Worldwide Sports News

The A’s were on the ropes tonight, down to their final three outs. A late home run tied this game up for the A’s and sent it to extras, where the Athletics managed to pull ahead and hang on for the win, putting them back over the .500 mark and remain alone atop the AL West.

Lots of early offense

It didn’t take long for the scoring bonanza to get going tonight. A HBP, a walk, and a single quickly loaded the bases for the A’s and left fielder Tyler Soderstrom cashed two of those runs in with an RBI base knock to center field, giving the squad an early 2-0 lead:

It’s been a tough season for the lefty slugger and we’re all waiting for him to heat up. Fingers crossed this was the thing that’ll spark his coming hot streak. That earlier walk also came from Nick Kurtz, which extended his on-base streak to 43 games. Closing in on McGuire.

Staked to a lead before even throwing a pitch, it was Aaron Civale’s turn to shut down the Angels’ bats and provide a shutdown inning. Instead, with two down Civale hung a curveball to Los Angeles DH Jorge Soler and he punished him for it with a game-tying two-run homer.

Looking to retake the lead the A’s kept it up in the second. Center fielder Henry Bolte worked a five-pitch walk and then promptly stole second base, his second already in seven games. I mean, look at this:

Speed on the base paths has been an element of the Athletics’ offense that has been ignored, lacking, and nonexistent. Bolte fixes that and puts a different kind of pressure on the opposing pitcher when he’s on base. He’s only got two but that’s good enough for fourth-most on the team and he’ll certainly lead everyone by season’s end. Gotta love diversifying the offense a bit!

A walk flipped the lineup and brought up leadoff man Carlos Cortes and he delivered his own RBI hit, a single to bring home Bolte and retake the lead for the A’s.

Given another chance to get a shutdown inning, Civale continued to look shaky. His first pitch of the second was deposited over the left field wall for a solo shot off the bat of Jo Adell, and that was soon followed by a two-run homer from Josh Lowe, the second two-run shot that Civale allowed in as many innings. After two innings of work tonight his season ERA rose from 2.70 entering tonight to a 3.51 mark.

Considering the early struggles one would have imagined that Civale wasn’t long for this game. But Jacob Lopez’s short start yesterday forced a lot of the ‘pen into action and the team needed more frames from the veteran right-hander tonight. Though he allowed leadoff doubles in each of the third and fourth, the righty bent but didn’t break the rest of the night, providing three more innings of scoreless pitching to keep the A’s in the game and give the bullpen some rest.

• Aaron Civale: 5 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB,. 2 K, 3 HR, 61 pitches

And frankly considering his low pitch count the team could have probably squeezed one more inning out of Civale before turning things over to the bullpen. It was a tough night for him though and Kotsay decided it was time. Tonight was not a great outing as he finished with a 3.31 season ERA after this one, over half a run more than what he entered the contest with. This was only the third outing this season he’s allowed more than three runs. He’ll hope to right the ship next time out at home against the Seattle Mariners.

A’s claw back

As for the A’s offense, they went dormant after the first two innings. From the third through the sixth they were retired in order, failing to work even a walk against Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz. The right-hander had those early struggles but once staked to a lead he went into cruise control against the A’s offense and they couldn’t force him out of this game soon enough.

Finally in the seventh the Angels pulled their starter and turned things over to their bottom-ranked bullpen. The A’s immediately had a scoring opportunity once Kochanowicz was out of the game. They had some help with two hit batsmen but when you’re down two runs you’ll take what you can get. Nick Kurtz cashed one of those runs in with a huge two-out RBI single to cut the Los Angeles lead to one…

… but Cortes was caught getting greedy trying to get to third and was thrown out, ending the rally right there. What’s the old baseball saying? Never make the last out of the inning at third. Big owch.

Righty Luis Medina replaced Civale and provided two scoreless innings to get this game to the eighth. Mark Leiter Jr. was next and he pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth to set the A’s up for a potential ninth-inning comeback.

It was the bottom of the order though and the Angels had Kirby Yates looking to shut the door on the A’s. Didn’t matter to Jeff McNeil, who golfed the fifth pitch of the at-bat over the short wall in the right field corner for a massive game-tying solo home run:

Huge, huge hit and one the A’s desperately needed. That was just his second homer of the season but it couldn’t have come at a better time. The A’s continued to rally but Kurtz grounded out with a runner at second to end the threat and send this one to the bottom of the ninth. Scott Barlow handled it and didn’t allow a baserunner. This game would have to be decided in extra innings.

