SAN DIEGO — The debate about whether pitching takes away from his hitting seemed to annoy Shohei Ohtani last week. So he showed everyone – he hit a home run before he even started pitching on Wednesday night.
Read more Angels manager Kurt Suzuki expresses confidence in Reid Detmers as a starter
Ohtani’s leadoff home run on the first pitch of the game was the opening note in another one-of-a-kind, two-way performance. Ohtani also pitched five scoreless innings and scored another run as the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0.
The Dodgers took two of three in their first visit to Petco Park this season and left town up 1½ games in the National League West.
Ohtani’s 111.3 mph rocket off Padres starter Randy Vasquez’s first-pitch fastball at the top of the zone Wednesday was the second time in his unique career that Ohtani has led off a game that he was pitching with a home run. No other player has ever done it.
When Ohtani went to the mound, he retired the first nine Padres in order (four on strikeouts) but had to work hard to get through five innings – the first time this season he didn’t complete at least six innings.
He walked Fernando Tatis Jr. to start the fourth inning. After a forceout at second, Ohtani gave up his first hit of the game, a single by Gavin Sheets, to put two runners on. Manny Machado popped out and Xander Bogaerts flew out to center field.
In the fifth, a bloop single by Bryce Johnson was followed by another single to put runners at the corners. Ohtani got one out on a comebacker to the mound but walked No. 9 hitter Freddy Fermin to load the bases.
It took just one pitch to escape. Tatis hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
By the time Ohtani flexed, yelled “Let’s go!!” and strutted off the mound to celebrate that play, his ERA for the season had shrunk to 0.73 and the Dodgers had built a 3-0 lead.
Read more San Clemente softball rallies to beat Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals
Max Muncy led off the second inning with a double, moved to third on Will Smith’s single and scored on Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, Ohtani and Mookie Betts drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Freddie Freeman bounced into a forceout that moved Ohtani to third. He scored on Kyle Tucker’s single.
Ohtani might not have thought he needed a break when the Dodgers decided to have him not hit when he pitched last week and then gave him the entire game off the next day. But it certainly seems to have worked.
Ohtani has looked revitalized at the plate since that break. He has reached base 17 times in 29 plate appearances since his no-Sho day, going 11 for 23 at the plate with four doubles, a triple and Wednesday’s home run, driving in nine runs and scoring six.
For all the talk about the Padres’ bullpen this season, it was the Dodgers’ relief corps that shined in the San Diego series. Over the three games, Dodgers’ relievers pitched 10 scoreless innings (with just four hits allowed), including four in Ohtani’s wake on Wednesday.
Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen retired the side in order in their innings. Kyle Hurt escaped a first-and-third situation with an inning-ending double play in the eighth. Teoscar Hernandez made it a 4-0 lead with a solo home run in the top of the ninth and Will Klein closed it out in the bottom of the inning.
It was the Dodgers’ sixth shutout of the season (tied for second in MLB) and their third in the past eight games.
Read more JSerra softball defeats Pacifica with one hit in the Division 1 quarterfinals
More to come on this story.