Padres 15, Dodgers 11: Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s disastrous debut leads to a messy, high-scoring loss

Chad Moriyama 03/21/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

After the Dodgers took the first game of the Seoul Series in a miscue-filled contest, the second game was even messier, as a disaster debut was followed by a bunch of scoring and errors by both sides that eventually settled in as a 15-11 loss to the Padres.

The Dodgers had their chances to both prevent runs and score runs to make up that deficit but couldn’t quite find a way to get it done.

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The story of the game, of course, would revolve around Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s MLB debut following his record contract this offseason. Well … about that.

Things started ominously in the 1st, as Yamamoto’s first pitch resulted in a single grounded through the infield from Xander Bogaerts, and a hit batter followed to put a pair on. Jake Cronenworth cashed the chance in immediately by roping a triple down the right-field line to make it 2-0 early. A walk made it four batters in a row to reach, before he got Ha-Seong Kim to hit a sacrifice fly to center. After uncorking a wild pitch to advance a runner to second, he got his first MLB strikeout, and it seemed like he might’ve been settling in.

No such luck, as Luis Campusano doubled under the glove of Max Muncy (possibly on a foul ball) for a double and a run, then Tyler Wade singled to plate another run to make it 5-0, before another strikeout ended the long nightmare of an inning.

That was also the end of the line for Yamamoto, who had zero command over any of his pitches: 1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 43 Pitches.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, like the rest of the starters in this series, Joe Musgrove didn’t look at all sharp either. After getting his first out, he gave up a sharp single to Shohei Ohtani, walked Freddie Freeman, and gave up a double in the gap to Will Smith to make it 5-1. But the Dodgers wasted that chance as Muncy struck out, and after a Teoscar Hernandez walk loaded the bases, James Outman lined out to end the frame.

After getting the first out of the 2nd, Musgrove again found himself in trouble after back-to-back singles from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts led to runners on second and third thanks to some quality baserunning. Ohtani cashed in a run by flying out to the warning track in right, making it 5-2, but nothing else came of the threat.

For the Dodgers, Michael Grove started the 2nd and got a scoreless inning, though he did give up a single and hit a batter. He unfortunately continued in the 3rd, and after getting the first out of the frame, he allowed back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles to plate two runs and make it 7-2.

The shaky defense continued as Muncy made an official error this time that resulted in a run scoring, and Cronenworth hit a sacrifice fly to plate another for a 9-2 score before that inning mercifully ended.

Fortunately, Musgrove was still in the game for the Padres and he continued to struggle. The 3rd started with back-to-back singles from Smith and Muncy, and after a groundout advanced both runners, another groundout from Outman plated a run. But the rally didn’t end there as Jason Heyward singled to center to drive in another run, make it 9-4, and knock Musgrove out of the game.

Tom Cosgrove entered for a second straight game against the Dodgers, immediately giving up a single to Lux and then gave up a double to Betts off the wall in left to plate two more runs. All of a sudden it was 9-6 before Cosgrove was able to get out of the frame.

Taking over for Grove in the 4th, the Dodgers turned to Kyle Hurt, who issued a walk and eventually faced a RISP due to a steal, but that was it. Hurt also continued in the 5th, and that too cost the Dodgers, as he gave up a double, a single, and then a Cronenworth single to push the deficit to 10-6. He was lucky not to be in worse trouble thanks to a nice double play turned by Betts and Lux that ended the threat.

For the Padres, it was acquisition Michael King making his Padres debut in the 4th. He found himself in trouble after coughing up a single and a double with one down, but once again the Dodgers were unable to take advantage (Teoscar is now 0-for-4 with RISP this series).

King continued in the 5th and promptly surrendered a Heyward single, then later Mookie finally got a ball out of this park, smashing a homer to left for the first dinger of the season to make it 10-8. To his credit, King did eventually get through not only the rest of the 5th, but also the 6th without further mess.

Unfortunately, the back-and-forth scoring continued in the Padres’ half of the 6th. Alex Vesia was in and walked a batter, then gave up a double to Campusano to drive in a run and make it 11-8 again, which continued the pen’s struggles to that point.

Ryan Yarbrough then entered and found himself in trouble himself after a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases. With two outs, he got a grounder to third, but Muncy butchered a routine play for another error to push the deficit to 12-8 before things mercifully ended.

Back to the Padres on the mound, King was still out there in the 7th, where he got an out and then issued a walk. He was then relieved by Yuki Matsui, who immediately gave up a deep fly ball to Ohtani for an out, then gave up a single to Freddie, and a bloop into center for Dills for a run to make it 12-9.

Yarbrough went back out there for the Dodgers in the 8th, and got the first two outs before giving way to J.P. Feyereisen making his Dodgers debut. He got a strikeout on a pitch clock violation to complete the first 1-2-3 frame of the game.

Trying to preserve the Padres’ three-run lead in the 8th was Stephen Kolek, who immediately walked Teoscar and hit Outman, but got the next two batters. He turned things over to Robert Suarez, who gave up Mookie’s fourth hit of the day, a single up the middle to drive in two. Heady baserunning saw Mookie take second as well, but Suarez got Ohtani to end the threat.

Feyereisen remained in because the priority is presumably not taxing the pen over optimizing to win this one game, and he issued a walk to start the 9th. He then deflected a double-play ball for a single to corner the runners and Manny Machado absolutely obliterated a homer to make it 15-11 for the Padres.

Feyereisen got a pair of outs after that, along with giving up a single, and then turned it over to Gus Varland to close the book on the Padres with the final out.

To close the game out, now with a comfortable four-run lead was Suarez continuing from the last inning, and he cruised through a 1-2-3 frame to end it.

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1-1, so .500. The season is over.

The Dodgers will now return to Los Angeles, resume the end of Spring Training with a three-game series against the Angels starting on March 24, before kicking off the season again at home on March 28 against the Cardinals. Very normal season.

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