LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out a season-high nine in five innings for his first victory for the Dodgers as Los Angeles beat Cincinnati 5-1 on Wednesday night to become the first team to sweep the Reds this season.
The Dodgers won their fourth straight game and extended their NL West lead to two games over San Diego, which lost 4-3 at Seattle.
Ohtani (1-1) bounced back against the Reds in his 11th start of the season and first in which he went the minimum five innings to qualify for a win.
The victory was his first since Aug. 9, 2023, with the Angels against San Francisco.
The two-way star allowed one run and two hits while walking two on a season-high 87 pitches, 53 for strikes, while retiring his final eight batters on his bobblehead night. At the plate, he was 1 for 5 with a run.
The Reds led 1-0 on Noelvi Marte's 410-foot homer on the first pitch by Ohtani in the third. It was the third homer Ohtani has allowed this season.
The Dodgers scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Kiké Hernández, starting in place of injured Freddie Freeman, had a two-run single up the middle. It was the third straight single allowed by Nick Lodolo (8-7), who retired the first nine batters he faced.
Lodolo intentionally walked Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing followed with a two-run single to center. Michael Conforto added a solo shot in the eighth.
Ohtani pitched his way out of trouble in the second. With one out, he walked Spencer Steer and Jose Trevino back-to-back. They moved up on two wild pitches — Ohtani's seventh and eighth of the season — before Ke'Bryan Hayes and Matt McLain went down swinging to end the inning.
Los Angeles pitchers struck out a franchise record 19 batters for a nine-inning game.
After off days for both teams, Reds RHP Zack Littell (9-8, 3.62 ERA) starts Friday at home against St. Louis. Dodgers LHP Blake Snell (3-2, 1.97) starts Friday against visiting Arizona.
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