2024 season.
Tyler Glasnow looked sharp in his Dodgers debut and worked around traffic while the offense came alive late. Here’s all the highlights from the season opening win:
Mookie Betts got the first at-bat of the 2024 regular season, and walked on a pitch clock violation. He then stole second base, but was sent back due to umpire’s interference.
Shohei Ohtani was up next, and his first at-bat as a Dodger ended in a fielder’s choice. The Dodgers went down quiet in the first.
Glasnow got off to a quick start in his debut, retiring Xander Bogaerts, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jake Cronenworth in order in the first inning, including a strikeout of Cronenworth.
Max Muncy led the second inning off with a single for the Dodgers’ first hit of the season, but was stranded on second base.
In the top of the third inning, the Dodgers got two-out traffic thanks to the first hit of the season for Ohtani. He smoked a line drive to right field at 112.3 mph off the bat.
He then immediately stole second base.
Even his foul balls are must-see tv:
The Dodgers ended up loading the bases, but Muncy struck out swinging to end the inning.
In the bottom of the third, a Tyler Wade leadoff walk and wild pitch put him in scoring position, and Bogaerts cashed in on an RBI single to bring home the first run of the season and give the Padres a 1-0 lead.
The lead didn’t last long, though, as Teoscar Hernández reached second base on an error, and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Jason Heyward.
That ended up being the end for Yu Darvish, after 3.2 innings and 72 pitches.
Glasnow got into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning.
He walked Manny Machado and Ha-Seong Kim to lead off the inning, and then Jurickson Profar dropped a bunt, which Glasnow tried to play but he threw it wide to first base.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Glasnow got Luis Campusano to ground into a double play (which scored a run), before striking out Tyler Wade to end the fourth and limit the damage.
The Dodgers again got runners on in the fifth inning thanks to a Mookie Betts leadoff single and a Freddie Freeman hit by pitch.
But they stranded them on the bases, moving L.A. to 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
Glasnow had a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth inning, bringing an end to his Dodgers debut with this final line:
The Dodgers again went quiet in the sixth, continuing to strand runners on the bases. Ryan Brasier relieved Glasnow, and had a dominant 1-2-3 inning.
The Dodgers then had another quiet top of the seventh inning outside of a second walk via a pitch clock violation, and moved to 0-for-14 with runners on base.
Daniel Hudson got the call in the bottom of the seventh, and had a scoreless inning in his return to action.
Finally, in the eighth inning, the Dodgers’ offense woke up.
Max Muncy walked, followed by a Teoscar Hernández single and a James Outman walk to load the bases with nobody out.
Kiké Hernández hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game, and then Gavin Lux reached on a ground ball that went through the webbing of Cronenworth’s glove:
Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani then hit back-to-back RBI singles, and the Dodgers had a 5-2 lead in the blink of an eye.
Joe Kelly got the bottom of the eighth inning, and put up another zero for the L.A. bullpen.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the ninth, but couldn’t bring them home. Then, it was Evan Phillips’ chance to get the save in the ninth inning.
Phillips retired the Padres in order, and the Dodgers got the first win of the 2024 regular season.
They play again on Thursday night in Korea, which will be Thursday morning in Los Angeles. First pitch on Thursday is the same time as it was on Wednesday: 3:05 a.m. PT.
Photo Credit: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters via USA TODAY Sports