Kurtz started the top of the 10th on second base and after a strikeout it was Soderstrom up to bat again. And for the second time tonight, Sodey had a massive hit, a one-out RBI single to give the A’s their first lead since the second inning:

He made it to third thanks to the ball getting by the outfielders but was ultimately stranded and with two chances it felt like the A’s left some meat on the bone there.

Still, either way you slice it the A’s had the lead. Lefty Hogan Harris was tasked with locking down the Angels and stranding the ghost runner at second. It got a little tense there at the end. He got the strikeout on a failed bunt attempt for the first out, a weak grounder to short for the second out, then an intentional walk to Mike Trout and another walk loaded the bases for Soler. With the game on the line Harris needed his best pitch of the night. He delivered it and got Soler to ground out to second base, securing the save for himself (#4) and the win for the team.

What a win! Always love to see the team never give up the fight. The A’s only managed six hits but that ended up being just enough. Civale wasn’t on his game tonight but he did well to battle through it and provide five full innings of work. That really helps the bullpen for the rest of this road trip, which still has four games left. Kurtz’s on-base streak lives, Soderstrom finally had a couple big hits, and the bullpen provided five shutout innings en route to the come from behind victory. The A’s are now 25-24 and remain in sole possession of first place in the AL West, and now they’ll have a chance for the series victory in the finale.

It all wraps up tomorrow evening, same time same place. It’ll be a battle of each team’s Opening Day starters as Luis Severino will take on Jose Soriano. Severino was on a roll recently but got roughed up in his most recent outing so he’ll be looking for a bounce back performance tomorrow evening. Soriano meanwhile is having a fantastic year overall but has also gotten hit hard in a couple of his most recent outings. Is the league figuring him out after one month of dominance? The A’s will hope that’s the case.

The Cam Schlittler-Trey Yesavage Show lived up to the billing, with both young right-handers dominant through six innings.

But once the Yankees got Yesavage out of the game after six shutout innings, their lineup still couldn’t get going in a 2-1 loss to Toronto in The Bronx.

While Schlittler and Yesavage went toe to toe, Schlittler faltered in the seventh and the Yankees — who were unable to even get a hit against Yesavage the last time they saw him in October — were again overmatched by the 22-year-old.

A pair of runs allowed by Schlittler in the seventh was enough.

Schlittler gave up a soft leadoff infield single to Ernie Clement to open the inning and walked Jesús Sánchez before Brandon Valenzuela reached on a bunt hit to load the bases with no one out.

Ex-Met Andrés Giménez then walked after an 11-pitch at-bat to force in the game’s first run and end Schlittler’s night.

Jake Bird got George Springer to hit a chopper to third, where Ryan McMahon made a great stop and strong throw home for the second out, but a sacrifice fly from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored Valenzuela to make it 2-0.

“I’m frustrated by the walks,” said Schlittler, calling them “unacceptable.”

“If I get out that inning, it’s probably a different outcome to that game,” Schlittler said.

The Yankees forced Yesavage to throw 95 pitches in his six scoreless innings but were unable to get much against Toronto’s bullpen.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cody Bellinger doubled off Louis Varland, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. then reached when Varland dropped a comebacker.

With runners on the corners, Paul Goldschmidt hit another one back to Varland to score Bellinger, make it a one-run game and move Chisholm to second.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Amed Rosario whiffed to end it.

“He’s a good player,” Schlittler said of Yesavage. “It was a good battle. It slipped away from me at the end. I like the fight we had the last inning.”

The start of the game was delayed more than two hours by rain before both pitchers came out firing.

Schlittler entered the game with an MLB-best 1.35 ERA, while Yesavage had allowed just three earned runs in 19 ¹/₃ innings over his first four starts this season after dealing with a shoulder impingement that pushed back the start to his year.

The 22-year-old Yesavage pitched 5 ¹/₃ hitless innings in Game 2 of the ALDS last October in an 11-strikeout performance.

He wasn’t quite as fearsome Wednesday.

