Shohei Ohtani homers twice in Dodgers win over

DENVER — Shohei Ohtani paused to admire the flight of his no-doubt home run as it sailed to right-center discipline.

Clearly on a home-run trajectory, it was headed toward the customer’s bullpen. From among the trees, Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s glove shot up and secured the ball.

As Ohtani circled the bases, the bullpen turned into a mosh pit around Hurt.

In what has been a brutal August for the Dodgers, the vibes have been undeniably high.

Maybe all the Dodgers needed was a journey to the Mile High City.

En route to an 11-5 win over the Rockies, Ohtani’s two-run blast in the sixth inning — his second homer of the sport — widened the Dodgers’ lead to eight runs, a comfy lead even at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

“Consistency is key, but today I think we should [come] away with a lot of big confidence,” said Ohtani, through interpreter Will Ireton, after his four-hit efficiency. “Doing this every day is what matters, but I think this is a big game for us.”

Even with Monday’s win, the Dodgers have a 6-10 report in August. And they entered Monday with a paltry .672 OPS, on tempo for their worst offensive month of the season. For comparability, it posted a .710 OPS in July — its worst full month.

There are lots of asterisks to put on Monday’s victory. The altitude in Denver elevates any offense. And the Rockies have the worst report (50-75) in the National League.

Maybe what the Dodgers (75-51) needed most — after dropping three of 4 to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium and handing over the season collection (and tiebreaker if it comes down to that) — was a lighter collection to loosen them up.

“I think it kind of gets to what makes you good as an offense,” supervisor Dave Roberts said, “and that’s what makes us good: earning pitches, winning counts, spoiling pitches, those kinds of things.”

It was already working by the second inning when Max Muncy scored from first on Mookie Betts’ double into the left-center hole of the expansive Coors Field outfield.

The next inning, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages singled one after another for a second run.

Then Muncy, after falling behind 0-2 and then working an eight-pitch at-bat, demolished a sinker that Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano left over the middle of the plate, giving it a trip to the second deck in right-center.

“That’s who we are,” Roberts said. “That’s what we’ve been searching for for quite some time. And today, I thought the at-bat that really kind of encapsulates who we are is the Muncy at-bat.”

It was Muncy’s third home run in 5 video games, and they’ve all been momentum-swingers. His pinch-hit home run Thursday gave the Dodgers the lead over the Brewers — before Edwin Díaz’s blown save. On Sunday, his solo shot quickly tied the rating before the Dodgers’ loss.

On Monday, his three-run blast put the Dodgers up 5-0 in the third.

Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who held the Rockies to one run and two hits in six innings, dominated the first two innings. Even with the altitude affecting the form of his pitches, he was getting whiffs on his curveball. And he paired it with his four-seamer (and threw just one changeup) to retire six straight batters.

Then in the third, he quickly misplaced command. Snell walked three straight, throwing 21 pitches. Snell received Rockies leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy to ground into a fielder’s selection, but it pushed a run across. But Snell prevented additional harm by inducing Jordan Beck to fly out and Cole Carrigg to strike out.

He threw three straight curveballs to Carrigg, bouncing the first and last in the dust, and Carrigg swung at all three.

Getting back on observe, Snell navigated around a pair of singles in the fourth inning, before retiring the Rockies in order in the fifth and sixth.

“Certainly altitude kind of can play tricks on your stuff,” Roberts said. “But if there’s conviction behind your throw, you can still get major-league hitters out. And he proved that tonight.”

Meanwhile, the Dodgers added two more insurance coverage runs in the fifth with a solo homer from Ohtani, a double from Pages and a couple of defensive bobbles by the Rockies.

Ohtani’s two-run homer in the next inning, adopted soon after by an RBI single from Pages, made the Dodgers’ lead insurmountable.

The Rockies received one back in the seventh, with some help from Dodgers proper fielder Kyle Tucker, who dropped a flyball. Then in the eighth, the Dodgers took benefit of an error by Carrigg in heart discipline that allowed Ohtani to advance to second. Freeman drove him in with a double.

With an 11-2 lead, the Dodgers despatched Díaz, who hadn’t pitched since Friday, to the mound for the ninth. Still working through supply issues, he gave up 4 hits, three runs and hit a batter.

“Obviously the results weren’t good,” Roberts said. “But I still think that him getting out there, pitching major-league innings, is going to help him. So yeah, we’re still working through some things.”

Ohtani scheduled to throw

Ohtani said he’ll throw a bullpen session Tuesday, “assuming everything feels good.” It might be his third bullpen since receiving an Orthovisc injection in his left knee at the start of the All-Star break to lubricate the joint, but his second since restarting his throwing program. He last threw Friday, in a 34-pitch session.

“It’s nice to feel the progress on the pitching side,” Ohtani said. “And it just feels better, just going into the game as a hitter, less to focus, less to worry about.”

He said the hope is that he has gotten through the worst of his knee downside and gained’t have any more setbacks.

“That’s the reason why we’ve been pretty careful in the rehab process,” he said, “and that’s the ideal outcome, to make sure that I come back as soon as possible.”