By Nick Mulvenney
BEIJING (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres tied 3-3 when Major League Baseball made its debut in China on Saturday.
With no extra innings played in exhibition games, the 12,224 fans at the Wukesong baseball field in the Chinese capital were denied a winner on a sunny but blustery day at the venue for August's Olympic tournament.
"Nobody's happy with a tie," Dodgers manager Joe Torre told reporters. "But both clubs took it seriously for sure.
"I thought it was closer to a regular season game than other exhibitions, with all the attention and everything."
George Lombard put the Dodgers ahead with a home run at the top of the third inning, powering the ball over the right field fence.
WILD THROW
The Padres struck back when a wild throw from catcher Lucas May allowed second baseman Oscar Robles to sneak home from third base in the bottom of the fourth.
The Dodgers went back in front two innings later when May atoned for his error with a single and new $36.2 million outfielder Andruw Jones put them further ahead when he powered Matt Kemp home in the eighth.
But infielder Adrian Gonzalez drove Craig Stansberry and Scott Hairston in with a double at the bottom of the eighth to make it 3-3.
MLB has ambitious plans to make the sport as popular with the Chinese as it is with their neighbors in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea.
Torre was particularly pleased with the performance of Korean pitcher Park Chan-ho, who has returned to the Dodgers in an attempt to resurrect his injury-hit career.
"I thought it was not a good but a great outing," said the former New York Yankees manager.
"He gave up one run but it was a freak thing. I think he was in command of his stuff all day."
The teams play another exhibition at the same stadium on Sunday.
(Editing by Tony Jimenez)
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