And nearly as soon as Yesavage left the game, the Yankees had a chance to score.

Facing left-hander Mason Fluharty, Chisholm and Goldschmidt reached on bloop singles with one out in the bottom of the seventh.

When the Yankees sent up Rosario to hit for Spencer Jones — who’d replaced the injured Trent Grisham in the fifth — the Blue Jays went to Jeff Hoffman.

Hoffman got Rosario to fly out to right, and McMahon grounded out in front of the plate to end the threat.

Toronto had the game’s first real threat when they had runners on the corners with two outs with singles by Jesus Sánchez and Gimenez.

Schlittler got to a full count against Springer — with Guerrero on deck — before Springer flied out to left to keep the game scoreless.

It wasn’t enough that Ketel Marte broke the hearts of the San Francisco Giants with a walkoff three-run homer Tuesday night. He just had to go 3-for-3 with a walk and cross home plate as many times as the Giants’ entire team did in a 6-3 Arizona Diamondbacks win.

Tyler Mahle fell to 1-6 after giving up eight hits and six runs in five innings. At least he didn’t walk anyone! Merrill Kelly improved to 4-3 and won his ninth career game against the Giants, who went hitless in the final four innings of the game. The team is 20-30, and they deserve to be.

The Giants got on the board first when Casey Schmitt launched his ninth home run of the season in the first inning.

Marte continued to torment the Giants right away, doubling in the first and scoring on a Gerardo Perdomo sac fly. In the third, he almost got a Desert Splash Hit by launching a two-run homer just to the left of Arizona’s outfield pool.

For a while, the Giants’ bats were matching the Marte-backs. In the second, Matt Chapman singled and Bryce Eldridge doubled him home, his second RBI and second extra-base hit of the season.

Before the game, Mike Krukow said he thought Eldridge should go down to Triple-A, to improve his hitting and get more playing time. Well he went 1-for-4 and didn’t strike out a single time, so in your face, Kruk!

Chapman scored the tying run on Drew Gilbert’s RBI single with two outs in the 4th, but that would be the Giants’ penultimate hit of the ballgame. Rafael Devers hit a two-out double in the 5th and was stranded on second, and that was it for the offense aside from a Jesus Rodriguez pinch-hit walk.

The Will Brennan experiment seems to have run its course, but the Giants don’t really have other outfield options with Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee both injured. Where have you gone, Luis Matos? (The Nashville Sounds)

Arizona broke the 3-3 tie in the 5th inning, when Marte decided to switch things up and leg out a bunt single to load the bases. After an RBI groundout, Perdomo cleared the bases with a double, his second and third RBIs of the game.

The sweep sends the Giants home with a 4-6 record on their 10-day road trip, a record that would feel better had they not been at 4-3 for the road trip three days ago. They’re getting a much-needed day off Thursday before hosting the surprisingly-competent Chicago White Sox (25-24) on the weekend.

There’s not much to say, beyond what so many college student have declared after Spring Break trips: Visiting Arizona sucked.

It was a good, ol’ fashioned pitchers’ duel in the Bronx on Wednesday night, one that we had to wait patiently for due to a lengthy rain delay. Two young, burgeoning aces who burst on the scene during last year’s postseason went toe-to-toe in a big midweek divisional matchup, and it lived up to the billing.

Toronto’s pitching was excellent from top-to-bottom for nine innings, only getting in trouble on some bloop hits in the seventh and ninth innings. The Yankees matched that for eight innings of their own, but the difference in this game proved to be the one inning all night where the pitching faltered.

Cam Schlittler’s terrific night fell apart thanks to bad command, great at-bats, and a little bit of bad luck in the seventh inning, allowing the Blue Jays to score both of their runs that would prove to be enough to win this one. The Yankees avoided a shutout with a late rally in the ninth, but were never able to get the big hit as they dropped this one, 2-1.

This ballgame finally kicked off after a two-hour, five-minute rain delay, and Schlittler came out firing. A leadoff single by George Springer was quickly erased on a nicely turned 4-6-3 double play before the Yankees’ young ace ripped a 99.6-mph fastball past Daulton Varsho for his first strikeout to put up a quick zero. Trey Yesavage, who tormented a very similar lineup in Game 1 of last year’s ALDS, responded with a 1-2-3 inning.

