LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani did not have his sharpest stuff Wednesday night. His command wandered, the walks came in bunches, and Colorado scratched a run across in the fourth. None of it mattered. Ohtani led off the game with his ninth home run of the season, went out and held the Rockies to one run over six innings anyway, and Los Angeles completed a three-game sweep with a 4-1 win at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers outscored Colorado 24-10 across the series. They have taken care of business at home, and now the Phillies are coming.
Ohtani earned his fifth win of the season to move to 5-2 with a 0.82 ERA. Will Klein collected his sixth hold, Tanner Scott his fifth, and Kyle Hurt closed it out with his second save of the year. The night also brought another injury: Teoscar Hernandez left in the third inning with a left hamstring strain, the same night Kike Hernandez was officially placed back on the injured list with his left oblique. Two left-side strains in one night, on two different players. The Dodgers are winning in spite of themselves right now.
Ohtani Sets the Tone Before Colorado Records an Out
The game was framed in the very first at-bat. Ohtani stepped in to lead off the bottom of the first and drove a fly ball to center for his ninth home run of the season. The stadium had barely settled in and Los Angeles was already on the board. Three batters later, Freddie Freeman added his seventh homer, a fly ball to left-center, and just like that the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead before Tomoyuki Sugano had found anything resembling a rhythm.
Those two swings did more than put runs on the board. They established the terms of the game. Ohtani could afford to be imperfect on the mound knowing a cushion existed. The offense could play from ahead. For a game that finished 4-1 and was never seriously threatened, both of those first-inning blasts were load-bearing. Freeman finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. Ohtani went 1-for-4 at the plate after the homer, grounding out twice and striking out once, but the damage he did in that first at-bat was enough.
Six Innings of Controlled Damage on the Mound
On paper, Ohtani’s pitching line raises an eyebrow. Four walks across six innings is not the efficiency number you want to see, and Colorado was patient enough to work counts and make him throw pitches. The Rockies loaded the bases in the fourth on a pair of walks and an HBP, and Willi Castro grounded out to bring home TJ Rumfield for the only run Ohtani would allow all night.
But the bigger number is the one at the top of the line: zero hits. Colorado went hitless against him across six innings, managing just one run on four walks. He punched out seven. When there were runners on base, Ohtani found another gear and got the outs that mattered. He stranded runners in the second, fifth, and parts of the fourth after the run scored. His ERA on the season sits at 0.82. The Dodgers are 5-2 in his starts. Whatever the command looked like on the radar and the walk sheet, the results have been close to untouchable.
After handing the ball to Klein to start the seventh, Ohtani moved to the designated hitter spot and stayed in the lineup. Klein needed only five pitches to work a double play and end the frame without a scratch. The back end of the bullpen handled the rest with ease.
The Bullpen Finished What Ohtani Started
Klein has quietly become one of the most reliable arms out of the Dodgers’ pen. Wednesday night was his sixth hold of the season, and it came in the cleanest possible fashion: one inning, no hits, no runs, two outs on a single double play ball. His ERA sits at 1.93 on the year. He does not blow the game open or generate highlight clips, but he gets through the seventh and hands it off, which is exactly what a bridge arm is supposed to do.
Tanner Scott followed in the eighth and struck out two in another scoreless frame, picking up his fifth hold. His ERA is down to 1.19. Scott has been a weapon in high-leverage situations all season, and Roberts has used him in spots where the game needed to stay right where it was. Wednesday fit that description. Hurt then worked a clean ninth, getting three outs on a grounder and two pop-ups, to lock in save number two and bring the ERA to 1.06. Three innings of relief, zero runs allowed, and the sweep was official.
Pages Stays Hot, Kim Steps In, Call Delivers
Kim entered the game in the third after Teoscar Hernandez left with the hamstring and contributed exactly what the Dodgers needed. He singled, scored a run, and handled himself cleanly in left field for the rest of the night. That kind of steadiness from a depth piece in the middle of an injury situation is the difference between a team that absorbs the blow and one that feels it.
Alex Call drove in a run in the fourth with a sharp single to left, scoring Hyeseong Kim from third to extend the lead to 3-1. The sequence came together through a Will Smith double that moved Kim to third before Smith was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Call’s hit, cut down by a perfect throw from Troy Johnston in left. It was aggressive baserunning that did not pay off, but the run still came home and the Dodgers kept the inning productive.
Andy Pages hit his 13th home run of the season in the eighth, a line drive to left that pushed the lead to 4-1 and put the final score out of reach. It was the kind of insurance swing that has become routine for Pages, who is quietly putting together one of the more consistent offensive seasons on this roster. Thirteen home runs and eleven doubles deep into May. A .303 average. He is not sneaking up on anyone anymore, and the production has been consistent enough that it no longer feels like a hot streak. It feels like a player who has figured something out.
Two More Names on the Injury Report
The Dodgers placed Kiké Hernandez back on the injured list Wednesday with a left oblique strain, less than 48 hours after activating him. He went 4-for-4 across two games, homered in both, and did not make it to a third. It is the kind of roster whiplash that has defined this team’s season, and it stings particularly because Hernandez had only just found his footing again, going 4-for-4 with a home run across two games since returning.
Then Teoscar went down in the third inning Wednesday with a left hamstring strain. He was 0-for-1 and replaced by Kim, who handled the rest of the evening without incident. Two left-side injuries on two different players in the same 24-hour window. The Dodgers are expected to recall infielder Alex Freeland from Triple-A Oklahoma City to help cover the roster gaps. Alex Freeland started at second base Wednesday and was clean throughout. Teoscar Hernandez is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks after the Dodgers officially placed him on the IL with the left hamstring strain.
Up Next
The Dodgers close out May with the Philadelphia Phillies coming to Dodger Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday night. Justin Wrobleski takes the mound for Los Angeles against Zack Wheeler in the opener. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM PST.
