In a game that featured 26 runs and 33 hits, Yoshinobu Yamamoto lasts only one inning as the Dodgers fall 15-11 to the Padres on Thursday.
Off the field, Thursday was a nightmare for the Dodgers amid the Ippei Mizuhara/Shohei Ohtani gambling saga.
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.