Schlittler needed just 11 pitches to get through a 1-2-3 second inning, while the Yankees finally got their first-ever hit off Yesavage in the bottom of the second on a bloop double by Trent Grisham in a play that probably won’t make Buck Martinez the happiest man in the world. Ryan McMahon struck out swinging to strand the team’s first baserunner.

Toronto tried some small ball in the third after a Jesús Sánchez leadoff single and a sac bunt by Brandon Valenzuela, but Schlittler struck out the next two batters he faced to get through the third. It was another 1-2-3 frame for Yesavage in the bottom half.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a hard ground-ball single to start the fourth, but he didn’t move an inch after Schlittler reared back and struck out the next three batters he faced. Jazz Chisholm Jr. got the Yankees’ second hit off Yesavage in the bottom half, but was stranded.

Grisham came up lame on the double he blooped down in the second inning, but remained in the game for the time being. At some point, though, someone made the decision to take him out of the game, and he was replaced by Spencer Jones in the fifth inning.

Toronto got two singles off Schlittler in the fifth and had second and third with two outs and Springer at the plate, but the 25-year-old induced an inning-ending flyout. There was some better contact in the bottom half off a rolling Yesavage, but he still retired the side in order.

Guess what? It was more of the same in the sixth for both pitchers, but their pitch counts slowly climbed as they dug into the third time through. It would be Yesavage who would be pulled first, as he reached a season-high in pitch count after six masterful shutout innings with eight strikeouts, including three of Aaron Judge.

Even though Schlittler pitched into the seventh, he would not record an out. A tomahawk swinging bunt single by Pest of the Year Ernie Clement, a walk to Sánchez, and a bunt single by Valenzuela loaded the bases with nobody out for Andrés Giménez, who worked a gritty, 11-pitch at-bat for a go-ahead RBI walk and chased Schlittler from the game. Despite how it ended, you’ll take his outing of six-plus innings and allowing just two runs; he just didn’t get any help from the offense against an equally tough cookie.

It could’ve gotten a lot worse with the bases still loaded and nobody out with Jake Bird taking over on the mound, but he induced a 5-2 fielder’s choice from Springer, a sac fly from Vladdy, and struck out Varsho to end the frame with Toronto leading, 2-0.

Mason Fluharty took over for the Jays after the seventh-inning stretch and was immediately repaid for the generous luck that Toronto received in the top half, allowing a pair of bloop singles to Chisholm and Paul Goldschmidt to put the tying run on base. On a diving attempt on Goldy’s blooper, Sanchez was injured in right field and left the game, but Fluharty followed him right to the dugout for a pitching change.

Jeff Hoffman, best known for blowing Game 7 of last year’s Fall Classic, came in to face a pinch-hitting Amed Rosario and McMahon, and he retired both to strand the best scoring opportunity for the Yankees all night.

Yovanny Cruz made his major league debut in the eighth, and it was a beauty. He got up to 100.6 mph on his fastball and picked up a pair of strikeouts against Kazuma Okamoto and Clement on a pair of filthy sliders, showing the stuff that tantalized the organization when they decided to sign the wild flamethrower after spending 2025 with Boston’s Double-A affiliate.

You got the full Toronto pitching experience today. After six innings of having to deal with the league leader in arm angle in Yesavage, the Yankees had to figure out how to crack Tyler Rogers and his submarine style in the bottom of the eighth. As you might’ve expected, he retired the bottom of the order with relative ease.

Cruz delivered another terrific inning in the ninth, finishing it off with a strikeout of Giménez to send it to the bottom of the ninth. Louie Varland would look to close things out against the heart of the Yankees’ order, and there would be some intrigue after a one-out double by Cody Bellinger and an infield single by Chisholm, but only one run would come across on a Goldschmidt RBI groundout as the tying run was stranded on second base.

The Yankees and Blue Jays wrap up this four-game series in the Bronx tomorrow night at 7:05 pm on YES. It’ll be Carlos Rodón in his first home start of the season against a likely bullpen game for the Blue Jays.

Box Score

Despite a very strong start from Cam Schlittler, the Yankees offense never got going as they were defeated by the Blue Jays, 2-1, on a rainy Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

This is the first loss of this four-game home stand against their divisional rivals for New York (30-20).

