LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani’s walkup song hit a little differently on Monday night with its opening line “And I’m feeling good.”
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The Dodgers certainly hope that remains true as Ohtani returned to their lineup for the first time in four days. The results were less important, but they looked a lot like the 6-for-46 slump that preceded Ohtani’s downtime. He went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a walk.
But the Dodgers continued winning with him after winning without him, extending their winning streak to five games with a 6-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Making a more impressive return on Monday was Emmet Sheehan. The right-hander was demoted (along with his 5.29 ERA) to Triple-A after the trade deadline. He was the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month for August and returned for a spot start on Monday (which might or might not include a repeat).
Sheehan’s fourth pitch of the night was vaporized by Elly De La Cruz, who sent it 412 feet to straightaway center field for a home run and a 1-0 Reds lead. Sheehan then retired the next 14 batters in order (half of them on strikeouts) before he gave up another hit.
The Dodgers’ offense needed some help to get going Monday.
The first assist came when the Reds pulled right-hander Chase Burns after just three innings. The 23-year-old right-hander represents a key piece of the Reds’ future and they have put him on an innings restriction in September after already surpassing his career high.
He made the most of his cameo, retiring nine of the 10 Dodgers he faced, walking one and striking out five.
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Once he left, the Dodgers still needed some help. They got it in the fifth inning when left-hander Brandon Williamson hit Alex Call in the foot with a pitch, putting two runners on with two outs for pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas.
Rojas chopped a high-bouncing grounder to third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes who threw in the dirt to first base. The ball went past first baseman Sal Stewart, allowing both runners to score for the Dodgers.
Sheehan lost steam in the sixth, giving up two singles and walking a batter to load the bases with two outs. Sheehan struck out 10 in 5⅔ innings, getting 18 swings-and-misses (11 on his fastball). Alex Vesia came in and struck out JJ Bleday to preserve the one-run lead in the sixth – then the Dodgers widened it.
Williamson walked two of the first three hitters in the bottom of the sixth, bringing up Teoscar Hernandez with one out. Hernandez turned on a 1-and-0 changeup, sending it at 112.6 mph over the left-field wall for the Dodgers’ fourth three-run home run in their past six games – Freddie Freeman on Wednesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts on Saturday and Sunday against the Washington Nationals and Hernandez on Monday. Only Freeman’s was hit before the sixth inning.
The Reds closed the gap with runs off of Seth Halvorsen and Jack Dreyer before Evan Phillips closed it out.
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More to come on this story.