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LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani started his 50-50 chase in earnest Saturday, albeit with far fewer heroics.
One night after joining the 40-40 club, Ohtani hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning to take the lead, but the Tampa Bay Rays rallied thanks to two late-inning home runs to win 9-8 in ten innings.
Ohtani hit a huge fly ball to right field in the bottom of the 10th inning, trailing by two runs and with the automatic runner on, in a hit that seemed to be on the same trajectory as his game-winning grand slam on Friday. But this time, the distance was much closer, as his out only advanced Miguel Rojas one base.
“I was hoping he would get enough, but he still hit well,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Instead, it was the Rays’ turn to deliver some crucial home runs.
Jose Caballero of the Tampa Bays hit a home run in the 10th inning against Joe Kelly (1-1) to give the team the lead after Junior Caminero tied the game with a solo home run in the 9th inning against Evan Phillips. Phillips could not protect his one-run lead.
The Rays even scored a run against right-hander Michael Kopech, who allowed a run for the first time in 11 games with the Dodgers. A sacrifice fly by Yandy Diaz in the eighth inning against Kopech brought the Rays to 8-7, just one run behind.
Kelly remains a fan favorite with his spectacular performances in games, but Roberts is increasingly concerned about his lack of consistency. Kelly has allowed runs in four of his nine games this month, while his ERA has risen from 3.93 to the current 4.85.
“He dropped a slider (up), a good pitch to hit,” Roberts said of Caballero’s eighth-inning home run. “As far as inconsistency, I just don’t know what to say. Sometimes he comes in and is great, and sometimes he struggles. I don’t know if we need to look into that, but it was definitely inconsistent.”
The loss moved the Arizona Diamondbacks to within three games of the National League West lead, while the San Diego Padres are 4.5 games back after closing in on two games last weekend.
Teoscar Hernandez and Miguel Rojas also hit home runs as the Dodgers offense came to the aid of Clayton Kershaw in the middle innings. Kershaw was out of form entering his sixth start of the season following offseason shoulder surgery.
The left-hander allowed four runs in the first inning of a game that was more reminiscent of last season’s playoff disappointment, when he was hit hard by the Diamondbacks in the first inning. But Kershaw rebounded and allowed just one run in his final four innings.
“I went right at them in the first inning and it’s hard to put our team behind that early,” Kershaw said. “But when you’re on a great team like we are, you try to do your best and our team showed what they can do. They came back and fought. I can’t say enough about what those guys did on offense.”
The experienced left-hander allowed five runs on nine hits in five innings, with two walks and five strikeouts.
The 4-0 first-inning deficit was cut to one in the fourth when Mookie Betts hit an RBI double after a catcher’s interference call and Ohtani scored from first base. Freddie Freeman flied out and Betts was apparently thrown out at third base as he tried to step up.
On the replay, Betts was ruled safe at third base, and on the next pitch, Hernandez hit a two-run home run to left-center field that put the Dodgers within 4-3. It was Hernandez’s 27th of the season.
The Rays took a 5-3 lead in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Josh Lowe before the Dodgers got back to work.
“I’ve settled into it a little bit and that run in the fifth inning really bothered me,” Kershaw said. “There are just a lot of things I definitely need to do better.”
Max Muncy, back in the lineup after a rest Friday, hit a double to open the fifth inning and moved to third base on a groundout by Tommy Edman. Rojas had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4, and Ohtani followed with a home run into the right field corner.
After Ohtani’s 41st home run, he is still 32 games away from his first season with 50 home runs.
“It was a good hit in the sense that it wasn’t a fastball, it was under the zone and he didn’t get out of his swing,” Roberts said. “He stayed straight and was able to get enough behind it and keep it fair and hit it out of the ballpark.”
“It’s just something your body responds to, and the fact that he held on for the whole ball shows where he’s at. That’s a really hard thing to do, and it was a really good swing.”
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