Here are the takeaways...

-Schlittler was ruthlessly efficient, continuing to emerge as a headliner of the Yankees' starting pitching rotation. The lanky righty pitched six full innings of dominant pitching, striking out seven batters and allowing eight hits.

-The wheels came off for Schlittler and the Yankees in the seventh inning. In quick succession, Ernie Clement singled and Jesús Sánchez was walked; Schlittler's first walk allowed all game. Brandon Valenzuela reached first on a bunt which was simultaneously fielded - and mishandled - by both Austin Wells and Paul Goldschmidt. 

With the bases loaded, Schlittler's pitch count approaching triple digits, and Jake Bird warming up in the bullpen, Yankees manager Aaron Boone opted to keep his starter in the game to face Andrés Giménez. The Blue Jays infielder fouled off seven pitches in an 11-pitch at-bat, which culminated in a walk on a 3-2 count, driving in the game's first run for Toronto.

Bird managed to limit the damage and recorded all three outs in the seventh inning. Ryan McMahon threw out the lead runner via force out at home plate, Bird allowed a sacrifice fly to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. that drove in Valenzuela, and then the righty reliever struck out Daulton Varsho to end the inning.

Schlittler was charged with two earned runs in the loss. His ERA for the season now sits at 1.50, and his record moves to 6-2.

-The top three hitters in the Yankees lineup were a combined 1-for-12, including four strikeouts (a.k.a. golden sombrero) from Aaron Judge. The lone hit was a double in the bottom of the ninth off the bat of Cody Bellinger, who scored on a fielder's choice to cut the lead to 2-1. Blue Jays closer Louis Varland worked through some trouble to shut the door, stranding Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base by striking out Amed Rosario to end the game.

-Fellow rising star pitcher Trey Yesavage outdid his counterpart, allowing just two hits and walking none while striking out eight Yankees batters through six full innings of scoreless work.

-Out of the bullpen for the Yankees, longtime minor leaguer Yovanny Cruz made his major-league debut in the top of the eighth inning. He marked his arrival in a big way, sitting down all six Blue Jays batters he faced in order on just 15 pitches, striking out Kazuma Okamoto, Ernie Clement, and Gimenez in the process.

-Trent Grishamleft the game with left knee discomfort. He was replaced in center field by Spencer Jones.

Game MVP: Cam Schlittler

Without Schlittler's heroics on the mound, the Yankees wouldn't have had a chance to potentially tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. His ability to go deep into ballgames has been a massive boost for a thin Yankees bullpen that can use all the rest it can get.

Highlights

What a catch on the run by Cody Bellinger! pic.twitter.com/4dHjHgeSPy

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 21, 2026

A pair of strikeouts for Yovanny Cruz in his MLB debut 🔥 pic.twitter.com/cOlVNrpBKM

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 21, 2026

What's next

The Yankees and Blue Jays will conclude their four-game set on Thursday night. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

Carlos Rodón (0-1, 5.63 ERA) will look to shake off the lingering post-injury rust in his third start of the season. Toronto's starting pitcher tomorrow night is yet to be determined.

The Braves won another, the Phillies and Mets each lost another, and the division lead is back to 9.0 games, after a brief swoon back down to 7.0 games. They’ll have Spencer Strider on the mound, facing Sandy Alcantara, as they go for the series win in the four-game mid-week series. The loss of Drake Baldwin (which seems like it could be short-lived) has been largely compensated for by the near-simultaneous return of Ronald Acuna. Austin Riley has been all over the place recently, but has at least been hitting a handful of homers. Once Baldwin is back, this team might really start humming with all of the talent healthy on offense and the pitching stabilized with Strider (hopefully) continuing to pitch well. This team is cruising y’all.

Braves News

The Braves DFA’d Jose Azocar, as they reinstated Eli White from the concussion IL.

The Braves solidly thumped the Marlins 9-1, as Chris Sale dominated and the offense exploded.

MLB News

Jose Berrios received full Tommy John surgery, as he has really taken a huge dip in his career after being traded to Toronto.

Fangraphs took a look at the state of playoff odds, as calculated by Fangraphs and by a Bayesian method.

The Mets brought up pitching prospect Zach Thornton to the MLB roster.

