Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
The hope was the Dodgers offense would get back on track against the struggling Astros staff, and they did well to make that reality in the first game of the series. However, today it was mostly back to their norm for around a couple weeks now, as the bats were completely shut down and Shohei Ohtani‘s start was left wasted in a 2-1 loss.
======
Sometimes in baseball you’d rather be lucky than good, and Shohei Ohtani arguably had his best control today, but the results were among the worst of his season just because he gave up a run.
After a clean 1st, infamous Dodger killer Christian Walker started the 2nd by bombing the first pitch he saw onto the train tracks for a 1-0 Astros lead.
No one does it like C-Walk.#ChaseTheFight pic.twitter.com/nt6HyAOL4y
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 6, 2026
Ohtani then retired the next four, but then nine-hitter Braden Shewmake swung late and hit a .160 xBA flyball that was gone in only four MLB parks, but one of them was Daikin Park into the Crawford Boxes for another solo homer to put the Astros up 2-0.
Just like we drew it up.#ChaseTheFight x @Honda pic.twitter.com/292DNLnQTM
— Houston Astros (@astros) May 6, 2026
Again, Ohtani responded by retiring the next five in a row, but was then victimized by a bloop single and a seeing-eyed single to put a pair on. He responded by dominating Jose Altuve and making him look foolish to escape that jam.
After a pair of BABIP hits, Ohtani went 101 MPH twice in a row to Altuve, and then got this swing as he tried to cheat on the fastball. pic.twitter.com/pHeu2UX1wd
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 6, 2026
He continued on in the 6th, hitting a batter with a curve with one down, though nothing came of it. He then cruised through the 7th frame, and though it felt like he could’ve gone further, that was the end of an excellent night: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 89 Pitches.
Alex Vesia entered in relief for the 8th and got a 1-2-3 frame to keep the Astros down at least.
——
The trend of him not getting run support continued, as Peter Lambert basically dominated them.
In the 1st, the Dodgers got a one-out double from Freddie Freeman and later a two-out walk, but both were left stranded. Same went for a one-out Andy Pages single and steal in the 2nd, and after a quiet 3rd, they got a Max Muncy walk, Pages single, and Alex Freeland walk to load things up with two outs in the 4th that also resulted in nothing.
Both the 5th and 6th resulted in nothing, and then a one-out single from Freeland in the 7th was erased by a Miguel Rojas double play to complete Lambert’s gem.
With Lambert finally out, Bryan King entered for the 8th and immediately surrendered a double down the line in left to the pinch-hitting Alex Call. It seemed like he might be stranded after the next two made out, but Kyle Tucker yanked a single to right that scored him and cut the deficit to 2-1 Astros.
Tucker singles with two down and the Dodgers don't waste a lead-off double. A miracle. They're within one. pic.twitter.com/XGco58nc5U
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 6, 2026
King continued in the 9th to try for a six-out save, and he got it after allowing just a two-out single.
======
22-14, sigh.
The series concludes tomorrow at the getaway day time of 8:10 AM HT/11:10 AM PT/2:10 PM ET with Tyler Glasnow looking to continue his dominance against the struggling Lance McCullers Jr.
