Top moments from a WILD Seoul Series Game 2
AJ Cassavell
@AJCassavellThe Seoul Series delivered the goods.
After the Dodgers staged a late rally to win Game 1, the Padres responded by winning a 15-11 slugfest in Game 2 on Thursday to earn a split in Major League Baseball¡¯s first-ever games in South Korea.
In case you missed any of the action -- and there was plenty of it in this one -- here¡¯s a look at the biggest moments from Game 2 of the Seoul Series:
An archive of the broadcast will be available for free.
Another festive pregame
For the second straight day, it all got underway with a brief K-pop concert, this time from the group (G)I-DLE, accompanied by a light show. Fernando Tatis Jr. had the best seat in the house for it.
After another day of full lineup introductions, Ken Griffey Jr. took the mound for the ceremonial first pitch, before he handed a pair of baseballs to two local Little Leaguers, each of whom delivered a strike.
Padres jump all over Yamamoto
Yoshinobu Yamamoto¡¯s big league debut lasted one inning and 43 pitches, as the Padres tagged him for five runs in a furious first-inning rally.
Jake Cronenworth, whose glove mishap allowed the go-ahead run to score the previous night, delivered the biggest hit of the frame -- a two-run triple into the right-field corner.
Tatis¡¯ absolute missile
The hardest-hit ball of the Seoul Series? That would be this 116.7 mph laser of a single off the bat of Fernando Tatis Jr. -- also the hardest-hit ball of his career.
Michael Grove, entering the game for Yamamoto after just one inning, gave Tatis a 97 mph fastball on the outer half. Tatis turned it around and added a few extra ticks of velo to it for his first hit of the season.
Merrill on the board
Jackson Merrill's first Major League hit was part of another big Padres rally, as they extended their lead to 9-2 in the top of the third inning.
A day earlier, Merrill, the Padres¡¯ No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 12 overall, became the youngest Opening Day center fielder since Griffey. Fittingly enough, for a second straight day, Griffey was in the Gocheok Sky Dome¡¯s camera well snapping pictures of the moment.
Merrill would finish 2-for-5 with a double, just missing his first career home run in the fifth.
Dodgers get back in it
By the bottom of the third inning, it was abundantly clear we were headed for a Seoul slugfest.
The Dodgers chased Padres starter Joe Musgrove, who allowed five runs across 2 2/3 innings. Mookie Betts¡¯ two-run double off reliever Tom Cosgrove cut the deficit to three. With the Padres¡¯ bullpen a bit thin after Game 1, they would call on No. 4 starter Michael King to cover the bulk of the relief innings.
Mookie mashes, wins a car
The first big league home run in South Korea -- and the first dinger of the 2024 season -- belongs to Betts. So does a new Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric vehicle.
The Dodgers superstar turned on a 3-1 fastball from King, sending it to the left-field seats at the Gocheok Sky Dome. Betts' home run cut the Padres' lead to 10-8 -- and it also earned him a car as the first player to go deep in the Seoul Series.
HSK love
It was a rough couple days at the plate for Ha-Seong Kim, the only Padres starter to go hitless in the series. But that didn¡¯t stop the love-fest back at the Gocheok Sky Dome, where Kim once played his home games with the Kiwoom Heroes.
Kim got a rousing ovation as he came to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh inning, before he popped out behind the plate. This fan will be keeping the faith.
A nailbiter
Betts' fourth hit of the night brought the Dodgers within a run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Looking for a four-out save, the Padres went to closer Robert Suarez. Betts greeted him with a single up the middle off Xander Bogaerts' glove, then advanced to second on the throw home.
Suarez managed to strand Betts there by getting Shohei Ohtani to ground out. The Padres clung to a 12-11 lead.
Machado¡¯s grand finale
Hitless for the first 17 innings of the series, Manny Machado got on the board in a big way. He launched a majestic three-run blast into the left-field seats, giving the Padres the 15-11 lead that would eventually stand up.
The 26 runs were the most scored in a game in the history of the rivalry, and the Padres¡¯ 15 runs are the most they¡¯ve ever scored against Los Angeles. Machado, meanwhile, joined Bogaerts with home runs in four different countries. (Both have gone deep in the U.S. and Canada, and both went deep in the Mexico City Series last year, with Bogaerts homering for the Red Sox in the 2019 London Series.) Tony Clark and Michael Brantley are the only other players to homer in four different countries or territories, with both having gone deep in Puerto Rico.
Machado¡¯s homer essentially put an end to any late drama, and Suarez secured a split for San Diego by blowing a 100 mph fastball past Max Muncy.
If the season-opening series was any indication, the 2024 season should be a wild one.