Shohei Ohtani slammed his fourth home run in three games, and the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a 6-3 victory against the Miami Marlins on Monday night, marking Walker Buehler’s first major league start in nearly two years.
Ohtani became the season’s first player to hit 11 homers when he smashed a fastball from Roddery Muñoz (1-1), sending it soaring 441 feet into the center-field netting for a two-run shot in the opening inning, tying the score at 2-2.
This marks the eighth time Ohtani has homered in three consecutive games and the fourth time he’s hit four homers in a three-game stretch in his career.
“All the balls that he’s driving are in his nitro zone. If they don’t throw it there, he takes his base. And if they do, he’s ready to fire,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted. “So, he’s getting hits, he’s driving in runs, and now he’s slugging. It’s a result of controlling the strike zone.”
Just two pitches after Ohtani’s homer, Freddie Freeman hit a solo shot to left-center, marking the Dodgers’ first back-to-back homers this season.
“I’m just glad we got the lead back. You want to be able to do that as an offense, fight back and let Walker breathe a little bit in his first start back,” Freeman remarked. James Outman and Teoscar Hernández also hit home runs as the Dodgers clinched their fourth consecutive win.
Nick Gordon homered for the Marlins, who lost for the third time in four games during their West Coast trip. Buehler pitched four innings, conceding three runs and six hits, with four strikeouts. He threw 77 pitches, 49 for strikes.
This was Buehler’s first MLB start since June 10, 2022. The two-time All-Star underwent his second Tommy John surgery in August that year. He had a record of 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in six minor league starts this season, mostly at Triple-A Oklahoma City. Before the game, Roberts had mentioned that the right-hander’s pitch count would be anywhere from 80 to 85.
“I was kind of tiring myself out the first couple innings before I settled in there,” Buehler reflected. “I wish it would have gone better and thrown five or six shutout innings, but it’s done and I’m glad to be back.”
Ryan Yarbrough (3-1) followed Buehler with three innings of one-hit ball, and Alex Vesia secured the ninth inning for his first save.
Buehler displayed some early nerves as the first two batters reached base, and the Marlins scored twice in the first inning on RBI singles by Bryan De La Cruz and Jesús Sánchez. Nick Gordon’s leadoff homer in the second inning tied it 3-all before Buehler settled down.
