Superstar Shohei Ohtani (32)’s performance led the Major League Los Angeles (LA) Dodgers to sweep all three games against the Kansas City Royals.
On Thursday, the Dodgers won 4-2 in a home game against Kansas City in the 2026 Major League at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
The Dodgers, who won all three games, maintained their lead in the National League West division with a season record of 73 wins and 48 losses. This seems to be a turnaround from their recent slump, which included a seven-game losing streak.
The Kansas City team, which has fallen into a four-game losing streak, remained at the bottom of the American League Central division with 49 wins and 73 losses.
The Dodgers, who started Eric Lauer, repeated a pattern of falling behind and catching up.
The Dodgers conceded the first run in the top of the 2nd inning when Josh Rojas hit a timely single with one out and a runner on second base, but immediately tied the score with Mookie Betts’ solo home run in the bottom of the 2nd.
In the top of the 3rd inning, they gave up the lead again when Salvador Perez hit a timely single after a fielding error by Betts with one out.
However, they counterattacked again. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Miguel Rojas hit a double with one out, and the next batter, Ohtani, blasted a go-ahead two-run homer over the left-center field fence.
With this home run, Ohtani recorded his 27th of the season. Ohtani, who had hit 30 or more home runs for five consecutive years from 2021 to last year when he was with his former team, the LA Angels, is now just three home runs away from his sixth consecutive 30-homer season.
The Dodgers widened the gap with Hunter Feduccia’s solo home run in the bottom of the 5th inning.
After that, the mound prevented any chance of a comeback. Lauer pitched until one out in the 7th inning before leaving, and Landon Knack took over the mound.
Knack found himself in a crisis after allowing consecutive hits with two outs in the 7th inning, but managed to get out of it without conceding a run.
He then took responsibility for the 8th and 9th innings, earning a save with 2⅔ innings of scoreless relief. Lauer, who pitched 6⅓ innings allowing 2 runs (1 earned), picked up his 7th win (against 6 losses).