Ohtani’s strong start gives Dodgers 4‑0 win over Giants

LOS ANGELES (Interstat) — The Los Angeles Dodgers salvaged the finale of a three-game series against the San Francisco Giants with a 4-0 victory Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, snapping a two-game losing streak and moving to 25-18 on the season.

Shohei Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings to earn the win and improve to 3-2, striking out five while scattering six hits. The Dodgers’ bullpen combined for three shutout innings, with Tanner Scott and Kyle Hurt each working a scoreless frame. Robbie Ray took the loss for San Francisco, falling to 3-5 after allowing four runs on seven hits over four innings.

The Giants, who had won the first two games of the series by scores of 6-2 and 9-3, fell to 18-25. The Dodgers snapped a two-game skid after being outscored 15-5 in the previous two contests.

The decisive blows came in the third inning when the Dodgers struck for two runs on back-to-back home runs. Third baseman Santiago Espinal led off the inning with his first home run of the season, a fly ball to left-center field. Shortstop Mookie Betts followed with his third homer of the year, also to left-center, giving the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers added two more runs in the fourth. Right fielder Kyle Tucker doubled to left field for his 12th double of the season, and designated hitter Teoscar Hernández singled to right, scoring Tucker. Left fielder Alex Call then lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Hernández to make it 4-0.

Ohtani retired the side in order in the first and second innings before encountering mild trouble in the third. After the home runs, he allowed a two-out walk to Luis Arraez but stranded him. The Giants put two runners on in the fourth when Arraez singled and Heliot Ramos walked, but Ohtani escaped with a strikeout of Rafael Devers and a groundout from Bryce Eldridge.

The Giants’ best scoring chance came in the eighth against Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt. Luis Arraez singled and advanced to second on a fielding error by left fielder Alex Call, but Hurt retired the next two batters to end the inning. In the ninth, Devers hit a one-out ground-rule double, but Hurt struck out Eldridge and got Willy Adames to ground out to end the game.

Tucker finished with two doubles, Hernández had two hits and an RBI, and Espinal and Betts each homered. The Dodgers tallied nine hits, while the Giants managed six. San Francisco struck out 11 times and walked three times.

The game lasted 2 hours, 23 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 48,043.

The Dodgers travel to face the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, while the Giants will head to for a weekend series against the Athletics.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of San Francisco Giants 2, Los Angeles Dodgers 4. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Dodgers a 67.50 percent probability of winning. The Dodgers were installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 4 went over the over-under line of 8.