A ground ball that could have resulted in an inning-ending double play opened the door for a Dodgers' rally en route to a 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Wednesday.
It's a play that Padres first baseman Jake Cronenworth won't forget for some time.
During the eighth inning of the opening game of the Seoul Series, Gavin Lux came to the plate with runners on first and second base with one out and the score tied at two.
Lux hit a chopper to the right of Cronenworth and when he went to glove it and begin the double-play attempt, the ball went through the webbing of his glove and into the outfield.
Teoscar Hernández would score to give the Dodgers the lead for the first time in the game.
Gavin Lux gives the Dodgers the lead!
— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2024
The ball went straight through Jake Cronenworth's glove 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aHnNlRk109
James Outman would advance to second and score after Mookie Betts' single. Lux would then come home on Shohei Ohtani's second hit of the game and first run batted in as a Dodger and LA took control with a 5-2 lead.
Shohei Ohtani knocks in his first RBI as a Dodger 😤 pic.twitter.com/eYFe69oHNx
— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2024
In the span of 20 pitches, the Padres went from being six outs away from a win to losing their lead for good.
The Padres could not form their own rally in the ninth inning as Evan Phillips closed out the game for the Dodgers.
Earlier this week, Cronenworth sounded off about the hype surrounding the star-heavy Dodgers, who have won the NL West 10 out of the last 11 seasons, reaching three World Series and winning one during that stretch. Their offseason additions, which included Ohtani and pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, have only put a bigger spotlight on them and they are favorites again in many people's eyes.
"Why does it have to be about beating them?" Cronenworth said <a data-i13n="cpos:3;pos:1" href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2024-03-19/padres-dodgers-peter-seidler-shohei-ohtani-playoffs-nl-west-seoul-korea-series">via the San Diego Tribune</a>. "Why can't it be about beating everyone else? Or focusing on us? ... I don't get why everybody makes it about us finishing ahead of them. There are 29 other teams in baseball."
The Dodgers and Padres will play the second and final game of the Seoul Series from Gocheok Sky Dome on Thursday morning at 6 a.m. ET. Yamamoto and Joe Musgrove are the expected starting pitchers.
