Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs, while Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers back into first place atop the National League West with an 11-5 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday.
Ohtani put the Dodgers on the board first with a leadoff homer off Landen Roupp, who left a 91 mph cutter up high in the strike zone. Roupp caused more trouble for himself in the second inning, walking Teoscar Hernández and Max Muncy on five pitches apiece. Both runners came around to score on an Andy Pages single and Michael Conforto double.
With two runners on and one out, Roupp intentionally walked Ohtani but then left a sinker in the middle of the zone for Mookie Betts to smack for a two-run double. The Giants starter lasted 1 2/3 innings, allowing six runs on four hits, five walks and no strikeouts.
Ohtani added his second home run in the sixth, pulling a high, outside curveball from reliever Tristan Beck over the fence in right-center field. That was the 250th home run of Ohtani’s spectacular eight-year MLB career, 79 of which have been in less than two seasons with the Dodgers.
Surprisingly, Ohtani hadn’t hit a home run in his past 10 games before. That may have made him press a bit, compelling him to chase pitches he normally might have held back on, according to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
“I think it seemed like a while,” Roberts said, via MLB.com. “I think that there was a lot of chase down below in the last 10 days. Tonight, he got the ball, used the big part of the field and put some good swings together.”
Perhaps even more encouraging for the Dodgers was Kershaw’s best start since returning to the rotation on May 17. Making his sixth appearance on the season, the veteran left-hander allowed only three hits and one walk with five strikeouts in seven innings. In his past two starts, Kershaw has given up one run in 12 innings, striking out 12 batters and walking only one.
“In the moment, I can think of some pitches outside myhead that I’d like to have back, that I’d like to throw better,” Kershaw said after the game. But there’s no restrictions physically, health-wise, which is great.”
Saturday’s start dropped Kershaw’s ERA to 3.25 for the season, though he’s striking out 6.5 batters per nine innings, which would be the lowest rate of his career. However, he’s also 12 strikeouts away from reaching 3,000 for his career.
“Maybe by September I’ll get there, we’ll see,” Kershaw said, via MLB.com. “It’s obviously a very cool thing and it’s starting to get a little more on the forefront of the mind, but who knows how long 12 could take me at this point? It might be until August, so we’ll see.”
Only 19 other pitchers have hit and surpassed that mark in MLB history, including two other active pitchers, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
With Saturday’s win, the Dodgers regained a one-game lead to lead the NL West at 42-29, just ahead of the Giants at 41-30. Dustin May starts for Los Angeles in the series finale on Sunday night, while Kyle Harrison gets the nod for San Francisco.
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