Shohei Ohtani hit a home run to tie the game in the ninth inning, and Mookie Betts followed with a walk-off homer, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers come back to win 6-5 against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. This victory keeps the Dodgers three games ahead in the National League West.
Ohtani had four hits and stole two bases, bringing his season totals to 53 home runs and 55 steals.
As the Dodgers started the ninth inning down by one run, Ohtani connected with Seth Halvorsen’s fourth pitch, an 89-mph split-finger, sending it over the right-center field wall.
“To start that ninth inning with Shohei continuing to do what he does, he just doesn’t seem human right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I really haven’t seen a player as locked like Shohei is for as long as he’s been in quite some time.”
Betts then hit a walk-off home run to left field on a 101-mph sinker from Halvorsen (2-1), marking his 19th home run of the season.
“It was huge, especially when you’re looking at the scoreboard and you see San Diego won,” Betts said. “I didn’t mean to look at it, but they won and we needed to win a game there. Shohei starts it off with a homer there to give us some energy and fortunately I was able to put a good swing on it.”
Halvorsen, a rookie in his 10th game, had just earned his first career save the day before.
“You never want to expect the outcome of a pitch,” Halvorsen said when asked about facing Ohtani as the tying run in the ninth. “You want to focus on the process and focus on executing a pitch.”
Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, aiming to secure a place in the Dodgers’ playoff rotation, gave up four runs on five hits over three innings, along with three walks.
Yamamoto is likely to be the No. 2 starter in the upcoming playoffs for Los Angeles, returning from a three-month injury absence.
Teoscar Hernández and Kiké Hernández also hit home runs for the Dodgers, while the five pitchers for Los Angeles combined for a season-high 17 strikeouts. Blake Treinen (7-3) struck out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning.
