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Shohei Ohtani reaches base 5 times, allows only 3 baserunners on the mound – Dodgers Digest

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Shohei Ohtani reaches base 5 times, allows only 3 baserunners on the mound – Dodgers Digest

After a sleepy start to the series, the Dodgers played better in a win yesterday and really kicked it into gear tonight. Shohei Ohtani was on the mound and he continued to post nothing but zeroes, terrorizing their hitters and also their pitchers as he reached base four times to help the Dodgers offense post seven runs. That performance helped setup a nice and easy 7-0 victory.

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D-backs starter Zac Gallen is in the midst of his second bad year in a row, and the Dodgers certainly didn’t help his bounce back attempt tonight.

He did get through the 1st on just six pitches, as a Shohei Ohtani lead-off single was erased by a double play to end the inning. However, Mookie Betts reached on an error to start the 2nd, and Kyle Tucker followed that with his fifth homer of the year to make it 2-0.

The damage continued in the 3rd, as a lead-off walk from Ohtani was followed by a double from Andy Pages and a jam-shot single from Freddie Freeman to make it 4-0.

After Tucker singled with one out, Max Muncy also singled to make it 5-0 Dodgers before Gallen was able to stop the bleeding.

They then stranded a one-out single, stolen base, and walk in the 4th, and left a one-out single in the 5th.

The D-backs pen took over in the 6th, and they continued the trend, stranding a one-out walk and single to keep the lead where it was. The Dodgers finally took advantage of the traffic in the 7th with a two-out rally, as Max Muncy doubled, Will Smith walked, and Alex Call got hit to load things up. Alex Freeland then rolled a single up the middle for a single and two runs to push the lead to 7-0 Dodgers.

They did got back to stranding runners in the 8th, as they got nothing from a lead-off walk and then a single, and followed that by leaving the bases loaded with one out in the 9th.

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On the mound, Shohei actually looked pretty shaky again early on, at least in terms of his command. Despite almost killing a bunch of guys, he nonetheless retired the first 11 batters he faced.

That streak was broken up in the 4th with a two-out double, but nothing came of that as the shutout remained intact. He then finally had a relatively stress-free inning in the 5th, cruising through the side in order.

Ohtani got into his first trouble of the game in the 6th, as a one-out four-pitch walk to the nine-hole hitter was followed by a single to put a pair on for Corbin Carroll. All Ohtani did was respond by inducing a first-pitch GIDP to get out of the 6th.

That seemed massive for his pitch count, but with a big league, Dave Roberts turned to the pen, ending his outing.

Amusingly, this barely lowered his ERA from 0.82 to 0.74: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 89 Pitches.

It seems weird to say, but it feels like Ohtani hasn’t really found it as a pitcher for the majority of his starts so far, which kinda shows how comical the upside is.

Taking over for him out of the pen was Jonathan Hernandez in the 7th, cruising through the frame with a pair of strikeouts, and he also got a scoreless 8th while only issuing a two-out walk.

Finishing the game was Jack Dreyer in the 9th, who only allowed a two-out error to close the game.

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Throughout the game Ohtani was noticeably relaxed, perhaps partially due to exertion, but he looked completely comfortable at the plate and on the mound. Bad news for opponents.

Out there throwing eephuses.

Throwing the thumbs up as well.

Enjoying life.

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40-22, a 105-win pace.

They will go for a series victory tomorrow in the finale at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET. It’ll be Justin Wrobleski looking to continue with his uptick in stuff against Ryne Nelson.

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