For the 11th consecutive time, Shohei Ohtani was on the losing end of a Freeway Series game.
Friday just happened to be his first defeat in the rivalry wearing Dodger blue.
Despite a mammoth two-run home run from Ohtani that opened the scoring in the fifth inning, the Dodgers couldn’t muster anything else on offense, falling to the Angels 3-2 in 10 innings — a defeat that felt eerily similar to those Ohtani experienced during his six years in Anaheim.
Playing without Mookie Betts (hand fracture) and Will Smith (planned day off) Friday night, the Dodgers’ lineup was entirely Ohtani-reliant. He had two hits, but the rest of the lineup managed only three (including none from Freddie Freeman or Teoscar Hernández).
Even after a third-inning forearm injury to Patrick Sandoval forced the Angels to dip into their bullpen early, the Dodgers barely threatened in the latter half of the game, failing to even put a runner in scoring position until an automatic runner took second in the 10th.
By then, the Angels had erased the two-run deficit, scoring twice off reliever Ryan Yarbrough in the sixth — Yarbrough hit three batters in the inning, including one with the bases loaded — after being shut out by Landon Knack for the first five innings.
In the top of the 10th, they finally took the lead on an RBI single from Taylor Ward, who lined a two-out, two-strike slider from Evan Phillips through the left side of the infield.
Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack delivers in the first inning against the Angels on Friday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers (47-31) had been on a 10-game winning streak against the Angels, a Freeway Series record that dated to 2021.
In each of those games, Ohtani was on the losing side, providing one of the lone bright spots for an Angels club that never made the postseason during his time.
This season, in the first of the 10-year, $700-million contract he signed with the Dodgers last December, Ohtani has been the best player on a team not only cruising toward October, but currently holding the best betting odds in all of MLB to win the World Series.
His 455-foot blast Friday was his National League-leading 22nd of the season, and seventh in his last 11 games (three of those have been 450 feet or more). In addition to his two walks and eighth-inning single, it also helped raise his OPS to 1.026, trailing only Aaron Judge for the major league lead.
But Friday was a reminder the Dodgers — just like the Angels for the last half a dozen years — still need more than just Ohtani on any given night.
Whatever personal revenge he exacted in his first meeting with his former team didn’t matter.
In yet another Freeway Series game, Ohtani was on the losing end again.
