LOS ANGELES — Two innings after boos rained down at Dodger Stadium, Shohei Ohtani roared the group again to life, a minimum of for some time.
Ohtani pitched 5 no-hit innings in opposition to the Phillies on Tuesday and left the sport with a 4-0 benefit. It took lower than a half-inning for the Phillies to take the lead upon the two-way celebrity’s exit, placing up six runs on Justin Wrobleski and Edgardo Henriquez to push forward, 6-4.
However Ohtani, main off the underside of the eighth on the plate, drove a second-pitch cutter 430 toes over the right-field wall at 113.4 mph — his fiftieth of the 12 months — to inch the Dodgers again inside a run. He’s the primary participant in MLB historical past to hit 50 homers and file 50 strikeouts as a pitcher in a single season.
The remainder of the lineup rallied, loading the bases and tying the sport on a sac fly from Alex Name, although the Phillies got here again in opposition to Blake Treinen within the prime of the ninth to beat the Dodgers, 9-6.
Earlier than Ohtani’s outing on Tuesday in opposition to the NL East champion Phillies, supervisor Dave Roberts referred to it as a “good take a look at” — a preview of pitching in opposition to a postseason-ready opponent — for the two-way celebrity.
Ohtani responded by retiring 15 of the 16 batters he confronted.
Ohtani picked up his first of 5 strikeouts within the first inning. In a 2-1 rely, he bought Kyle Schwarber to whiff on a slider on the backside of the zone for strike two. On the following pitch, Ohtani modified up the attention stage with one other slider painted onto the excessive inside nook that froze Schwarber for the referred to as third strike.
One of many signature moments from the night time got here within the fourth inning, when Ohtani put down Bryce Harper on a three-pitch sequence. After Harper fouled off a sweeper and a fastball, Ohtani threw him a low curveball that Harper couldn’t lay off of.
Regardless of simply six swings and misses, Ohtani was capable of keep forward of hitters with an elevated velocity – his fastball was averaging 99.2 mph whereas the slider was as much as 89, each roughly a full tick above his season common.
Ohtani has been hard-capped at 5 innings, however Roberts briefly spoke with him earlier than he stepped into the batter’s field to guide off the underside of the fifth inning as Wrobleski started warming up within the bullpen. Roberts caught with the plan, nonetheless, and the sport unraveled from there. Although Ohtani briefly bought issues again on monitor with the rally he sparked, a three-run dwelling run from Rafael Marchán the following inning ended up deciding the sport.
