May 29, 2024; New York, New York, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers design hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a two-rum home run in the eighth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field.
10:36 JST, May 30, 2024
NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani homered and drove in three runs, Will Smith went deep twice and the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the frustrated New York Mets with a 10-3 victory on Wednesday.
Smith’s second homer was a tiebreaking solo shot off Adam Ottavino (1-2) to start a six-run eighth inning capped by Ohtani’s two-run drive. Miguel Vargas hit a two-run double, and Miguel Rojas bounced an RBI single over a drawn infield during the final meltdown by a terrible Mets bullpen.
Jason Heyward had a pinch-hit triple in the eighth and added a solo homer in the ninth. Rojas tied a career high with four of 16 hits in Los Angeles.
Ohtani also had an RBI single. He started the day with a 7-for-37 (.189) slide since his previous home run on May 17 against Cincinnati.
Ohtani’s 14th home run of the season came off reliever Jorge López, who was ejected moments later for yelling at third base umpire Ramon De Jesus over an appeal ruling on Freddie Freeman’s controlled swing.
New York (22-33) has lost 10 of 12 and 15 of 19.
Smith also doubled and scored three times as the NL West leaders won all three games at Citi Field after a five-game losing streak. The All-Star catcher has three home runs in the last two games — he connected in the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep.
Blake Treinen (2-0) took the win in a scoreless seventh place.
Los Angeles built a 3-0 lead on Smith’s first homer and RBI singles by Andy Pages and Ohtani. Smith doubled from the fourth inning and scored on Pages’ single.
But undefeated starter James Paxton was retired after throwing 50 pitches in three shutout innings, and New York tied the score in the fifth. No. 9 hitter Tomás Nido launched a two-run homer off Elieser Hernández, who walked Francisco Lindor before scoring on JD Martinez’s double against Michael Grove.
A Dodgers spokesman said there was nothing physically wrong with Paxton, who was often derailed by injuries during his 11-year career.
Mets starter David Peterson allowed three runs (two earned) and seven hits in five innings in his season debut following left hip surgery. Peterson cost himself with an errant pickoff attempt prior to Ohtani’s runscoring single.
