Shohei Ohtani hit the night’s first home run. Max Muncy belted the one with the most historical significance.
But, on a warm summer night at Chavez Ravine on Tuesday, it was the Seattle Mariners who best took advantage of the hitter-friendly conditions, racking up five home runs of their own in a 7-6 win over the Dodgers.
A first-pitch temperature of just 77 degrees belied the sultry feel that surrounded Tuesday’s slugfest, when the ball was carrying from the start behind a light breeze to straightaway center.
At first, the Dodgers capitalized, with Ohtani opening the scoring with a leadoff home run in the first that snapped a nine-game long-ball drought.
After the Mariners ambushed Justin Wrobleski with three home runs over the next three innings, the Dodgers stormed back in front on Muncy’s solo shot in the fifth –– one that tied him with Eric Karros for the most home runs in Dodger Stadium history.
Up 5-4 at that point, however, the Dodgers failed to hold on.
Wrobleski gave up a career-high fourth home run in the sixth, when Dominic Canzone took him deep to straightaway center field at the end of his six-inning, five-run start.
Then, Canzone came back up in the eighth and delivered the decisive blow against reliever Alex Vesia, uncorking a two-run drive to break the 5-5 tie.
In addition to getting outslugged, the Dodgers were also less clinical in situational opportunities.
They had the bases loaded with no outs in the third, but only scored once on a Freddie Freeman double-play.
They sent eight batters to the plate in a two-run fourth inning, but also left the bases loaded after Kyle Tucker stopped at third on an RBI single from Ohtani –– despite third base coach Dino Ebel trying to wave him home to plate another run.
Then came a failed rally in the ninth, when Dalton Rushing led off with an infield single and Ohtani laced a double in the gap that the Mariners outfield couldn’t cleanly handle –– allowing Rushing to score and Ohtani to reach third with no outs.
Max Muncy later walked and stole second without a throw, putting the tying and winning runs in scoring position. But Mookie Betts grounded out to finish the night with yet another wasted chance.
What it means
The five home runs the Dodgers allowed on Tuesday tied the most they’ve given up this season. And the four that Wrobleski yielded left the young left-hander looking particularly flummoxed, as he was charged with his most runs in a start since May 22.
The first blast off Wrobleski was simple enough: A first-pitch fastball that Raleigh was on time for.
The other were more frustrating: All of them coming in two-strike counts, and two of them on fastballs above the strike zone.
“We didn’t do the greatest job of kind of adjusting to their game plan, and they got me,” Wrobleski said.
“Clearly their plan was to get on the fastball, or get on stuff that was up in the zone,” Roberts echoed. “He didn’t change eye levels enough, and so that’s why he gave up a lot of slug … They were hitting the ball out of the ballpark. So that’s kind of the tale of the run prevention tonight.”
Who’s hot
Since hitting his last home run at Dodger Stadium on May 31, Muncy had had 59 chances to tie Karros’ record during the team’s last three homestands.
A first-half-closing slump prevented it from happening then.
But a second-half-opening surge helped it happen now.
After hitting three home runs on the team’s post-All-Star-break road trip, Muncy finally matched Karros’ all-time Chavez Ravine mark of 130 career long balls by jumping on a hanging slider from Castillo in the fifth.
Muncy now has 21 homers this season, trailing only Shohei Ohtani for most on the team.
While Muncy had to wait a while for his record-tying blast, he reached Karros’ milestone far quicker than the former first baseman did.
Where Karros needed 798 games and 2,879 at-bats to get to 130 career Dodger Stadium homers, Muncy did it in just 516 games and 1,648 at-bats.
With up to 2 ½ more seasons remaining on his contract, Muncy will have plenty of time to distance himself on the leaderboard (assuming Ohtani doesn’t catch him first).
Who’s not
Those worrying that Ohtani’s knee injury was finally beginning to impact his swing.
That had become a question after the two-way star slumped during the team’s road trip, in which he went just 7-for-38 with no home runs.
But then, seemingly refreshed by Monday’s off day, Ohtani rediscovered his swing with a 3-for-4 performance, following up his leadoff blast with an intentional walk in the third, his RBI single in the fourth, and a double in the ninth that nearly keyed a game-saving rally.
“Tonight,” Roberts said, “he looked like himself.”
That didn’t mean, however, that Ohtani’s knee is back to 100%. Instead, the two-way star revealed after the game that he is also battling a bicep issue, one that has become another factor in his continued absence from pitching.
Up next
The Dodgers will look to bounce back on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (5-5, 4.83 ERA) will face right-hander Emerson Hancock (6-4, 3.16 ERA).
