Baseball

Shohei Ohtani and James Paxton Lead the Dodgers to a 9-5 Win over the Rockies

AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani follows the flight of his RBI single off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Cal Quantrill in the second inning of a baseball game Monday, June 17, 2024, in Denver.

13:55 JST, June 18, 2024

AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani heads up the first base line after connecting for a double off Colorado Rockies starting pitcher Cal Quantrill in the fourth inning of a baseball game Monday, June 17, 2024, in Denver.

DENVER (AP) — Shohei Ohtani had three hits, James Paxton pitched seven smooth innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-5 on Monday night in the opener of a four-game series between the top and bottom teams in the NL West.

Miguel Rojas and Jason Heyward also had three hits apiece for the first-place Dodgers, who finished with 14. Freddie Freeman walked five times, one shy of a major league record.

Ohtani doubled twice, drove in a run and had his third multi-hit performance in his past four games, a stretch in which he has seven hits in 15 at-bats. The two-time AL MVP entered second in the majors in extra-base hits, tied for fifth in hits and sixth in batting average.

Paxton (7-1) permitted just one run and two hits in his longest outing of the season. He had a season-high eight strikeouts and walked only one.

Los Angeles left 13 runners on base, equaling a season high.

The loss was the Rockies’ sixth in their past eight games and 12th in 16 games in June. During that stretch, they’ve been outscored by a 109-66 margin.

Jacob Stallings, Greg Jones and Hunter Goodman homered for Colorado, which got four runs in the ninth off reliever J.P. Feyereisen. Jones’ home run, which came as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning, was his first career hit.

Cal Quantrill (6-5) gave up seven hits and three earned runs in five innings. The 29-year-old right-hander entered 6-1 with a 1.91 ERA over his previous eight starts.

AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani gestures to the dugout after reaching second base by hitting a double off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Jake Bird in the sixth inning of a baseball game Monday, June 17, 2024, in Denver.

Mookie Betts (fractured left hand) was placed on the 10-day injured list, with manager Dave Roberts saying the 2018 AL MVP will miss roughly six to eight weeks. … Los Angeles recalled OF Miguel Vargas from Triple-A Oklahoma City.