Right-hander Tyler Beede was activated off the Development List and assigned to Triple-A Iowa. Beede takes the place of Connor Noland, who went on the injured list after getting hit in the leg with a line drive last night.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs clipped the wings of the Memphis Redbirds (Cardinals), 3-2. The win snaps an eight-game losing streak for Iowa.

Iowa went with an opener today and Gabe Klobosits got the mound for the first two innings. He kept Memphis off the board, allowing no runs on just one hit. Klobosits struck out four and walked no one.

Doug Nikhazy then pitched the next five innings, keeping Memphis scoreless. Nikhazy also allowed just one hit while walking two and striking out five.

Christian Roa then pitched the eighth inning and had a successful Iowa Cubs debut. He allowed a two-out infield single, but no other baserunners in his inning of work. Roa struck out one.

With Iowa clinging to a 2-0 lead in the top of the ninth, manager Marty Pevey called upon Colin Snider to get the save. Snider did not, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out one.

Snider got the win, however, because the I-Cubs walked it off in the bottom of the ninth without the benefit of a hit. DH Justin Dean walked and third baseman BJ Murray reached on an error. After a Jonathon Long sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, right fielder Kevin Alcántara hit a high chopper to third and Dean beat the throw home for the winning run.

Alcántara also drove in a run in the seventh inning on his 15th home run of the season. The Jaguar hit a slider 393 feet the other way. He finished the day 1 for 4 with the two RBI.

Iowa only managed three hits in this game. Dean was o for 2 with the walk. Murray was 0 for 4. Long was o for 3.

Left fielder Chas McCormick doubled in the sixth inning and later scored on a Brett Bateman sacrifice fly. McCormick was 1 for 3 and Bateman 0 for 2.

Alcántara’s home run.

The Jaguar drives in the winning run.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were battered by the Montgomery Biscuits (Rays), 6-5.

Grant Kipp turned in a solid start for the Smokies, giving up one run on our hits over 4.2 innings. Kipp walked three and struck out six.

The loss went to Luis Rujano, who got knocked around for four runs on five hits over 1.2 innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Catcher Owen Ayers hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, his fifth on the year. Ayers went 1 for 4.

Shortstop Ed Howard was 2 for 3 with a RBI double in the seventh inning. He later scored that inning to give Knoxville a temporary 5-4 lead.

Ayers’ home run.

Howard’s double and a triple by Karson Simas that scored him. Simas went 1 for 4.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs held back the West Michigan Whitecaps (Tigers), 3-1.

Starter Alfredo Romero allowed just one run on three hits over 3.2 innings. Romero walked two and struck out six.

Nate Williams threw the next 2.1 innings without allowing a run. Williams surrendered one hit, walked no one and struck out four.

Jackson Brockett went the rest of the way, getting the win with three scoreless innings. Brockett allowed one hit. He walked no one while striking out two.

South Bend did not have a hit in this game until the fifth inning and Alex Madera got picked off first immediately after his single. They didn’t have another hit until the eighth inning when catcher Miguel Useche gave South Bend the lead with an RBI single in which a second runner scored on an outfield error. Useche was 1 for 2 with a walk.

South Bend added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on single by first baseman Cameron Sisneros. He was 1 for 4.

Madera was 1 for 3 with a walk. He scored on the single and error by Useche.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans were blasted by the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (White Sox), 7-0.

Dominick Reid started and took the loss. Reid gave up four runs on eight hits over four innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Center fielder Josiah Hartshorn was 2 for 4 with a double.

First baseman Yahil Melendez went 2 for 4.

ACL Cubs

Losing to the Diamondbacks 9-8 in the ninth.

SAN DIEGO –– Shohei Ohtani raked at the start of the night. He roared when his outing as a pitcher was over. Then, he and the Dodgers rolled to a series win in San Diego.

Nearly a month removed from his last two-way start, the two-way star was at the center of it all Wednesday at Petco Park, lifting the Dodgers to a 4-0 rubber-match win over the Padres with a leadoff home run and five scoreless innings pitched.

“He wants to win that Cy Young, he wants to help us win games, and he wants to be a really productive offensive player,” manager Dave Roberts said. “At this point in time, he’s doing all the above.”

