Shohei Ohtani took an impromptu shower near the second base bag Sunday afternoon, and his teammates doused him with two buckets of water after the slugger hit a two-out run-scoring single to right field in the bottom of the tenth inning to lift the Dodgers. to a 3-2 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
New Dodgers left-hander Anthony Banda, acquired Friday from Cleveland for cash, set the stage for the dramatic victory when he stranded the automatic runner in the top of the 10th by striking out Mike Ford with a 83 mph sliced fastball, getting Jeimer. Candelario grounded out to third and Jake Fraley grounded out to first.
With automatic runner Jason Heyward on second to start the bottom of the tenth, Kiké Hernández attempted a bunt to the catcher. Pinch-hitter Will Smith walked and Mookie Betts flied out to center field, but Ohtani rebounded with a clutch hit off Reds closer Alex Diaz to send a sold-out crowd of 52,656 home happy. Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Freddie Freeman singled and Andy Pages jumped on an 86 mph slider on the first pitch from Reds starter and former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High star Hunter Greene. sending a home run 357 feet in. the left field foul pole for his fifth home run.
The Reds cut the lead in half in the fifth when Stuart Fairchild doubled to left field and scored on Santiago Espinal’s RBI double over the head of left fielder Teoscar Hernández.
Dodgers right-hander Landon Knack, who allowed one run and three hits in 4 2/3 innings of a standoff start, struck out ninth batter Luke Maile with a 93 mph fastball and was retired in favor of the left-hander. Ryan Yarbrough. who got Will Benson to line up Betts to jump catch the shortstop and end the inning.
Read more: ‘Freak of natural’: Inside Shohei Ohtani’s career-best start in his first season with the Dodgers
Cincinnati didn’t need a hit to tie the score in the seventh. Jonathan India led off with a walk and Fairchild pushed a bunt to first. Yarbrough grabbed the ball, turned and threw to first, but no one was there, Freeman attacked from first base and second baseman Gavin Lux was too far away to reach the bag.
Yarbrough’s throw went to right field causing an error that put runners on second and third with no outs. Espinal flied out to first and pinch-hitter Tyler Stephenson was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called up left-hander Alex Vesia to face pinch-hitter Spencer Steer, who drew a nine-pitch walk to force in a run and tie it at 2-2. Vesia prevented further damage by striking out Elly De La Cruz with an 85 mph slider and having Ford jump to third base.
Betts returned to the leadoff spot Sunday after a scheduled, and seemingly timely, day off, his first of the season, on Saturday night.
Betts, who was moved from right field to second base over the winter and from second to shortstop (a position he had not played regularly since high school) in early March, was punished after making his sixth error of the season. and dropping a potential double play relay in Friday’s 7-3 win over the Reds.
“Making mistakes really bothers me,” said Betts, whose fourth-inning throw on Steer’s grounder knocked out first baseman Freddie Freeman on Friday night. “I just have to be better than that, man. It doesn’t just affect me. It affects (James) Paxton, who has to throw more shots. I just have to keep working.”
Only four shortstops – Cincinnati’s De La Cruz (10), Pittsburgh’s O’Neil Cruz (eight), Tampa Bay’s José Caballero (seven) and Chicago White Sox‘s Paul DeJong (seven) – committed more errors than Betts at the time. start on Sunday.
Shohei Ohtani is surrounded by teammates after his first hit as a Dodger. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
But Betts also ranked third among major league shortstops with four defensive runs saved according to Fangraphs, behind Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. (eight) and St. Louis’ Masyn Winn (seven). That was of little consolation to Betts, based on his evaluation of his defensive performance this season.
“I think it’s been…not very good, but it is what it is,” Betts said. “It’s a work in progress. It’s the first time I’ve done it in a long time. You have to start somewhere, and at least with me, feeling like I’m at the bottom end, like there’s nowhere to go but up from here”.
Roberts disagreed.
“I think their defense has been good,” Roberts said. “He’ll probably never live up to his standards, and that’s what makes him great. Assuming this, it will not be linear. She’s his harshest critic, so I hope he’s frustrated. But I’m happy with him.”
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound Betts works extensively on his defense before each game, taking dozens of ground balls and live funguses to each side and making long throws to first base and shorter double-play passes to second.
But if Betts is starting to wear down from the extra work, it doesn’t show in his production. He entered Sunday with a .341 average, 1.003 on-base plus slugging percentage, eight home runs, 11 doubles and 29 RBIs in 47 games, and led the National League with 40 runs and 33 walks.
“I don’t expect the workload before games to continue throughout the season… but I think if anyone can handle it, it’s him,” Roberts said. “I think offensively he’s been very good and defensively he continues to get reps. “He has (exceeded) everything I expected of him at this point as a shortstop.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
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