On the field, in the finale of their South Korean series against the San Diego Padres, things for the team didn’t go much better.
Star Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto flopped in his MLB debut, ringing in his record $325-million contract with a five-run outing that lasted just one inning.
An explosive offensive performance — keyed by a six-RBI outburst from Mookie Betts and four-hit performance from Will Smith — was wasted, with the Dodgers losing 15-11 after failing to erase an early seven-run deficit.
And, after an offseason of high-priced excitement and World Series aspirations, the team’s international trip quickly went off the rails.
Before the game, all the attention surrounded Ohtani and his now former interpreter, Mizuhara, who was fired earlier Thursday after representatives for Ohtani accused Mizuhara of engaging in a “massive theft” of millions of dollars of the two-way star’s money to satisfy gambling debts Mizuhara allegedly owed to an illegal bookmaker.
Once first pitch arrived, however, it didn’t take long for the alarm bells to shift.
Coming off an underwhelming spring in which he suffered an 8.38 ERA and .357 batting average against, questions were quietly circulating about the challenges Yamamoto faced transitioning to Major League Baseball.
Compared to Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league — where the 25-year-old right-hander was a three-time most valuable player — the major leagues feature a different ball, a more rigorous schedule for starting pitchers, and hitting talent unmatched anywhere else in the world.
Based on his opening act, it might take Yamamoto some time to settle in.
His first pitch, a 96.6 mph fastball, was smoked by Xander Bogaerts for a leadoff single. His next batter, Fernando Tatis Jr., was struck by a wild splitter. Then, Jake Cronenworth tagged Yamamoto with a couple of runs before an out had been recorded, crushing a hanging splitter for a two-run triple to the right-field corner.
From there, Yamamoto appeared to lose his command — and his confidence.
Ha-Seong Kim hit a sacrifice fly to score another run. Luis Campusano and Tyler Wade added a couple more with an RBI double and single, respectively.
By the time Yamamoto struck out Jackson Merrill to finally retire the side, five runs had scored, six batters had reached base and Yamamoto had exhausted himself by throwing 43 pitches.
“I was not able to control my pitches, which led to too many runs,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “I’m going to review what was wrong today and reset my mind, and get ready for the next outing.”
Despite the early 5-0 hole, which grew to 9-2 after a Padres rally in the third inning, the Dodgers made several attempts to claw their way back.
Betts punctuated a four-spot in the bottom half of the third with a double off the wall in left, then added a two-run home run with a fifth-inning blast to left.
A booted grounder by Bogaerts that was ruled a hit in the eighth plated a couple more runs, trimming the Padres’ lead to 12-11.
And before Manny Machado iced the game with a three-run moonshot in the ninth, Ohtani came to the plate with the potential tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth. On the first pitch of the at-bat, however, the slugger rolled over a center-cut sinker from Padres closer Robert Suarez.
On this day, the stormy clouds over the Dodgers seemed impossible to lift.