Dodgers Recap: The Return of “Two-Way Shohei” in LA’s win over San Diego

CHAVEZ RAVINE — I’m sure Shohei Ohtani wasn’t that thrilled with giving up a run in his opening inning of his Dodger career. However, the unicorn made up for it in a big way, driving in two runs, including one in a monster five-run inning that propeled the Dodgers to a 6-3 over the San Diego Padres.

Of course, whatever happened in the game, the headline from this game was what transpired in the first inning. Shohei Ohtani came onto the mound for the first time in over 600 days. And while he wasn’t perfect, he navigated through some traffic and questionable calls to give up just one run on two hits (both not hit particularly hard). We break down the entire inning pitch by pitch, hitter by hitter in this post. Check it out for all the details, but suffice it to say, Shohei gave up one run on two hits, the key blow being a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado. Good start for Shohei. We’re looking foreward to the next one.

Meanwhile, there was a game to play. And at first, Padres starter Dylan Cease looked darn near unhittable. He struck out the side in the first, and then got the first two Dodgers in the second. It looked like he had the no-hitter stuff working. But that started to change in the bottom of the third, when Andy Pages broke up the perfect game with a opposite field double into the right field corner. Then, after Cease retired the next two batters, the lineup turned over and Shohei Ohtani dug into the batter’s box. Remember this dude? The starting pitcher for the Dodgers? Well, he wasn’t about to let the Padres hang an L on him in his first outing. He drilled a double into the left centerfield gap that easily scored Pages

After the Padres had tacked on a run off bulk guy Ben Casparius, the Dodgers broke through against Cease in a big way in the bottom of the fourth. They jumped all over the Padres’ ace in an explosive inning that featured six hits, a hit-by-pitch, and five runs scored. After Freddie Freeman lined out to first, Teoscar Hernández sparked the rally with a ground-ball single on the infield. A poor throw from second baseman Jake Cronenworth pulled first bagger Luis Arraez off first, and the Dodgers were in business. Will Smith followed with a double to left, setting the table for Max Muncy, who ripped a two-run single to center. Andy Pages was then hit by a pitch, and after a brief delay when tempers flared a bit, Michael Conforto struck out looking.

But the Dodgers weren’t done—Tommy Edman lined a single to right to drive in Muncy, and Shohei Ohtani added an RBI single of his own, clubbing a high pitch into center to plate Pages. Mookie Betts capped the rally with a run-scoring single to center, and stole second before Freeman struck out to end the inning. They didn’t bash the ball off Cease, but they found grass in the outfield and kept the line moving. Like good teams do.

The gametightened up a little when Casparius gave up an opposite field homer to everybody’s favorite Padre, Manny Machado. That was followed up by a Ben Sheets double that pretty much ended Casparius’s night. He retired one more hitter and then gave way to Alex Vesia to face the left-handed part of the Padres batting order. Vesia came up big, retiring Cronenworth on a pop up and then striking out pinch hitter Jose Iglesias to end the threat.

Then, Dave Roberts dialed up the big dawgs from the pen. Michael Kopech pitched a great seventh inning. Tanner Scott was flawless in the eighth, and Kirby Yates wrapped things up with a perfect ninth inning to send the Dodgers into the clubhouse as winners.

With the Shohei show over for now, the Dodgers return to regular ol’ pitchers for the rest of the series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch the finale on Thursday, but things are a little unclear for the next two games. It looks like Emmet Sheehan will be activated somewhere in there, and there’ll be a Johnny Wholestaff game as well. The games begin at 7:10 PDT. See you at the ballpark!

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