Shohei Ohtani homered for the second time in as many games before exiting due to left knee inflammation in the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers’ 8-6 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday.
Santiago Espinal came on as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning in place of Ohtani, who had two hits and reached base four times as Los Angeles’ designated hitter.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said postgame that he wasn’t concerned about Ohtani, who could be back in the lineup as soon as Friday for a road game against the Chicago White Sox.
Also, Dodgers starting pitcher Justin Wrobleski took a comebacker off his leg and collided with Bryan Reynolds on the latter’s infield single in the fifth inning. Wrobleski left the game after that play with what the team called a right hamstring contusion. Roberts later said of Wrobeski, “He’s fine.”
Los Angeles’ Kyle Tucker ripped a two-run single, Miguel Rojas drove in two runs and Andy Pages and Dalton Rushing each scored on a wild pitch.
Reliever Jack Dreyer (3-1) struck out two batters in one scoreless inning for the Dodgers, who won twice in the three-game series.
Pittsburgh rookie Rafael Flores Jr. hit his first career homer and joined Jake Mangum with an RBI double apiece in the eighth inning, trimming Los Angeles’ lead to 8-6.
Tanner Scott induced Brandon Lowe to fly out to end the eighth inning, then struck out the side in the ninth to secure his seventh save.
Lowe earlier had a two-run shot, his team-leading 16th homer, as the Pirates lost for the fifth time in six games.
Ohtani opened the scoring in the third inning, depositing a 3-2 sweeper from Mitch Keller (5-4) over the wall in right-center field. The homer was the 13th of the season for Ohtani, who launched a two-run shot in the Dodgers’ 9-8 loss to the Pirates on Wednesday.
Later in the third, Tucker’s bloop single to left field plated a pair. Los Angeles tacked on two more runs in the fourth, courtesy of Freddie Freeman’s RBI single and Pages scoring on a wild pitch.
Keller permitted five runs on seven hits in four innings. He has yielded 18 runs on 24 hits in 12 2/3 innings over his past three games.
Flores sent a 1-1 slider from Wrobleski over the center field wall in the fifth. Lowe stepped up three batters later and crushed a 2-2 slider over the fence in right field to trim Los Angeles’ advantage to 5-3.
The Pirates pulled closer on Spencer Horwitz’s RBI single later in the fifth.
The Dodgers added a pair of runs in the seventh. Alex Call raced home on contact on a fielder’s-choice grounder, and Rushing scored on a wild pitch.
–Field Level Media
