Ohtani inches closer to 50-50 milestone with homer, steal in win
Shohei Ohtani led off with one of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ four home runs in the first inning and Tommy Edman went deep twice in the game as the host Dodgers held off the Chicago Cubs for a 10-8 victory on Wednesday.
Edman, Will Smith and Max Muncy belted home runs in the opening inning, all in succession against left-hander Jordan Wicks, as the first-place Dodgers avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Cubs. Edman hit one home run from each side of the plate.
Ohtani, who also stole a base, has 47 home runs to go along with 48 steals as he closes in on the first 50-50 season in major league history.
The Dodgers (87-59) remained five games up on the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West. Los Angeles moved 5½ games up on the third-place San Diego Padres.
Seiya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger hit home runs for the Cubs. Bellinger’s three-run home run in a four-run fifth inning helped rally Chicago into a 7-7 tie.
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The Cubs (75-71) fell five games behind the New York Mets in the chase for the final NL wild-card spot.
The Cubs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Isaac Paredes hit an RBI single and former Dodger Michael Busch followed with a run-scoring double.
Ohtani’s sixth leadoff homer of the season came on Wicks’ fourth pitch of the game. No. 47 on the year tied him with Bellinger for third on the Dodgers’ single-season homer list, behind only Shawn Green (49 in 2001) and Adrian Beltre (48 in 2004).
Edman hit a two-run shot for a 3-2 lead, and Smith followed with his 18th and Muncy hit his 14th.
Suzuki went deep for the Cubs in the third inning, his 20th, before Ohtani’s two-run single in the bottom of the frame gave the Dodgers a 7-3 lead.
The Cubs tied the game in the fifth inning when Bellinger homered and Pete Crow-Armstrong added an RBI single. It was Bellinger’s 17th of the season and second against his former club in three games.
The Dodgers got a tiebreaking hit from Gavin Lux in the seventh off Shawn Armstrong (3-3).
Edman hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning. Edman has four homers in the past two days after he had none in 19 prior major leagues games this year.
Wicks was charged with seven runs on eight hits over three innings with four walks and two strikeouts.
Dodgers starter Bobby Miller gave up six runs on five hits over 4⅓ innings, with four walks and two strikeouts.
Alex Vesia (3-4) earned the win after throwing one scoreless inning. Michael Kopech recorded his 13th save despite walking three batters and allowing a sacrifice fly by Paredes in the ninth.