Baseball

Shohei Ohtani Hits Homer in 8th, Smith Homers in 4th Straight At-Bat, Dodgers Top Brewers 5-3

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani bats during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Los Angeles.

11:30 JST, July 7, 2024

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, left, hits a solo home run as Milwaukee Brewers relief pitcher Bryan Hudson, second from left, and catcher William Contreras watch along with home plate umpire Edwin Moscoso during the eighth inning of a baseball game Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani and Miguel Vargas hit solo shots in the eighth inning, Will Smith became the first Los Angeles player to homer in four consecutive at-bats in a decade, and the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-3 on Saturday.

After Christian Yelich went deep to tie the game at 3-all in the top of the eighth, the Dodgers responded with two homers to win their second straight in the matchup of National League division leaders.

Vargas, pinch hitting for Gavin Lux, led off the frame with drive over the wall in left-center off Bryan Hudson (4-1) to give the Dodgers the lead. Two batters later, Ohtani drove a cutter from Hudson 430 feet. It was the superstar’s 28th of the season, which leads the NL and is second in the majors behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who has 32.

Smith, who had his first three-homer game in Friday night’s 8-5 win, hit a two-run shot off Freddy Peralta in the first inning to put the Dodgers up 2-1. The last Dodger to homer in four straight at-bats was Adrián González in 2015.

The Dodgers have gone deep seven times in the first two games of the series.

Rhys Hoskins also homered for the Brewers, who have dropped four of six on their road trip.

Even Phillips (2-0) got the win despite allowing the tying homer to Yelich and Alex Vesia retired the side in the ninth for his fifth save in seven opportunities.

Milwaukee struck first on Willy Adames’ RBI base hit to left before the Dodgers responded with three in the home half of the frame as the first four batters got aboard.

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Will Smith, right, is congratulated by Shohei Ohtani after hitting a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Saturday, July 6, 2024, in Los Angeles.

After Ohtani drew a leadoff walk, Smith connected on a fastball from Peralta and drove it over the wall in right-center. Smith’s 34 extra-base hits lead all big-league catchers and his 15 homers are tied for third.

Freddie Freeman gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead when he scored on Andy Pages’ grounder.

Hopkins, who hit the Brewers’ seventh grand slam of the season Friday night, got Milwaukee within a run in the fourth with a solo shot to left off Dodgers’ starter James Paxton.