WASHINGTON — Shohei Ohtani strode out of the batter’s box like a man who knew the changeup he’d just mashed was headed to the right-field seats at Nationals Park.
It had taken him 20 at-bats, but with that three-run homer, Ohtani finally had his first extra-base hit of the season.
The Dodgers’ 13-6 win was powered in large part by an overdue offensive surge from the top of the batting order.
Going into the series, Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts combined for a .541 OPS, the worst mark of any National League team’s No. 1-3 hitters. Freddie Freeman, batting fourth against Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas, wasn’t faring all that much better, despite consistent hard contact. He carried a .615 OPS into Friday.
Then came a lesson in small sample sizes. All four homered Friday — Ohtani, Betts and Freeman off Mikolas, and Tucker against left-handed reliever Ken Waldichuk.
Ohtani’s homer started the Dodgers’ scoring spree. Then Tucker singled, and Betts dropped a two-run homer into the visitor’s bullpen.
Two innings later, Betts lined a single into center field right before Freeman homered to the second deck beyond right field. Tucker put the final touches on what became a four-run rally with a bases-loaded single through the right side of the field.
Suddenly — taking advantage of some down-the-middle misses from Mikolas, who had a 7.20 ERA last season with the Cardinals — the top of the Dodgers’ batting order was performing much closer to expectations.
Add in Andy Pages’ second home run of the season, and Teoscar Hernández RBI double, and the Dodgers scored 11 runs against Mikolas in 4 ⅓ innings.
The cushion proved helpful as Dodgers starter Emmet Sheehan gradually settled in.
He gave up consistent hard contact in the first inning, including a three-run homer to CJ Abrams. And Abrams continued to haunt him, adding an RBI single in the third.
Sheehan didn’t allow a run the rest of the way, however, finally handing over the ball two outs into the sixth.
The Nationals made up some ground late in the game, scoring two runs against Dodgers reliever Edgardo Henriquez. But they never truly threatened a comeback.
Fittingly, Ohtani also drove in the Dodgers’ last run, with a sacrifice fly to the warning track in center field in the ninth inning.
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