Freeman Bails Out a Banged-Up Ohtani as Dodgers Edge Rays
Shohei Ohtani took the mound Wednesday nursing a sore left knee and a blister on his right middle finger, and it showed — he allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits over 6 innings. Freddie Freeman picked up the slack, going 1-for-4 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored to power Los Angeles to a 5-4 win over Tampa Bay.
The story of the night was Ohtani grinding through a compromised start that, on paper, looks like his most vulnerable outing of the season. He struck out 5 and walked just 1, which speaks to his command holding up even when the stuff wasn't sharp — but 7 hits and 4 earned runs in 6 innings is not the Ohtani that Dodgers fans have grown accustomed to watching. This appears to be the second straight start in which he's allowed multiple earned runs, a stretch that would have been hard to imagine earlier this year. The Dodgers won anyway, which says something about the depth of this roster.
Tampa Bay's half of the pitching ledger was its own kind of messy. Shane McClanahan lasted just 3.2 innings, surrendering 2 earned runs while issuing 5 walks — a control problem that looks like it handed Los Angeles at least one or two free baserunners too many. Garrett Cleavinger cleaned things up with a clean inning of relief, but the early damage was done. For the Rays, Yandy Diaz was the offensive standout, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Jonathan Aranda also went 2-for-4, and both Junior Caminero and Richie Palacios each drove in a run. Tampa Bay put together a real fight — 4 runs against a Dodgers staff is not nothing — but they couldn't get the lead.
Alex Call chipped in a 1-for-3 line with an RBI for Los Angeles, and Alex Vesia threw a scoreless inning of relief despite issuing 3 walks — a performance that looks like it was more stressful than the zero on the earned-run line suggests. The Dodgers' ability to win a game where their ace was clearly not at full strength, their closer's setup man was walking batters, and the opposing lineup was generating consistent contact is the kind of thing that separates contenders from pretenders. Whether Ohtani's knee and blister become a longer-term concern is the real question hanging over this result — for now, Freeman and the offense made sure it didn't matter tonight.