Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani enters historic pitching realm after taming Rockies

Behind a historic outing from two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Dodgers stormed to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.

Ohtani threw six hitless innings with seven strikeouts as Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep and stretched its winning streak to five games. The right-hander allowed only one earned run despite walking four batters and hitting another. Ohtani exited after 99 pitches, including 56 strikes, lowering his ERA to 0.82 through nine starts. That’s the ninth-lowest ERA entering June since earned runs became official in both leagues in 1913 among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched. He also surpassed Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 ERA through nine starts during Valenzuela’s celebrated 1981 season.

Ohtani’s scoreless streak reached 19 1/3 innings before ending in the fourth inning on Willi Castro’s RBI groundout. Even with the run allowed, the four-time MVP has not surrendered more than two earned runs in any start this season and has allowed one or zero earned runs in eight of his nine outings. The performance also secured his third consecutive victory, improving him to 5-2.

At the plate, Ohtani immediately set the tone with a leadoff home run against Tomoyuki Sugano. The 424-foot blast to center field marked his 28th career leadoff homer and fourth of the season. He now has 22 leadoff home runs as a Dodger, passing Joc Pederson for third-most in franchise history. Freddie Freeman followed later in the inning with another homer, his third in the last eight games.

Ohtani became the first MLB pitcher since 2015 to homer and throw six hitless innings in the same game. The last Los Angeles pitcher to accomplish the feat was Don Drysdale in 1959.

The Dodgers carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning before Tyler Freeman singled off Tanner Scott. Will Klein contributed a scoreless seventh inning before Kyle Hurt closed the game for his first major league save. Andy Pages added insurance with his 13th home run of the season, making him the Dodgers’ home run leader and the first player in MLB this year to reach 50 RBI.

Los Angeles improved to 36-20 and have now won 12 of their last 14 games. However, the victory was tempered by injuries to Enrique Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez. Enrique returned to the injured list with a significant oblique tear, while Teoscar exited with a left hamstring strain.

Next up, the Dodgers have Thursday off before returning home on Friday to begin a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

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