Ohtani’s Early Fireworks Spark Dodgers Victory Over Guardians

The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their road trip Monday night on Memorial Day to kick off an interleague series against the Cleveland Guardians. Both teams came into the series riding two different waves as the Dodgers lost their previous series to the New York Mets, while the Guardians took three out of four against the Detroit Tigers. Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound to continue his Cy Young caliber year and build off his previous start that came against the Arizona Diamondbacks. For the Guardians, it was Gavin Williams getting the starting nod; Williams had struggled mightily in two earlier starts against Los Angeles accumulating an ERA of 18 in just five innings combined. 

Things got off to an electric start for the Dodgers, as on the very first pitch of the game, Shohei Ohtani ripped his league-leading 19th home run of the year. No further damage was created, but it was a great start for the Dodgers. After a clean first inning from Yamamoto, the Dodgers offense provided another early run off an Andy Pages single. The Dodgers had runners on the corners with two outs, but Williams got the best of Ohtani the second time around, striking him out to end the threat. 

After retiring the first six batters, four of which were strikeouts, Yamamoto ran into trouble in the third inning. The first two batters of the inning reached base; fortunately, he limited the damage, allowing just one run on a fielder's choice. Yamamoto ran into similar trouble the following inning with two on and just one out. He induced a double play to end the inning. It was up to the Dodgers to create some offense, as the team has struggled all year to provide run support for the starting ace. 

The offense surely delivered in the top of the fifth inning and got Williams to break. Two runners crossed the plate to extend the Dodgers lead to 4-1. Williams began the inning with 69 pitches; he could not finish the inning as he left with 109 pitches. The Dodgers worked counts throughout the game on Williams, forcing him to issue six walks, which would be a career-high. He came into the start having a 1.69 ERA over his last three starts. It’s safe to say the Dodgers continued their success over the young righty in this one. 

It didn’t take long for Los Angeles to get going again in the sixth inning. Backed by Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the duo tacked on two more runs with a pair of RBI singles. Cleveland added a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to make it 6-2. Yamamoto finished out the inning unscathed, completing another impressive start. His final stat line consisted of six innings pitched, seven strikeouts, three hits, and two runs allowed. 

Will Smith added the game’s final run with his fifth home run of the year, extending the Dodgers lead. The Dodgers bullpen shut the doors on any chance for Cleveland to come back with Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott, and Luis García delivering scoreless innings. Los Angeles now shifts their focus to tomorrow night to grab a series victory with a win tomorrow. Dustin May gets the start for the Dodgers, while Tanner Bibee gets the ball for the Guardians.