TOKYO (Kyodo) -- After his Los Angeles Dodgers' season-opening 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Shohei Ohtani said Tuesday the team's morale stayed high thanks to an injured Freddie Freeman's presence in the dugout despite being scratched from the starting order.

"After a long flight, it's been tough for us to stay healthy and go through a tight schedule," Ohtani said at a postgame press conference after he had two hits and scored twice to start the season.

The Dodgers were also missing Mookie Betts, who had already left Japan to recover from an illness.

"Mookie flew home. Freddie got hurt just before the game, but he was in the dugout, so we stayed strong mentally," Ohtani said.

The Cubs scored first when Miguel Amaya hit an RBI double in the second inning off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of Ohtani's two Japanese teammates.

The Dodgers turned the game around in a three-run fifth, and Yamamoto got through five innings without further damage.

A year ago in Seoul, Yamamoto had a rough major league debut, lasting only one inning after giving up five runs.

Asked to comment on the Opening Day starter's outing, Ohtani said, "He's been reliable since he joined the Dodgers. Even if he gives up runs, he regroups and pitches well. That's an important element of starting pitchers."

"While watching him from the dugout, I thought he's truly reliable...Today's win will definitely help us carry good momentum into tomorrow's game."

Cubs manager Craig Counsell talked about a run-scoring error by second baseman Jon Berti in the fifth at a postgame press conference.

"You play a team like the Dodgers, you've got to play, you know, you got to do a lot of things right, and that includes defensively, where I think we're really strong."

"But that mistake (by Berti) tonight cost this one."