Shohei Ohtani gets own day, has big night to lead Dodgers to 7-3 win over Cincinnati Reds
LOS ANGELES – One night after Elly De La Cruz and the Cincinnati Reds ambushed the Los Angeles Dodgers in their series opener, it was Shohei Ohtani Day in L.A.
No. Really.
The L.A. City Council honored the Dodgers superstar with a formal resolution Friday declaring May 17 Shohei Ohtani Day in the city for as long as he plays for the Dodgers, complete with a ceremony at City Hall attended by top Dodgers executives and manager Dave Roberts.
Just the Reds’ luck.
Ohtani responded to the gesture by bestowing a Dodger victory upon the city, delivering a two-run homer in the third and scoring the go-ahead run in the seventh to beat the Reds 7-3 at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers starter James Paxton, Dodgers leadoff man Mookie Betts and Dodgers catcher Will Smith also did some stuff in the game.
But as has been customary at Chavez Ravine the last two months, all eyes were there to see the $700 million international phenomenon and whatever Sho-Time feats of strength he might muster.
Reds be damned.
“He’s a great hitter,” said Montas, whose first-pitch fastball to Ohtani in the third caught too much of the outer half of the plate and wound up three rows deep, just inside the left-field foul pole. “Everybody knows what he’s capable of. Throw fastballs, they’ve got to be good. I missed my location and he made me pay for it.”
One night after a Reds bullpen-day of pitchers shut out the Dodgers top-of-the-lineup trio of MVPs, Mookie Betts opened the bottom of the first inning with a home run off Frankie Montas.
Two innings later, Ohtani struck for his shot. Freddie Freeman reached base twice.
After the Reds pecked back to tie with a run in the fourth and solo shots by Stuart Fairchild and Tyler Stephenson in the fifth and sixth, Ohtani was in the middle of another rough inning for struggling Reds reliever Fernando Cruz.
With Kiké Hernandez at first, Ohtani hit a shot to first and beat out De La Cruz’s errant double-play relay throw from short, taking second on the play. After an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman, Smith singled to drive home Ohtani with the go-ahead run.
Freeman took third on the hit and scored on a wild pitch.
Jason Heyward added a two-run homer off Alexis Diaz in the eighth.
For Cruz and Diaz, the rough outings continued rough stretches this season for both pitchers. But David Bell expressed little concern about either, chalking up Diaz’ night to one bad pitch and saying, “I thought Fernando threw the ball really well. … I thought tonight he was back to exactly where he was earlier in the year.”
Montas went five innings and regretted he couldn’t give the team at least one more inning after Thursday’s bullpen day.
“That’s a tough lineup to navigate,” he said.
“It was tough to come back and tie the game and lose it like that,” he said. “But we have two more games here. We’re just going to try to go out there and at least try to win the series.
“The guys are looking better, and to be honest, I think we’re a good match for this team.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds lost 7-3 to Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
