It’s not often that you see a guy go 1-for-1 with a walk, a hit, a run scored, and a RBI, in the first inning. Then again, it is international superstar and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Shohei Ohtani that we’re talking about here.
This is exactly what the 30-year-old Oshu, Japan native did in the bottom of the first inning against the NL West last place Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, this after Dodgers right-hander Bobby Miller surrendered a two-out RBI double to his former teammate Kyle Farmer in the top half of the inning.
No problem.
The Dodgers designated hitter led off the bottom of the inning with a mammoth 448-foot home run into the Left Field Pavilion to tie the game 1-1.
(SportsNet LA)
After Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts struck out swinging, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman slugged an equally mammoth 409-foot home run over the wall in right-center field to give his team a 2-1 lead.
(SportsNet LA)
This was followed by a fly out to second by Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández for the second out of the inning. This was followed by an infield single by Dodgers left fielder Michael Conforto to the aforementioned Farmer, which was followed by a hit-by-pitch of Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman, which was followed by a huge six-pitch walk of struggling Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy to load the bases for (very) struggling Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages. But on Márquez’s first pitch to Pages, he promptly stroked it to left field for a two-run single to make it 4-1 Dodgers.
(SportsNet LA)
This was followed by a two-run double to left by Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes to make it 6-1. This was followed by an RBI single to right by (wait for it…) Shohei Ohtani to make it 7-1. This was followed by a five-pitch walk of Betts, which was followed by a ground out to short by Freeman to finally (and mercifully) end the inning.
No problem, right?
Wrong.
The Rockies added five in the top of the third to make it 7-6 Dodgers and bringing an end to Miller’s night. Fortunately, following a one-out single to right by Muncy (who took second on a wild pitch by Rockies left-hander Luis Peralta), suddenly smoking hot Pages lined a single to left scoring Muncy to make it 8-6 Dodgers.
No problem, right?
Wrong.
Following a one-out double to right by Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon, that Farmer fellow grounded out to Edman, scoring McMahon from second to make it 8-7 Dodgers.
No problem, right?
Right.
Dodgers right-hander Alex Vesia pitched a scoreless eighth and left-hander Tanner Scott a scoreless ninth to complete the three-game sweep of the Rockies to keep the Dodgers in third place in the NL West (by .022 percentage points) following wins by the first-place San Diego Padres and second-place San Francisco Giants.
Yes, it’s still (very) early, but it’s looking like it’s going to be an interesting season for the defending World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Play Ball!
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