{"id":781775,"date":"2026-08-18T07:06:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/781775\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:06:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:06:15","slug":"dodgers-offense-breaks-out-behind-shohei-ohtanis-2-hr-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/781775\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ offense breaks out behind Shohei Ohtani’s 2-HR game"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER — Maybe just as encouraging for the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> as their bats finally waking up<\/a> Monday night was the status report on Shohei Ohtani<\/a>‘s knee after his most recent bullpen session.<\/p>\n

“Felt good the next day,” Ohtani said through an interpreter after the Dodgers’ 11-5 win<\/a> over the Colorado Rockies<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ohtani is slated for another bullpen session Tuesday. He hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3 because of irritation in his left knee, but he might be trending in the right direction.<\/p>\n

“That’s the hope, and that’s the reason why we’ve been pretty careful in the rehab process,” said Ohtani, who’s 8-2 on the mound this season with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85 innings. “That’s the ideal outcome — to make sure that I come back as soon as possible.”<\/p>\n

Ohtani and the Dodgers certainly found an easy solution to their recent offensive woes — playing at hitter-friendly Coors Field.<\/p>\n

The designated hitter had a pair of homers — the 25th multihomer game of his career — and Max Muncy<\/a> added a three-run shot to highlight the offensive explosion.<\/p>\n

The 11 runs were the most by Los Angeles since a 12-7 win over San Diego<\/a>on July 2. The Dodgers entered Monday averaging 3.4 runs per game over a stretch when they dropped 11 of 16.<\/p>\n

“Collectively, I liked everything,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s who we are. That’s what we’ve been searching for, for quite some time.”<\/p>\n

Ohtani finished 4-for-5 and has now hit safely in 21 straight games at Coors Field. Over the streak, he has nine homers and 24 RBIs while hitting .413.<\/p>\n

“Just trying to feel good at the plate, just making sure that I’m not too tense,” Ohtani said of his approach in the Mile High City. “Just really making sure that I’m contact-oriented. So, those are the things that I really focus on here at the field.”<\/p>\n

For Roberts, this was vintage Ohtani.<\/p>\n

“Really exceptional in the sense of his pitch selection — his direction to the big part of the field that we talk about a lot,” Roberts said. “When he does that, there’s nobody better on the planet.”<\/p>\n

Freddie Freeman<\/a> (3-for-5 with two doubles), Andy Pages<\/a> (3-for-4 with a double) and Muncy (2-for-4, his 25th homer) also had big nights at the plate.<\/p>\n

It was a tough time for Kyle Tucker<\/a>, who finished 0-for-5, including a groundout while facing outfielder\/infielder Troy Johnston<\/a> in the ninth. Tucker is 0-for-24 over his past seven games. He also had an error in right field.<\/p>\n

“He’s frustrated,” Roberts said. “Certainly, the play in right field, there’s indecision and catching the baseball at your ankles kind of speaks to where his head is at right now.<\/p>\n

“It’s not from a lack of effort, care. It’s just right now, he’s kind of fighting. So, we’ve got to keep supporting him.”<\/p>\n

Reliever Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>allowed three runs in the ninth as he continues to work through some things on the mound.<\/p>\n

“I just hope he doesn’t lose his confidence,” Roberts said. “I believe in him. I think the compete was there.”<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 ESPN Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER — Maybe just as encouraging for the Los Angeles Dodgers as their bats finally waking up Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[96131,5,649,34762,57,4,169,6612,41468],"class_list":["post-781775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-96131","tag-baseball","tag-espn","tag-freeman-freddie","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-mlb","tag-news","tag-ohtani-shohei","tag-tucker-kyle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117115249206945676","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781775","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=781775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}