The Los Angeles Dodgers fell to the San Francisco Giants 6-2 on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium, matching their season-worst losing streak at four games. Shohei Ohtani, batting leadoff as the designated hitter, snapped a 12-game, 53-plate-appearance drought with his seventh home run of the season, going 2-for-4 with an RBI. However, the Dodgers’ losing slide continued.
Ohtani opened the game with a single in the first inning, poking a low changeup to right field. He later scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by Will Smith. In the third inning, with the score tied 1-1, Ohtani crushed a 93.9 mph sinker into the left-center field seats for his seventh homer, his first since April 25. After rounding first and watching the ball land, he looked up to the sky with relief. His teammates celebrated with a sunflower seed shower in the dugout.
Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled, allowing a career-worst three home runs and five earned runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings, dropping to 3-3. After a scoreless first two innings, he surrendered a solo homer to Brett Auerbach (No. 9 hitter) in the third to tie the game. In the fifth, with a 2-1 lead, he gave up a solo shot to Mauricio Dubón (No. 8) and then another to Auerbach on the very next pitch, a two-out, back-to-back homer that put the Giants ahead for good.
The Dodgers, who had recently fallen to second place after a three-game losing streak, could not salvage the series. Roki Sasaki started the previous game and allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings without a decision. Yamamoto’s outing marked the third consecutive game in which a Japanese pitcher started for the Dodgers against the same opponent. Ohtani is scheduled to take the mound the following day.