Bobby Miller gave up two hits in five strong innings, and the Los Angeles Dodgers managed to win 6-3 against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night, despite Shohei Ohtani going 0-for-5. The Dodgers won two of the three games in this series between two top baseball teams.
Every Dodger except Ohtani had a hit as the team collected 14 hits in total, marking their eighth win in their last 10 games.
Ohtani flied out four times and struck out once, the night after he hit his 42nd home run and stole his 41st and 42nd bases.
The Dodgers finished their nine-game homestand with a 7-2 record against Seattle, Tampa Bay, and Baltimore. They increased their NL West lead to four games after Arizona and San Diego lost, becoming the first team in baseball to win 80 games.
“Playing against teams that are in pennant races we showed well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Guys are understanding this is the time to lock it in and they’re doing so.”
Miller (2-3) gave up three runs, struck out three, and walked three to get his first win since March 29. He has been dealing with a minor knee issue but said there’s “no worries on that.”
Evan Phillips pitched the ninth inning to secure his 17th save.
The Dodgers scored four runs on five hits in the fourth inning, extending their lead to 5-0.
Chris Taylor singled, and Gavin Lux hit a ground-rule double to start the inning. Both scored on Austin Barnes’ RBI double in his first game back from the injured list. Barnes then scored on Mookie Betts’ single. Burch Smith replaced and gave up an RBI single to Miguel Rojas.
“It’s a tough lineup to pitch against, a tough team to punch out,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “There was some soft contact in there that kind of led to a couple runs, but I thought we did a nice job out of the bullpen. We just didn’t have enough offense tonight.”
