Shohei Ohtani’s two homers help the Dodgers beat the Braves 5-1
Los Angeles Dodgers #17 Shohei Ohtani (DH) two run home run in the bottom of the first inning at Dodgers Stadium. Photo by Rashad Griffin/TGSportstv1.
LOS ANGELES, CA - Shohei Ohtani went 4 for 4 and delivered two home runs to help the Los Angeles Dodgers (23-13) knock off the Atlanta Braves (20-12) at Dodgers Stadium 5-1 to sweep the three-games-series.
Ohtani's second home run of the game went 464 feet, which is the second longest in the MLB in 2024, behind his former teammate Mike Trout's 473-foot home run. It was also the third-longest homer of Ohtani's career, and third longest at Dodger Stadium since Statcast tracking began in 2015.
"He just keeps doing things that we haven't seen before," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. "That's deep. People don't hit the ball out there [in left-center field]. Whether you're right-handed or left-handed, day game, night game. He really got into that one."
The Dodgers got a strong pitching performance from left-handed pitcher James Paxton (4-0), who went 6.2 innings, giving up five hits, one run, and three strikeouts. For the Braves, Max Fried went 7.0 innings and gave up four hits, four runs, and had seven strikeouts.
Shohei Ohtani got the Dodgers going in the bottom of the first inning after Mookie Betts got on base, he hit a two-run home run over the center-field wall against Fried, who was holding on to 15 innings without giving up a run to give them a 2-0 lead.
"Playing against a really good team, with us being able to pitch well against a really good offensive team," Ohtani said, "was really important for us."
The Dodgers increased their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning with a two-run home run by Teoscar Hernandez over center field and Freddie Freeman scored.
The Braves trailed 4-1 in the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run by Marcell Ozuna over the right-center field wall.
The Dodgers went up 5-1 after Ohtani hit his second home run of the game over center field, ending the series against the Braves, and a three-game series against the Miami Marlins starting on Monday.