Padres' Xander Bogaerts Joined Exclusive List After Dominant Seoul Series

As the San Diego Padres played their first regular season game of 2024, a 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday, Xander Bogaerts joined an exclusive club. With his RBI in the third inning, Bogaerts became just one of three MLB players to earn a hit in five different countries.

Bogaerts now has hits in South Korea, the United States, Canada, Mexico City and England. The Padres and Dodgers became the first teams to play regular season games in Korea.

Only infielders Edgardo Alfonzo and Paul Goldschmidt have previously done the same as Bogaerts, via Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Bogaerts now adds to his resumé, which already includes four All-Star selections and five Silver Slugger awards over his decade-long career.

This was one of the few highlights for the Padres in their regular season opener. Overall, Bogaerts had two of the team's four hits in that loss.

The good news for Bogaerts and the Padres: they rebounded big time the following day against the Dodgers. The Padres rolled to a 15-11 win Thursday, racking up five runs in the first inning against Dodgers' pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his MLB debut.

Bogaerts notched two hits, three runs and two RBIs in the win. 

Manny Machado hit the Padres first home run of the season, and recorded three RBIs. Jake Cronenworth led the team with four hits in the game, and Jackson Merrill earned his first career MLB hit and run.