It had been a minute since the Dodgers could last say that about Ohtani. During his uneven start to the year, he had battled both fatigue and an extended slump at the plate.

That’s why, in his previous three pitching appearances, the four-time MVP had been held out of the Dodgers’ lineup as a hitter. The three times he did play both ways earlier this season, he went just 1-for-10 at the plate with no home runs.

Wednesday, however, was closer to the version the Dodgers (31-19) witnessed last October, in Ohtani’s historic three-homer, 10-strikeout tour de force in the National League Championship Series.

The stakes weren’t as high Wednesday. But his performance was cut from the same cloth.

He went deep on the first pitch of the game, jumping on an elevated fastball from Padres starter Randy Vásquez for a towering drive to straightaway center. Then, he produced his fifth start this season without an earned run, retiring the first nine batters he faced (albeit with an elevated pitch count) before working out of jams in the fourth and fifth innings.

Neither Ohtani nor Roberts believed the 31-year-old right-hander had his best stuff against the Padres, after he struck out just four batters and failed to reach the sixth inning for the first time this year.

Ohtani even noted that, entering the night, he felt “a lot of uncertainty” about the feel for his pitches.

“The results were good, as you saw, but the process wasn’t that great,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I have a pretty high standard as far as performance. It didn’t really match.”

Still, both times danger knocked, Ohtani didn’t let the Padres (29-20) break down the door.

In the fourth, he wiggled out of a two-on, one-out jam. Then in the fifth, he escaped a bases-loaded threat by getting Fernando Tatis Jr. to roll into a double-play.

He flexed his arms and let out a long roar as he skipped off the mound after the latter sequence. At 88 pitches, his pitching outing would go no further.

“Getting that double play right there was big,” Roberts said. “It was good to see him show some emotion.”

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

By that point, the Dodgers were already cruising to a win. Max Muncy doubled to lead off the second, then scored on a sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández. Ohtani walked to begin the fifth, then scored on an RBI single from Kyle Tucker.

There would be no further dramatics down the stretch, either, with the Dodgers bullpen combining for four scoreless innings and Hernández adding an insurance solo blast in the ninth.

“I really measure myself (on how I perform) when I don’t really feel that great pitching in crucial games,” Ohtani said. “This was one of those games.”

And once again, he delivered.

What it means

Just like when they arrived at Petco Park at the start of this week, the Dodgers leave sitting in first place in the National League West division.

That wasn’t the case after Monday’s series-opener, when the Padres moved a half-game in front by shutting the Dodgers out in a 1-0 win. But after a come-from-behind victory on Tuesday, the Dodgers returned the favor in Wednesday’s sold-out finale, moving 1 ½ games clear of their Southern California rivals with their NL-leading sixth shutout this season.

Who’s hot

Ohtani, obviously. And no longer just as a pitcher.

While his 0.73 ERA remains best in the majors among pitchers with at least 40 innings (his 49 total frames are one shy of the qualification threshold at the 50-game mark), his hitting has also finally started to return to league-leading form.

By going 1-for-4 with a walk on Wednesday, Ohtani has now reached safely multiple times in seven-straight games as a hitter. In that stretch, he is hitting .481, has gotten aboard in 20 of 34 plate appearances, has seven extra-base hits, and has driven in 10 runs.

With that, his season batting average is up to .272 and his OPS to .885, the highest they have been since the end of April.

And while his Cy Young case will generate season-long intrigue, he is already well on his way to a fifth MVP honor, already the first player in the National League to eclipse 3.0 combined wins above replacement this year.

“For him to homer that first at bat,” Roberts said, “I think he was like, ‘OK, I contributed on the offensive side.'”

Who’s not

Anyone who felt Ohtani would be better served forgoing his full-time two-way role amid his early-season scuffles.

The toll of his tasks still presents risks, no doubt. It was only last week that Roberts gave him back-to-back days off as a hitter after sensing the slugger was struggling with fatigue.

Wednesday, however, was a reminder of the unprecedented impact Ohtani can make when he’s excelling in both phases; how, even at less than his absolute best, he can completely transform the complexion of a game.

That doesn’t mean the Dodgers won’t still be careful with his usage. If anything, his grind of a start was “just another case in point that it’s good for us to be mindful of the workload and just not take that for granted,” Roberts said.

