SAN FRANCISCO –– Shohei Ohtani saved his on-base streak with an infield single in the seventh inning on Tuesday night.
But in the Dodgers’ 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, it wasn’t enough to spur a late comeback.
By the time Ohtani came up for his final at-bat in Tuesday’s series-opener at Oracle Park, it had been a long night for both himself and his team.
The Dodgers had fallen behind early with a comedy of errors in a three-run first inning. They had barely threatened offensively outside of a four-walk rally in the fourth.
Ohtani himself was hitless at that point, having struck out his first two times up before hitting a harmless flyout in the fifth inning.
But then, for a fleeting moment, he gave the club some late life.
After Alex Freeland had drawn a two-out walk in the at-bat before him, Ohtani thought he had done the same against Giants left-hander Erik Miller, taking a 3-1 pitch for what he believed was ball four.
The home plate umpire, however, called the pitch a strike. Ohtani’s ABS challenge confirmed that the ball had clipped the edge of the zone.
So, the four-time MVP dug back in, chopped a high fastball toward shortstop, then used his legs to make some club history –– beating out the throw to run his on-base streak to 53 games dating back to last year.
With that, Ohtani tied Shawn Green for the longest on-base streak in the Dodgers’ Los Angeles history (Green reached safely in 53 consecutive games during the 2000 season). He also moved five back of Duke Snider for the franchise’s all-time mark (which Snider set back in Brooklyn in 1954).
Suddenly, the Dodgers also had the tying runs on base with a chance to mount a rally.
But, in what was a recurring theme during Wednesday’s defeat, they couldn’t make it count.
Instead, Kyle Tucker struck out to extinguish that threat. The Dodgers would leave another runner stranded at second in the eighth. And overall, they finished a three-hit, seven-walk night with eight baserunners squandered and an 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Ohtani’s historic moment would have to come in defeat.
What it means
Yet again, the Dodgers didn’t have to worry about their opening at closer in the wake of Edwin Díaz’s injury.
After blowing out the Rockies in their first game without their $69 million offseason signing, Tuesday’s loss also came without a save opportunity.
Despite that, the team’s ninth-inning plans remained a topic of conversation prior to first pitch.
Manager Dave Roberts reiterated that the club will go closer-by-committee for now, with several relievers in the mix for save opportunities. But when he was pressed on who he thinks will get the most, Roberts finally relented.
“I would say probably Tanner Scott, if I had to guess,” he said.
That might send a shiver down some Dodger fans’ spines, after Scott converted only 23 of 33 save opportunities as the club’s primary closer last year.
However, the left-hander has gotten off to a better start this year, lowering his ERA to 0.93 on Tuesday by pitching a scoreless inning in the eighth.
Who’s hot
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who responded to the three-run first inning with some of his most dominant pitching this season.
After the Giants took their 3-0 lead –– we’ll get to how they did so in a minute –– Yamamoto didn’t allow another run in a seven-inning, 101-pitch outing. He finished with seven strikeouts, including three in a row to punctuate his night in the seventh. He retired 19 of his final 22 batters, leaving his ERA at 2.48 through five starts this year.
Who’s not
The Dodgers’ defense, especially in Tuesday’s first inning.
The three-run frame started with an error from shortstop Hyeseong Kim, who airmailed a throw into the dugout to put Yamamoto under immediate stress.
It got worse when, with the bases loaded and one run already across the plate four batters later, Alex Call and Teoscar Hernández collided in left-center field on what should’ve been a routine flyout. While Call held on to make the catch, he was knocked to the ground and had no chance to hold the runner at third, resulting in a sacrifice fly.
After that, Kyle Tucker couldn’t get to a flare that dropped in front of him in shallow right field, giving Jung Hoo Lee an RBI single that made it 3-0.
Granted, Yamamoto also suffered from poor command in the inning. But when he needed help from his defense, it couldn’t bail him out.
Up next
Shohei Ohtani (2-0, 0.50 ERA) will take the mound for the Dodgers as they continue their series against the Giants on Wednesday. And this time, he will be back in the batting order as designated hitter –– though Roberts took a long pause before confirming that in his pregame address Tuesday.
Roberts said the team will still look for opportunities where they have Ohtani only pitch on his start days, as they did last week while he was nursing a shoulder bruise.”It takes a little bit of a toll,” Roberts said of the days Ohtani plays both ways. “He certainly has managed it really well, but if it makes sense, I’ll have that conversation with him.”
For Wednesday, however, Roberts said he felt good with Ohtani hitting and pitching, even with a day game looming on Thursday.
