Angels right fielder Jo Adell threw up his hands to signal that he thought the play should be called dead. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe pointed up the right-field line in dismay.
The netting extending from the right-field foul pole at Angel Stadium betrayed the home team on Saturday, resulting in Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani’s little-league home run. .
“That’s something Shohei would do,” shortstop Mookie Betts said with a chuckle after the Dodgers’ 15-2 rout of the Angels. “Not a lot of people can do stuff like that and be fast enough to get around the bases. But he can.”
The Dodgers’ scoring plays ran the gamut from bases-loaded walks, to Betts’ solo homer. But Ohtani’s eight-inning trip around the bases — scored as a triple and a throwing error — was the wackiest.
“What it shows is, his effort level going around there for the double initially, and to continue to go,” manager Dave Roberts said. “For me that was the most telling. I think the bat speed was good, swings were good. But then the hustle — there’s just more in the tank right now.”
The hit in question shone the spotlight on a specific detail in the universal ground rules.
Ohtani’s long line drive landed down the right-field line in fair territory, bounced into the netting on the foul side of the pole and slid back onto the ground, rolling away from Adell. That gave Ohtani enough time to get to third. And then he turned the burners back on when the throw got past the cut-off man.
The universal ground rules state: “A live ball (batted, thrown or otherwise) striking any screen or protective netting set on the field facing a wall or railing (e.g., a backstop or protective netting along the first or third base lines) and rebounding onto the field is live and in play,” according to mlb.com.
Two runs scored before Ohtani crossed the plate.
“As he hit it, I was off,” said Alex Call, who scored from first. “That’s all I could see. Then when I came around to score, I turned around and Shohei was coming home and I’m like, ‘What happened?’ I didn’t find out until later.”
“MVP” chants broke out from the fans clad in blue at sold-out Angel Stadium.
They let out a roar shortly after, when Betts launched his homer to left.
It had taken the Dodgers offense a while to warm up.
In fact, Will Smith’s first-inning sacrifice fly scored the only run for either team through the first five innings, as the starting pitchers — Dodgers lefty Justin Wrobleski and Angles right-hander José Soriano — dueled.
Though the Dodgers scored first, Soriano had avoided traffic on the bases more effectively than Wrobleski. That is, until Soriano lost command in the sixth.
“We really stuck to our approach there,” Betts said. “Nobody was trying to be the hero. That guy is not someone you come in and slug him off the mound. You have to take your hits when you get them. After that, if he’s throwing balls you have to do a good job of taking it.
With one out in the sixth inning, Betts got the Dodgers’ rally started by drawing a five-pitch walk. Freddie Freeman followed suit and Smith wore a curveball to load the bases.
Soriano, who had only allowed one hit, didn’t regain his footing. He walked in two runs before being lifted. And then his replacement, Angels reliever Chase Silseth, hit Teoscar Hernández to bring in a third run for the Dodgers before they logged a hit in the inning.
Call, the eighth Dodgers hitter to step up to the plate in the sixth, finally delivered the only knock of the rally, a two-run single on a ground ball through the left side of the infield.
After a four-run eighth inning, the Dodgers continued the barrage in the ninth, scoring on pitcher Alek Manoah’s errant throw that past second base, Hernández’ sharp single up the third-base line and Ohtani’s bases-clearing double into the right-field corner.
That earned more “MVP” chants.
The Dodgers, one day removed from scratching left-hander Blake Snell and pivoting to a bullpen game on Friday, needed Wrobleski to give their relievers a breather.
He covered all but the final three innings, limiting the Angels to two runs. The bullpen combined for three scoreless innings.
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