Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, second from left, hits a two-run home run as Texas Rangers relief pitcher Grant Anderson, left, watches with catcher Jonah Heim, right, and home plate umpire Nick Mahrley during the sixth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, June 11 2024 Los Angeles.
16:07 JST, June 12, 2024
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández and Jason Heyward homered in a seven-run sixth inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers 15-2 on Tuesday night.
Will Smith hit a three-run shot in the first inning, giving the Dodgers a lead they never relinquished in the opener of the interleague series. Their 15 runs were a season high.
James Paxton (6-1) allowed one run and two hits, tying a season-low, in six innings. He struck out two and walked two.
“Seeing four home runs in one inning doesn’t happen often, if ever,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We won a lot of at-bats and pitches.”
Ohtani’s 16th home run of the season traveled 450 feet at 110 mph and was his second hardest-hit shot of the season. It came via reliever Grant Anderson and scored Mookie Betts, who walked. Freeman followed with a shot to left center.
“That’s nice. You always hear it: hitting is contagious,” Freeman said. “As soon as Mookie walked out, Shohei hit the homer, you just want to try to keep it going to start the inning again.”
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a two-run home run during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Los Angeles.
Hernández went deep to left-center for his team-leading 17th homer, which scored Smith, who singled.
“We have good at-bats and that’s why we produce a lot,” Hernández said. “It’s great when you see everyone in a game getting hits. We are having a great time now.”
Heyward’s shot from 450 feet went into the Rangers’ bullpen and scored Andy Pages, who singled to make it 14-1.
The last time the Dodgers homered four times in an inning was September 29, 2021 against the San Diego Padres.
Anderson was hit for seven runs and six hits against zero strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning as the Dodgers rolled around in the sixth.
“These games are no fun,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “This is a strong team. If you stand behind them, they will make you pay for it.”
Betts had a two-out, three-run double in the fourth and Gavin Lux added an RBI single in the fifth.
The Rangers used catcher Andrew Knizner in his second career pitching stint. He allowed a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to Miguel Vargas to score Ohtani, who was hit by a pitch in the seventh.
“I hate using a position player,” Bochy said. “But we had to keep the bullpen in order on the first game of a road trip.”
Ezequiel Duran was responsible for both of the Rangers’ runs. He had a sacrifice fly in the second and homered with two outs in the seventh.
Texas starter Dane Dunning (4-5) gave up six runs on four hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. The Rangers had their 21-game streak of starters giving up three or fewer earned runs or fewer.
