PHOENIX — Since he got a day off, Shohei Ohtani has been hitting like someone who doesn’t ever want another one.
Ohtani’s ninth multi-hit game in 17 games since he sat for a day started with a double and a two-run triple as the Dodgers jumped out to an early lead and held on through a rocky finish for a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
With Ohtani just 6 for his previous 42 and his season batting average down to .240 on May 13, the Dodgers opted to send Ohtani to the mound to pitch against the San Francisco Giants. But he wasn’t in the lineup at DH. The next day, he wasn’t in the lineup at all.
Fueled perhaps by that refreshing oasis in the midst of his two-way journey, Ohtani has hit .410 (25 for 61) with seven doubles, two triples, three home runs, 16 RBIs and 12 runs scored in the past 17 games. Not coincidentally, the Dodgers have won 13 of those 17 games.
He led off Tuesday’s game with a 105.7 mph laser into the right field corner for a double. Two batters later, he trotted home when Freddie Freeman sent a two-run home run into the right field seats (the start of a three-hit game for Freeman).
In the second inning, back-to-back singles by Dalton Rushing and Alex Freeland put two runners on when Ohtani sent another liner into the right field corner, this time for a triple.
The four-run burst gave Dodgers starter Eric Lauer a comfortable cushion in an uncomfortable spot.
Going into Tuesday’s game, the Diamondbacks had feasted on left-handed pitching. They had the highest batting average in MLB against lefties (.281), the second-highest slugging percentage (.486) and OPS (.795), both behind only the New York Yankees.
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But the left-handed Lauer kept the Diamondbacks off balance with an assortment of pitches that included his liveliest fastball of the season – he averaged 91.5 mph (up from a season average of 90.5 mph) and even touched 94 mph, a season-high for him.
He gave up a solo home run to Corbin Carroll in the third inning and ran into trouble in the fifth when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to the bullpen.
The Diamondbacks had better luck against the right-handers in the Dodgers’ bullpen and the early lead started to melt like a popsicle left in the front seat of a parked car here.
After the Dodgers stretched their lead to 6-2 in the seventh inning, Kyle Hurt came on in the bottom of the inning. It didn’t go well. Hurt walked three of the six batters he faced, gave up a two-run double to Nolan Arenado and left with two runners on.
ABS helped the Diamondbacks turn it into a one-run game. A called strike three against Geraldo Perdomo was challenged and overturned. He lined a single into left field off Will Klein to load the bases. Klein walked Pavin Smith to force in a run. The Dodgers challenged ball four, but ABS confirmed the call.
Klein got out of the inning but put the tying and go-ahead runs on base when he gave up back-to-back singles to Carroll and Moreno with one out. Klein escaped damage when he got Arenado to bounce into a double play.
In his first appearance since letting a two-run lead get away for his first blown save of the season on Saturday, Tanner Scott gave up a one-out single in the ninth but stranded the tying run to close it out.
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More to come on this story.