SEOUL — An icon in this country, San Diego Padres executive Chan Ho Park took the mound Wednesday at Gocheok Sky Dome sporting the same glove he wore in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut three decades ago. Perhaps, on Thursday, he can lend the well-preserved mitt to Jake Cronenworth.

In the first Major League Baseball regular-season game played on South Korean soil, the Dodgers broke through with four runs in the top of the eighth on their way to a 5-2 victory. Meanwhile, they literally broke through in another way: With the score tied 2-2, a routine Gavin Lux grounder punctured the webbing of Cronenworth’s glove. Instead of winding up as double-play fodder, the ball squirted into right field. Teoscar Hernández scored the go-ahead run from second base.

The Dodgers seized on the fluke occurrence. Mookie Betts followed Lux with a single. Shohei Ohtani, making his wildly anticipated Dodgers debut, singled for his second hit as an insurance run crossed the plate. In a game in which offense had been at a premium, the Padres could not overcome the sudden twist of fate.

Gavin Lux gives the Dodgers the lead!

The ball went straight through Jake Cronenworth’s glove 🤯 pic.twitter.com/aHnNlRk109

— ESPN (@espn) March 20, 2024

For much of the night, the contest had been about as even as the hybrid “Pad-gers” jersey Park, the first South Korean-born major leaguer, wore as he delivered the ceremonial first pitch. Each team tallied three hits through the first seven innings. Starting pitchers Yu Darvish and Tyler Glasnow, another Dodgers newcomer, did not demonstrate ideal command even as they limited the damage against them. In the absence of offensive fireworks, the presence of Mamiko Tanaka, Ohtani’s recently unveiled wife, marked a highlight.

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The game itself still featured plenty of action. Padres reliever Yuki Matsui and Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill joined Ohtani and Glasnow as players making notable debuts. The Padres small-balled their way to a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth. San Diego, taking advantage of an unusual schedule, deployed seven of the 11 pitchers effectively available out of the bullpen. Padres utility player Tyler Wade, making his first big-league start at third base since 2022, scored the season’s first run, committed a costly throwing error and atoned with a highlight stop on a hard ground ball off the bat of Ohtani.

Playing defense in the critical eighth inning, Cronenworth was not as fortunate. The Dodgers took full advantage. The march toward October is on.

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(Photo: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images)