Dodgers complete sweep of Mets behind Shohei Ohtani’s 6 strong innings

LOS ANGELES — A cold front moved through Dodger Stadium this week. But don’t worry – it’s headed east now.

Shohei Ohtani took his turn keeping the frost on the New York Mets on Wednesday night, holding them to two hits over six innings as the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep with a 8-2 victory.

“It was actually really good to watch him just focus on one thing,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought that just channeling all that energy into pitching was helpful. The last couple outings, I felt he was fighting himself a little bit at times. But tonight he was really good.”

The Mets have been really bad. The loss was their eighth in a row. They have managed just 12 runs during the eight losses.

In the three-game sweep, the Dodgers limited the Juan Soto-less Mets to a .132 batting average (12 for 91) with 27 strikeouts and three walks. The starting pitchers in the series – Justin Wrobleski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani – allowed just two runs on eight hits while retiring the side in order 15 times in 22 innings.

“It says a lot about our pitching staff in total,” Roberts said. “It starts with the starters going deep. I think our ’pen is very rested. That’s a really good thing, especially getting through April. But can’t say enough about the pitching staff – Mark (Prior), Connor (McGuinness), Bardo (Josh Bard), all those guys do a great job.”

Ohtani only had one job on Wednesday – so he flexed those muscles, striking out 10 in his six innings and getting 22 swings-and-misses in all (13 on a four-seam fastball that seemed to have particular life on this night).

After being hit in the back of his right shoulder by a pitch during Monday’s game, Ohtani was limited to pitching only in his start on Wednesday, the first time since May 2021 that he had been on the field as a pitcher but not in the lineup as a hitter.

“After getting hit by a pitch, Doc thought it was a good idea for me and the team to just focus on the pitching side of the game. I was a little bit surprised but it made sense hearing what he had to say,” Ohtani said through his interpreter.

“In between innings felt a little longer than normal. That was really the only difference that I felt. … Actually, I had pretty productive time being able to spend time on the game-planning side of things. So that felt pretty good.”

He certainly showed no ill effects on the mound from the bruising he took Monday. Ohtani retired the first seven Mets in order and 12 of the first 13 – six on strikeouts.

He lost command in the fifth inning and walked two. In between, though, the Mets showed their unfamiliarity with running the bases.

Francisco Alvarez was on first base when Carson Benge sliced a sinking line drive to left field. Teoscar Hernandez charged in and made a sliding attempt at a catch. He didn’t quite make it, scooping the ball up as he slid. Alvarez, however, had headed back to first base and was forced out at second – a rare 7-4 force out on your scorecard.

But Ohtani walked his second batter in the inning and gave up a ground-rule double to MJ Melendez. Freshly called up from the minors by the Mets, Melendez had the only two hits off Ohtani on Wednesday. That one drove in the first earned run Ohtani has allowed this season, ending his career-high streak of 32⅔ scoreless innings (the longest by a Dodgers pitcher since Max Scherzer in 2021).

Backed into a corner with runners on second and third, Ohtani dialed up his fastball, hitting 100 mph four times while striking out Tommy Pham on three pitches and getting Francisco Lindor on a line drive to left field.

“Just added a little more intensity after they scored a run,” Ohtani said.

“I can’t go full throttle the whole time. But considering where the game was at that point, I felt like I just really had to go full throttle.”

As an encore, Ohtani struck out the side in the sixth inning with an impressive assortment of pitches. He got Luis Robert Jr. on a 97-mph four-seam fastball, Brett Baty on a 71.5 mph curveball and Bo Bichette on an 88-mph splitter.

Ohtani’s night was done with that. In his first three starts this season, he has allowed two runs (only one earned) on seven hits and six walks while striking out 18 in 18 innings.

“He’s just got such good feel,” Roberts said. “And even his curveball wasn’t great tonight as far as acquiring strikes, but the fastball was life-y and the sweeper, the split, used that when he needed to. Just his ability to have the feel and the velocity is pretty remarkable.”

While the Mets were ice cold this series, the Dodgers were no better than lukewarm until late in Wednesday’s win.

They took the lead in the second inning against Mets starter Clay Holmes when Dalton Rushing (getting the DH start with Ohtani limited to one-way duty) doubled inside the first-base bag and Hyeseong Kim followed with his first home run of the season.

Teoscar Hernandez gave the bullpen a little margin for error when he led off the sixth with a solo home run off Mets reliever Tobias Myers. Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott passed the 3-1 lead along with scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, but the Dodgers broke it open in the eighth inning with Rushing hitting a grand slam and Kyle Tucker a solo home run.

In his past three games – spread out over 11 days – Rushing has gone 7 for 12 with two doubles, three home runs, six runs scored and six driven in.

“Well, I’m not getting used to it, I’ll tell you that,” Rushing joked of stealing Ohtani’s DH job for one night. “But he told me to hit a homer for him, and I guess it worked out in the end.”

The five-run eighth inning took the save situation out of play. Before the game, Roberts said Edwin Diaz would be available and Diaz was warming up when the score was still close. But Kyle Hurt handled the ninth in a non-save situation, giving Diaz a full week off going into a four-game series in Colorado.