“But again,” the manager added, “he’s still pretty special and got through it.”

And as for the external speculation about the difficulty of his two-way task?

“I think that, at times, he uses that as motivation to prove people wrong,” Roberts said.

Up next

The Dodgers are off on Thursday, before going to Milwaukee for the final leg of this three-city road trip. Justin Wrobleski (6-1, 2.49 ERA) will face Brewers right-hander Logan Henderson (1-1, 3.50) in Friday’s series-opener.

The Dodgers had a lead on the very first pitch of the game, while the Padres couldn’t scratch across a single run as the Dodgers took the series by shutting out San Diego 4-0 on Wednesday.

Shohei Ohtani smacked his second leadoff home run of the season, as he attacked the first pitch of the game from Randy Vásquez just over the leaping Jackson Merrill to give the Dodgers an immediate 1-0 lead. His 21st leadoff home run as a Dodger is now tied with Joc Pederson for the third most in franchise history. Ohtani is now the first starting pitcher to hit a leadoff home run one the first pitch of the game in both the regular season and playoffs.

The Dodgers made sure that Ohtani didn’t have to everything all at once, as a sacrifice fly from Teoscar Hernández in the top of the second made it a two-run lead. The Dodgers went down quietly the second time through the lineup, but after chasing Vásquez out of the game in the fifth, Kyle Tucker greeted reliever Wandy Peralta with an RBI single to right to make it a three-run lead.

It always helps when a team can get immediate run support from their pitcher in the leadoff spot, as Ohtani continued to dazzle on the mound, throwing three perfect innings to begin his night with three strikeouts. The perfect game and no-hit bid came to a crash in the fourth inning by allowing a walk and a single, but Ohtani got a pair of flyouts from Manny Machado and Xander Bogaerts to keep the Padres off the board.

Ohtani nearly let the lead— and shutout— slip away as a walk to Freddy Fermin helped load the bases for San Diego with only one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. All Ohtani needed was a ground ball on his first pitch to Fernando Tatis Jr. to induce a 6-4-3 double play to close his outing on the rubber.

Although it was the first time all season that Ohtani didn’t have a quality start, he has now tossed 12 scoreless innings over his last two starts while lowering his season ERA to 0.73. His four strikeouts on Wednesday were the lowest in any start this year since he struck out two against the Toronto Blue Jays on April 8.

Edgardo Henriquez and Blake Treinen both tossed scoreless innings in relief of Ohtani, but the Padres began to mount another rally in the bottom of the eighth against Kyle Hurt. Ramon Laureano lined a single to right before Tatis sprinkled a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield. Muncy double clutched the throw to first, but in doing so lost his grip on the ball that was thrown into shallow right field, allowing Laureano to go to third on the play. Against Miguel Andujar— the only Padre with multiple home runs in the series— with one out, Hurt induced an inning-ending double play to keep San Diego scoreless.

Teoscar Hernández provided some insurance in the top of the ninth against Ron Marinaccio with a monster solo home run to left that landed in the second deck, giving the Dodgers a four-run lead. After going a full calendar months between home runs hit, Hernández now has two home runs over the six games on this current road trip.

Will Klein was tasked with closing duties for a second straight game, and he recorded a perfect bottom of the ninth to complete the second Dodgers shutout victory on the road trip. The Dodgers have now held the Padres scoreless over their last 15 innings on the mound since the home run from Andujar against Emmet Sheehan on Tuesday.

After going hitless in his last 16 at-bats entering Tuesday, Freddie Freeman now has four extra-base hits his last two games, as he smacked a pair of doubles against Vásquez. The latter was the 560th of his career, which puts him tied with Hall of Famers Jeff Kent and Eddie Murray for 29th on the all-time doubles list.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Shohei Ohtani (8), Teoscar Hernández (6)
• WP— Shohei Ohtani (4-2): 5 IP, 3 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts
• LP— Randy Vásquez (5-2): 4 1/3 IP, 6 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts

Up next

The Dodgers have an off-day on Thursday as they fly out to the Midwest for a three-game rematch of the 2025 NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers beginning Friday (4:40 p.m. PT). Justin Wrobleski starts against Logan Henderson.