The Major League Baseball season is officially underway.
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 on Tuesday morning in the Tokyo Dome in Japan, with the game broadcast on FOX Sports.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the start for the Dodgers, while Shota Imanaga got the nod for the Cubs, making it the first time there was an all-Japanese starting pitching matchup on opening day in MLB history.
Yamamoto was solid over five innings of work, striking out three hitters and only giving up one run.
The Cubs’ lone run came in the second inning, when catcher Miguel Amaya hit a two-out double that scored Dansby Swanson.
Imanaga pitched four hitless innings for the Cubs, walking four batters and striking out two before he turned the ball over the bullpen.
The Dodgers took the lead for good in the fifth inning once Imanaga was pulled for the day.
Andy Pages walked, and then Shohei Ohtani sparked the rally with the Dodgers’ first hit of the game off of Ben Brown, a single pulled down the right-field line.
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Ohtani’s single set up runners on first and third for Tommy Edman with one out.
Edman came through, as he hit a looping line drive into left field that fell in front of left fielder Ian Happ and scored Pages.
Ohtani was only able to advance to second base as Happ smothered the ball and fired it into the infield quickly.
Despite giving up one run, Brown was nearly out of the inning. The reliever induced a double play ground ball to third base as he caught Teoscar Hernandez reaching on an outside pitch.
Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw fired to second baseman Jon Berti for one out at second base, but Berti airmailed the throw to first base, unable to complete the inning-ending double play.
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Ohtani scored on Berti’s errant throw, and the inning was kept alive.
The Dodgers capitalized on Berti’s throwing error, as catcher Will Smith scooped a line drive to left field that scored Hernadez to make the game 3-1.
Once the Dodgers took the lead in the fifth inning, they shut the Cubs down.
Yamamoto, Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius and Blake Treinen combined to retire 16 batters in a row from the third to the eighth innings. The streak ended when Treinen hit Berti with a pitch with one out in the eighth.
The Dodgers added an insurance run in the ninth inning. Ohtani led off the inning with a double and later scored his second run of the game on Hernandez’s single to make the game 4-1.
Tanner Scott made his Dodgers’ debut after signing with the club in free agency in the ninth inning and recorded the save.
The second and final game of the Tokyo Series will take place on Wednesday.
Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki will make his MLB debut for the Dodgers while left-hander Justin Steele takes the mound for the Cubs on Wednesday morning, with the first pitch coming at 6:10 a.m. ET on FOX.
The rest of MLB will have their opening day on March 27, as the Cubs and Dodgers’ regular seasons started early with their participation in the Tokyo Series.
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