The Dodgers flirted with a no-hitter until the eighth inning and earned a three-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, winning the finale 4-1 on Wednesday.
Less than 24 hours after taking a pitch to his right hand, Shohei Ohtani was both the starting pitcher and the leadoff hitter for the series finale. After starting his day on the mound with a scoreless first inning, Ohtani connected for his second leadoff home run in as many starts to give the Dodgers another first inning lead. It was Ohtani’s third
home run in just his sixth at-bat against Tomoyuki Sugano. Ohtani now has 22 leadoff home runs as a Dodger, passing Joc Pederson for the third most in franchise history.
Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers their seventh home run over their last nine innings at the plate by taking Tomoyuki Sugano the other way for his third home run over his past eight games, giving the Dodgers their second 2-0 first inning lead in as many games.
The two runs in the first were plenty for Ohtani on the mound, as although he allowed a pair of two-out walks over his first two innings, the Rockies went scoreless through their first go-around. Colorado to lead off the fourth inning with a pair of baserunners, as T.J. Rumfield walked before Hunter Goodman was drilled by a pitch. A fielder’s choice from Troy Johnston moved Rumfield to third base, and Willi Castro drove him in on a groundout.
The Dodgers would get that run right back in the bottom half of the fourth, as Alex Call followed up Hyeseong Kim and Will Smith with the Dodgers’ third straight two-out hit. While Kim scored on the play, Smith was cut down at the plate trying to extend the lead to three.
Ohtani was able to complete six innings after tossing just five in his last start in San Diego, and although he held Colorado hitless, he put five runners on base as he walked four along with the hit batsman. While Ohtani does have seven different pitches in his repertoire, he relied heavily on his fastball and sweeper, accounting for 88 of his 99 pitches on the night and six of his seven strikeouts. He tossed his curveball, sinker and splitter a total of 11 times while completely ditching his cutter and slider altogether.
After allowing the one run over six innings, Ohtani’s ERA now sits at 0.83 over his first nine starts on the year, besting Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 ERA he had over his first nine starts in his legendary 1981 season.
Will Klein followed Ohtani with a scoreless inning with the potential no-hit bid intact, but a two-out single from Tyler Freeman against Tanner Scott in the top of the eighth ended the bid with just four outs to go.
Andy Pages added some insurance in the bottom of the eighth with his third home run in his last four games to give the Dodgers a three-run lead. Pages’ 13 home runs on the year are now the most on the team while he is the first player this season to reach the 50 RBI plateau.
Kyle Hurt recorded his first career save to lock down the sweep of Colorado. Hurt has been remarkable over his first 17 appearances on the season, as he has 20 strikeouts to only four walks over 17 innings while carrying a 1.06 ERA.
The Dodgers are now in the midst of a five-game winning streak and are now winners in 11 of their last 13 games. The three-game sweep of the Rockies was the first series sweep at home since the Dodgers took all three against the New York Mets from April 13-15. With the Philadelphia Phillies sweeping the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers now increase their division lead to 4.5 games over both San Diego and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Game particulars
- Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (9), Freddie Freeman (7), Andy Pages (13)
- WP— Shohei Ohtani (5-2): 6 IP, 0 hits, 1 earned run, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts
- LP— Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4): 4 2/3 IP, 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 2 strikeouts
- SV— Kyle Hurt (1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeouts
Up next
The Dodgers are off on Thursday but are back at home to welcome the Philadelphia Phillies for a three-game series beginning Friday (7:10 p.m. PT, Apple TV). Justin Wrobleski faces Zack Wheeler.
