Shohei Ohtani Hits 2 Home Runs As Los Angeles Dodgers Outslug New York Yankees

Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers outslugged the Yankees, 8-5. He had two home runs in the win, both off Max Fried. Shohei Ohtani is the best player in baseball. The Dodgers hosted the Yankees in the first game of a series that reprises the 2024 World Series. This is likely the most important series the Yankees will play all season, and that is also the case for the Dodgers.  Unfortunately, this game is scheduled so late in the Eastern time zone, and unfortunately, too, it is on Apple TV, which many fans do not have. 

Lineups For the Dodgers and Yankees

The Los Angeles Dodgers had Shohei Ohtani as the designated hitter, batting leadoff. Teoscar Hernandez was the right fielder batting second. Will Smith was the catcher, batting third. Freddie Freeman was the first baseman, batting fourth. Andy Pages was the center fielder, batting fifth. He moved to left field, Tommy Edman was the second baseman and batted sixth, and he moved to center field.

Kiki Hernandez was the third baseman and batted seventh. Max Muncy batted for him, he stayed in to play third base. Michael Conforto was the left fielder and batted eighth. Hyeseong Kim batted for him and played second base.  Miguel Rojas was the shortstop and batted ninth. 

For the Yankees, Trent Grisham batted first and was the center fielder. Aaron Judge was the right fielder and batted second. Cody Bellinger batted third and was the left fielder. Paul Goldschmidt was the first baseman and batted fourth. Ben Rice was the designated hitter and batted fifth. Anthony Volpe was the shortstop and batted sixth.

Austin Wells was the catcher and batted seventh. Jorbit Vivas played second base and batted eighth. Jasson Dominguez pinch-hit for him, and Pablo Reyes came in to play third base. Oswald Peraza was the third baseman, batting ninth. DJ LeMahieu pinch-hit for him.

The Weather

The weather in Los Angeles was nice. It was in the 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It was also clear, with no chance of precipitation. That will not the case for both Saturday and Sunday, when there is a slight chance of a shower. Oddly, there is a chance of rain in Los Angeles at the end of May.

Game Story

A story of this game was the Yankees invading Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers in this rematch of the 2024 World Series. The Yankees had all of the momentum going into this game if there is such a thing in baseball. The Yankees also have an advantage in this game because their starting pitcher is Fried. He is taking on Tony Gonsolin. The Yankees were 10-1 in games Fried starts, so they must jump on Gosnsolin early and score runs in the first few innings.

A second game story is the game itself. The Yankees and the Dodgers played each other in the 2024 World Series. One nice thing about the balanced schedule is that every team plays every other team in the league twice (once at home and once on the road). The balanced schedule enables such matchups. Judge leads the Yankees in this invasion of Los Angeles.

A third big story in this game was Shohei Ohtani hitting two big home runs. He out-homered Judge two to one. Both home runs by Shohei were off Fried. He gave up three runs in six innings. That was unusual, he had given up two or fewer runs in all of his starts this season. It was Fried’s first loss of the year. In the sixth inning, Shohei Ohtani hit a solo homer off a poorly located sinker. Hernández and Smith followed with consecutive singles. Freeman drove home a run with a clutch double, trimming New York’s advantage to 5-4.

Scoring Summary

In the first inning, Judge hit a solo home run. The Yankees took a 1-0 lead. Also in the first inning, Shohei Ohtani hit a solo home run. That tied the game at 1. It was the first of two home runs for him. Wells hit a solo home run in the second inning. That gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Grisham also hit a two-run home run in this inning. The Yankees took a 4-1 lead.

Also in the second inning, Enrique Hernandez grounded out, and Tommy Edman scored. The Yankees led 4-2. In the third inning, Goldschmidt hit a solo home run for the Yankees. They took a 5-2 lead.

Things fell apart for Fried and the Yankees in the sixth inning. Shohei Ohtani hit a solo home run. Then, Freddie Freeman doubled and T. Hernandez scored. Pages then singled, and Smith scored. Conforto then walked with the bases loaded, and Pages scored. That made it 6-5 Dodgers. Finally, in the seventh inning, Pages singled and both Smith and Freeman scored. That made it 8-5 Dodgers, the final score.

Conclusion

This was an important game for the Yankees to exorcise their demons from the 2024 World Series with the Dodgers. They did not. They had momentum coming into this game, and they benefited from a favorable pitching matchup. Behind the previously indomitable Max Fried, the Yankees had a good chance of winning this game, but Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers hit him hard. Now they will try to take the second game against the Dodgers. Games 2 and 3 are both nationally televised games. The second game is on Fox and the third game is on ESPN.