Spencer Schwellenbach kept Shohei Ohtani from hitting or reaching base, while Gio Urshela and Jorge Soler homered for the Atlanta Braves in their 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on a rainy Friday night.
Ohtani went hitless in four at-bats with two strikeouts, interrupting his chase to become the first player in major league history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season. Schwellenbach (6-7) had Ohtani 0 for 3 before he struck out on a high, 95 mph fastball from Joe Jiménez that was out of the strike zone.
“What he’s doing is incredible,” Schwellenbach said. “If he’s gonna do it, he’s gonna do it. I’m just going out there and trying to get him out.”
Ohtani has 47 homers and 48 stolen bases with 15 games remaining in the regular season.
Schwellenbach, who began the season in the Class A Sally League, allowed two runs on four hits over six solid innings. He rebounded from a poor performance in his previous game, where he gave up 10 hits and six runs (three earned) against Toronto.
“Nothing seems to bother him,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He keeps the game slowed down. It doesn’t seem to speed up on him, which is awesome.”
Atlanta stayed a game behind the Mets for the NL’s final wild-card spot. New York won 11-3 against division-leading Philadelphia.
“We’re in scoreboard-watching territory,” Snitker said. “But we are focused on what we can do. We can only do what we can do.”
The Dodgers, who began the game with a five-game lead over Arizona in the NL West, had a magic number of 11 to secure their 12th division title in the last 13 years.
Los Angeles also started rookie Landon Knack, who did not perform as well as Schwellenbach on a night when showers caused fans to seek cover but didn’t stop the game.
