52-29<\/a>) had a one-run lead thanks to Mookie Betts\u2019 solo homer off Twins ace Joe Ryan in the top half of the inning. The 300th home run of Betts\u2019 career was part of a three-hit day for the shortstop, who was a triple shy of the cycle.<\/p>\nOhtani then gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced in the bottom of the second. And Ryan Kreidler stepped up to the plate.<\/p>\n
Two consecutive pitch calls put the battery on separate pages for the first pitch of the at-bat.<\/p>\n
\u201cRush thought that he was getting an offspeed because I started moving after the first pitch was called,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cBut what I had in mind was the second pitch \u2026 which was a fastball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rushing didn\u2019t have enough time to react, as the fastball zipped to the inside edge of the plate, off the end of Rushing\u2019s mitt, and out of play. The Twins\u2019 first run crossed the plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cShohei and I talked about it,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cIt was an error on my side. I messed it up. It was my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pitching coach Mark Prior walked out to the mound to huddle with Ohtani and Rushing.<\/p>\n
Two pitches later, Ohtani\u2019s sweeper clipped the bottom of the strike zone but was called a ball. Ohtani, who had held back from challenging a call earlier in the game, adamantly tapped the top of his hat before Rushing could motion that he thought the pitch was low.<\/p>\n
Ohtani, again taking matters into his own hands, was right \u2014 by 0.3 inches, according to Statcast.<\/p>\n
![\"Mookie](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782366135_993_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Mookie Betts celebrates his 300th career home run as he runs the bases Wednesday.<\/p>\n
(Matt Krohn \/ AP)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s really two factors,\u201d Ohtani said of how he weighs challenging versus leaving the decision to the catcher. \u201cThe first one is confidence level, how confident I feel that I can overturn a call. But I think most importantly, it\u2019s situational. Regardless if I get it right or wrong, what matters is flipping the result and whether that has an impact with the game or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
The successful challenge gave Ohtani count advantage. But he gave up a two-run single to Kreidler, before striking out Trevor Larnach to end the inning.<\/p>\n
It was a good thing Ohtani, who went 2-for-5 on Wednesday, had lobbied to hit and pitch. Dodgers No. 9 hitter Alex Freeland led off the third with a double. Then Ohtani sent a ground ball up the middle to cut the Twins\u2019 lead to one run.<\/p>\n
That was the first run of a three-run rally for the Dodgers. Max Muncy later drove in Ohtani, and Alex Call contributed a sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers a lead again.<\/p>\n
As the top of the third played out, Dodgers veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman, Prior and Roberts all sat down with Rushing for conversations in the dugout.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all I was trying to do, was just keep him focused on not letting his emotions get the best of him, whether it be at bat or, Shohei\u2019s trying to figure some things out,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cJust not losing sight of his job, and that\u2019s to serve. He understood it. But he\u2019s an emotional guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Said Rushing: \u201cThey always have my back. Once again, it\u2019s embarrassing that I need support like that. I\u2019m a grown man. It\u2019s a pretty tough pill to swallow, both sides of the ball. Not a great showing. It hasn\u2019t been great as of late. I\u2019m going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rushing was back behind the plate in the bottom half of the third. And Ohtani, in full control of the game plan, sailed through the rest of his outing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an ideal world, where I want to be is, for both of us to pitch in and really be able to shine,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cBecause we have very different talents. But ideally that\u2019s the goal I want to go towards.\u201d<\/p>\n
They may get another shot at it next week, with starting catcher Will Smith still on the IL with a neck injury. Roberts confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the team still had no plans to have Smith join them on the three-city trip.<\/p>\n
\u201cDalton\u2019s our starting catcher,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MINNEAPOLIS\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Shohei Ohtani was done trying to make the back-and-forth work. He and catcher Dalton Rushing had struggled to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[2229,5,91495,10900,91494,39,18401,31017,1987,1455,822,60,3190,4,1526,6086,3215,468,10718,148],"class_list":["post-734947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-twins","tag-ball","tag-baseball","tag-cross-up","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-different-pitch","tag-dodgers","tag-duel","tag-first-pitch-fastball","tag-inning","tag-joe-ryan","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-minnesotatwins","tag-mlb","tag-mookie-betts","tag-part","tag-run","tag-shohei-ohtani","tag-single","tag-twins"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116809154348288572","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}