Dodgers indulge themselves at Astros’ expense, break out offensively in win

HOUSTON — Belly up to the bar, boys. Drinks are on the house.

Struggling to score runs and unable to hit home runs, the Dodgers stumbled into the ideal place to get overserved. The Houston Astros lead the majors in runs allowed and the American League in home runs allowed.

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So the Dodgers indulged themselves Monday, ending their power outage with two home runs and scoring as many runs as they did all weekend in St. Louis in an 8-3 victory over the Astros.

“It’s a good feeling when we’re firing on all cylinders,” said Alex Freeland, who went 3 for 4 with the Dodgers’ first home run in a week. “To get our offense going, it feels normal. I mean, this felt like a normal game to us. But we haven’t done it in a few games. So to get it going feels good.

“Everybody can use it as momentum. You see one guy have success then another guy has success, it’s hard to stop us.”

Four Dodgers – Freddie Freeman, Kyle Tucker, Will Smith and Freeland – had multiple-hit games as part of the Dodgers’ 13-hit attack. Freeland and Smith each had three hits.

“Yeah, I think tonight, the offense was the story, and it was good to see us look a little bit more normal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Shohei Ohtani did not look normal. He walked twice, drove in a run with a ground out and scored two runs. But he was one of only two players in the Dodgers’ lineup to go without a hit (Max Muncy was the other). Ohtani is now hitless in his last 17 at-bats, batting .240 for the season and Roberts decided during the game to have Ohtani pitch but not hit on Tuesday, changing course from what he had said as recently as pregame.

“Just kind of seeing how things are going,” Roberts said of the change. “I just felt that, in my mind, just kind of seeing how it’s playing out, I think it’s best for everyone.

“Definitely not (based on) results. It’s a little bit more body language and just watching the player.”

Three consecutive two-out singles in the first inning by Smith, Teoscar Hernandez and Tucker got them a run. A solo home run by Freeland – an opposite-field shot into the cozy Crawford Boxes – got them another in the second inning and ended their streak of six consecutive games without clearing a fence, their longest homerless drought since July 2014.

“I forgot that we hadn’t hit a home run in awhile,” said Freeland, an unlikely winner of the home run derby.

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Ohtani walked and scored on a double by Smith after Freeland’s homer, then Tucker went deep in the heart of Texas to lead off the third inning, ending his own stretch of 13 games without a home run.

The Dodgers scored twice more in the third inning, one when Ohtani bounced into a force out and another on the first of two RBI singles by Freeman in the game.

“I thought in that fourth at bat, he was starting to feel something a little bit,” Roberts said of Ohtani’s night. “I thought he looked better, I think he took a walk right there, and then he had the lefty where he flew out to center field. So he’s working hard, he was out there early today. There was some good, some not so good.”

Yoshinobu Yamamoto got past his only issues quickly Monday.

He gave up two singles, walked a batter and wild pitched a run home in a two-run first inning against the Astros. Yamamoto has allowed 16 runs this season and six of them have come in the first innings of his starts. Opposing hitters have gone 8 for 26 (.308) against him in those first innings but are batting .197 (26 for 132) after the opening inning.

“I feel like I was pressing a bit early on. … For me, that’s the hardest part in the game,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.

“I am aware of that issue (with his first inning), and I think I know how to solve that. I need to reflect back on things that didn’t work like today, and then analyze it and move on.”

The second part of the pattern played out Monday as well. After getting through his first inning, Yamamoto allowed just three more hits (one a solo home run by Zach Cole) over the next five while striking out seven.

“I don’t know what it is about the first inning,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if that’s been a thing since he’s been with us, but this year, I think is the first innings sort of got him a little bit. But overall, totality, still another solid outing.”

Kyle Hurt, Blake Treinen and Jack Dreyer combined to strike out seven while holding the Astros to one hit over the final three innings as the Dodgers finished with 15 strikeouts.

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