Shohei Ohtani fell short in his bid to be the first National League Triple Crown winner since 1937, but Chris Taylor’s home run powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Rockies in Denver on Sunday to spoil Charlie Blackmon’s final game.
Ohtani, who led the NL in home runs (54) and RBIs (130), entered Sunday four points behind San Diego’s Luis Arraez for the NL batting crown.
Ohtani finished with a .310 average after going 1-for-4 on Sunday. Arraez went 1-for-3 to all but lock up the title with a .314 average. Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna finished Sunday at .304 and will have a slight chance to win the batting title on Monday, when the Braves and Mets play a doubleheader in Atlanta.
Ohtani also stole his 59th base.
Teoscar Hernandez had two hits, Evan Phillips (5-1) got the win and Edgardo Henriquez picked up his first save for Los Angeles (98-64), which will head to the postseason with the best record in baseball.
Sam Hilliard homered but Colorado (61-101) sent Blackmon into retirement with a loss.
Before the first pitch, Blackmon ran out to center field by himself and stood above the No. 19 carved into the grass in his honor. He was given a standing ovation by the home crowd before the rest of the Rockies joined him for the top of the first.
Blackmon got another standing ovation when he led off the bottom of the first, which ended with a popout. He singled up the middle in the third and was removed from the game to another standing ovation. He stood in front of the Colorado dugout in an emotional farewell to the fans.
Blackmon retires with 1,805 hits in 1,624 games, both second in franchise history to Hall of Famer Todd Helton, and as the leader in triples with 68.
Hilliard’s 10th home run, a 476-foot blast into the second deck in the second inning, gave the Rockies the lead. Starter Ryan Feltner made it stand up through six-plus innings of two-hit ball but Los Angeles rallied in the eighth.
Taylor led off the eighth with his fourth home run off Victor Vodnik (5-4), and Austin Barnes and Ohtani singled. Seth Halvorsen relieved Vodnik, and after a double steal, he balked home Barnes with the go-ahead run.
— Field Level Media
