Baseball

Shohei Ohtani Gets First Victory with Dodgers, Striking out Season-High 9 against Reds

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani works against a Cincinnati Reds batter during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Los Angeles.

The Associated Press

12:54 JST, August 28, 2025

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out a season-high nine in five innings for his first victory for the Dodgers as Los Angeles beat Cincinnati 5-1 on Wednesday night to become the first team to sweep the Reds this season.

The Dodgers won their fourth straight game and extended their NL West lead to two games over San Diego, which lost 4-3 at Seattle.

Ohtani (1-1) bounced back against the Reds in his 11th start of the season and first in which he went the minimum five innings to qualify for a win. The victory was his first since Aug. 9, 2023, with the Angels against San Francisco.

The two-way star allowed one run and two hits while walking two on a season-high 87 pitches, 53 for strikes, while retiring his final eight batters on his bobblehead night. At the plate, he was 1 for 5 with a run.

The Reds led 1-0 on Noelvi Marte’s 410-foot homer on the first pitch by Ohtani in the third. It was the third homer Ohtani has allowed this season.

The Dodgers scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead in the fourth. Kiké Hernández, starting in place of injured Freddie Freeman, had a two-run single up the middle. It was the third straight single allowed by Nick Lodolo (8-7), who retired the first nine batters he faced.

Lodolo intentionally walked Miguel Rojas and Dalton Rushing followed with a two-run single to center. Michael Conforto added a solo shot in the eighth.