Shohei Ohtani will continue his quest for baseball’s first 50-50 season when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series.
In the series opener Friday, Ohtani stole a base and hit a game-ending grand slam to become the sixth major-leaguer to reach 40 steals and 40 home runs in the same season. He added a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning Saturday before the Rays rallied for a 9-8 victory in 10 innings.
Teoscar Hernandez and Miguel Rojas also hit a home run for the Dodgers, who saw their five-game winning streak end.
The Dodgers’ lead in the National League West was cut to three games over the Arizona Diamondbacks, while the San Diego Padres remained 4 1/2 games back.
Despite the loss, the Dodgers have won 11 of their last 15 games. That stretch includes having the club’s top two starters — Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto — on the injured list.
“What I think it sparks for this group, as they get closer to September and October, is an acute sense of where we are in the season, where we’re at in the standings, and embracing that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the momentum Ohtani has helped to create. “You see the at-bats, one through nine (in the lineup), are much more competitive.”
Los Angeles will send rookie right-hander Gavin Stone (11-5, 3.44 ERA) to the mound Sunday. Stone made just four starts last season, but one start was against the Rays. He received a no-decision despite being blasted for seven runs on 10 hits in two innings.
On Saturday, it was the Rays’ turn to hit some clutch home runs. Junior Caminero tied the game in the ninth inning with a solo shot, and Jose Caballero ripped a go-ahead, two-run blast in the 10th that ended up being the difference.
In his 11th game this season, Caminero has just two home runs, and both have come in the past two games against the Dodgers.
Tampa Bay also scored four runs in the first inning Saturday against Dodgers veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw and five runs total off him in five innings.
A pair of former Dodgers contributed to the Rays’ cause, with Jonny DeLuca hitting a two-run single in the first inning and Garrett Cleavinger pitching the 10th inning to earn his fourth save. Cleavinger’s first out in the inning came on a towering fly ball from Ohtani, who was representing the tying run.
The Rays are 3-3 on a 10-game trip and will send left-hander Jacob Lopez (0-0, 8.44 ERA) to the mound to start Sunday’s contest.
Lopez last pitched in the majors on May 5, allowing one run and two walks in 1 1/3 innings of a no-decision vs. the New York Mets. Lopez, who has yet to face the Dodgers in his career, was 4-6 with a 4.08 ERA in 17 appearances (15 starts) with Triple-A Durham.
Lopez could give way to right-hander Shane Baz (1-2, 3.48) later on Sunday afternoon. Baz’s lone win of the season came in his eighth start Tuesday when he held the Oakland Athletics scoreless on three hits over 7 2/3 innings in a 1-0 victory.
“It felt good,” said Baz, who is returning from Tommy John surgery this season. “I felt that I attacked well. Got ahead of a lot of guys, and that always helps. It felt good, glad I could put us in a chance to win and that we pulled it out.”
Baz would face the Dodgers for the first time in his career.
–Field Level Media