Shohei Ohtani Reacts to Dodgers Debut in Seoul Series Against Padres

He thinks there's a lot of room for improvement.

Shohei Ohtani made his highly-anticipated Dodgers regular season debut on Wednesday in the team's come-from-behind 5-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 with two singles, one run batted in and a stolen base.

Shohei Ohtani records the first hit of his Dodgers career and immediately steals for second afterwards!

Talk about SPECIAL 🔥

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— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) March 20, 2024

After the game, he was just happy his team came out on top.

“The biggest thing is that we got that W and the way we got it, coming back late in the game like that proves that we’re a really good team,” Shohei Ohtani said through his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara.

However, Ohtani knows there was room for a lot more offense.

“I felt like we could have scored a lot more runs if I’d gotten on earlier or gotten on after Mookie,” Ohtani said. “I think there were a lot of chances to score more runs than we did today.”

The Dodgers went 0-for-their-first-7 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-their-first-14 with runners on base until they finally got a break through in the eighth inning.

After loading the bases with nobody out, Kiké Hernández hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at two apiece.

Then, Gavin Lux hit a ground ball to first ball that went through Jake Cronenworth's glove and into right field to give L.A. a 3-2 lead. Literally through his glove.

A broken Jake Cronenworth glove and a hit from Gavin Lux kick off a nice run from the Dodgers in the 8th inning that now has them up 5-2 over the Padres🔥

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— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) March 20, 2024

Mookie Betts was next with an RBI single, and Ohtani followed him with an RBI single of his own.

Shohei Ohtani smacks his first RBI of his Dodgers career!

Feels amazing to know we have him batting right after Mookie Betts🔥

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— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) March 20, 2024

The Dodgers took the 5-2 lead, and ended up winning by that score thanks to a shutdown bullpen performance.

Ohtani was asked if he was nervous playing in his first regular season game for the Dodgers.

"I’m not as nervous when I’m hitting as when I’m pitching. So I was able to be relaxed at the plate."

Ohtani was as good as advertised in his Dodgers debut, and his team is 1-0 heading into the second and final game of the Seoul Series on Thursday night.