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LOS ANGELES — A dominant Shohei Ohtani pitched shutout ball for six innings in his first start on the mound this season, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1 on Tuesday night in drizzly conditions.
Ohtani (1-0) allowed only a two-out double to Rhys Hoskins in the fourth. The two-way superstar struck out six and walked three on 87 pitches, 54 for strikes, in his first outing in 150 days since he started Game 7 of the World Series against Toronto.
His Japanese countryman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, won that game in relief as the Dodgers clinched their second consecutive championship.
Max Muncy hit his first home run of the season for Los Angeles. Edwin DÃaz pitched the ninth in a non-save situation and gave up an RBI single to Brayan Rocchio.
Dodgers pitchers retired the leadoff hitter in each of the first eight innings before DÃaz plunked Kyle Manzardo with a pitch to open the ninth.
After dropping the series opener 4-2, the Dodgers needed a win to avoid their first series loss in March since 2018.
Muncy made it 2-0 with a 410-foot solo drive to the right-field pavilion off reliever Kolby Allard in the sixth. Los Angeles added two runs in the eighth on RBI singles by Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages.
Pages' two-out RBI single off starter Tanner Bibee (0-1) in the fourth gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, the first time this season they scored first.
At the plate, Ohtani went 1 for 3 with a strikeout and two walks, extending his on-base streak to 36 games dating to Aug. 24, 2025.
A fresh rosin bag was brought to the mound in the fifth when light rain began falling. Ohtani wiped the damp ball between his pants legs.
The grounds crew was called out to groom the front slope of the mound, specifically Ohtani's landing spot, after he issued his third walk with two outs in the sixth. He used a metal tool to dig dirt lodged in the bottom of his spikes. Ohtani then retired Hoskins with one pitch to end the inning.
Ohtani hit Angel Martinez on his left kneecap with a 96 mph fastball with two outs in the fifth.
Cleveland RHP Gavin Williams (0-1, 5.40 ERA) starts the series finale Wednesday against Yamamoto (1-0, 3.00), the third consecutive Japan-born pitcher to start for the Dodgers in a major league first.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
