Baseball

Shohei Ohtani Has 3 Doubles, Landon Knack Get 1st Victory as Dodgers Rout Nationals 11-2

AP
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani jogs back to the dugout during the fourth inning of the team’s baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Wednesday in Washington.

The Associated Press

10:59 JST, April 25, 2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — Shohei Ohtani had three doubles to improve his major league-leading batting average to .371, rookie Landon Knack got his first victory and the Los Angeles Dodgers routed the Washington Nationals 11-2 on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers had a season-high 20 hits en route to their third straight victory, with Mookie Betts and Will Smith each having four hits and Andy Pages homering.

Nick Senzel homered for Washington. The Nationals didn’t have a baserunner after the second inning.

Ohtani went 3 for 6, hitting RBI doubles in the eighth and ninth innings. He leads the majors in slugging percentage (.695), OPS (1.128), extra-base hits (21) and doubles (14).

A night after ripping a 118.7 mph solo shot in the ninth inning — the hardest-hit home run of his career — Ohtani smashed a 115.6 mph double to right-center in the first inning off Jake Irvin (1-2). Ohtani came around two batters later on Smith’s single.

Betts pushed the lead to 3-0 in the second on a two-run single against a drawn-in infield.

Senzel led off the Nationals’ second with a homer into the bushes in the visiting bullpen in left. Washington then scored again without putting the ball in plan, sandwiching two walks around a hit batsman before Joey Meneses pushed in a run with a walk.

That was all the Nationals managed against Knack (1-1), who lost his debut against Washington last week. Knack retired his last 13 batters and struck out five over six innings.

Max Muncy hit an RBI single in the third and Lux chased Irvin with a two-out, two-run single in the fifth. Irvin allowed six runs on 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings while striking out three.

Pages homered with one out in the eighth off Tanner Rainey, and Betts and Ohtani followed with back-to-back doubles to score another run.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: RHP Blake Treinen (bruised lung) allowed three runs while getting one out Tuesday in his first rehabilitation appearance for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Nationals: Washington placed OF Lane Thomas (sprained left MCL) on the 10-day injured list and recalled INF Trey Lipscomb from Triple-A Rochester. Thomas was injured stealing second base in the fifth inning Monday.

UP NEXT

Los Angeles RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 4.50 ERA) was set to face Washington for the first time Thursday, while the Nationals were scheduled to start LHP MacKenzie Gore (2-1, 3.60) in the finale of the three-game series.