LOS ANGELES — This was the game the Los Angeles Dodgers eagerly anticipated.
This was the night Shohei Ohtani would put on his Superman cape, pitch a no-hitter, hit four home runs, and carry the Dodgers to the brink of their second consecutive World Series title.
There was no doubt in their mind that Ohtani, even being exhausted after his record-setting performance in their 18-inning game, would put on a show Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Instead, he looked, well, human.
“Every time he steps up I expect great things to happen,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “and maybe unfairly.’
Ohtani pitched six strong innings until he crumbled.
He was not intentionally walked a single time, but never hit the ball out of the infield.
And when Ohtani went down, the Dodgers went down with him, losing 6-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays, evening the World Series at 2-2.
The loss, as painful as it was, might be a catharsis for the Dodgers.
Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen leaned up against his locker, looked around in the quiet of the Dodgers clubhouse, and wondered aloud if their defeat could turn out to be a blessing.
Sure, no one ever wants to lose a game. It’s the World Series.
But Treinen believes this loss could be a wakeup call and what the Dodgers need to supercharge their chances of becoming the first team in 25 years to repeat as World Series.
“I think we’re all so talented here, it’s good to have a game like this,’ Treinen quietly told USA TODAY Sports. “It’d be good to have a game once where everything’s clicking for one. I think we’ve played really good team baseball, but just to have one game where our offense just goes crazy.
“I think our pitching is doing pretty good, even with the six runs today, but we just haven’t had that great all-around great game yet.’
The cold-hearted reality is that the Dodgers’ offense has struggled this postseason ever since their wild-card series against Cincinnati.
The only time they’ve scored more than five runs in their other 12 postseason games, it took them 18 innings to accomplish the feat.
Their pitching has carried them this entire postseason and Shohei Ohtani has camouflaged their flaws.
The Dodgers have scored just 45 runs since the wild-card round, averaging 3.7 runs a game. The Blue Jays, by comparison have scored nearly twice as many runs with 94.
They are hitting just .220 since the NL Division Series, .214 in the World Series, and .183 with runners in scoring position. They managed just six hits Tuesday, with only one for extra bases.
“Not great,’ said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, who produced the lone extra-base hit with a ninth-inning double. “We’re missing on the big opportunities, myself included. I’m one of the big culprits of that. I’ve had some opportunities that I haven’t cashed in.
“We’ve got to get the big hit.’
The only position player who’s having a fabulous postseason for the Dodgers is, well, Ohtani, with his eight homers and 1.182 OPS.
And when he’s not hitting, the Dodgers ain’t winning.
“We haven’t found our rhythm,’ Roberts said. “We haven’t. It sort of draws dead at certain parts of the lineup and different parts, different innings, different games. Guys are competing. Certainly, in the postseason, you’re seeing everyone’s best.
“But, yeah, my hope is we regroup [Wednesday].’
The Dodgers may plan on rolling out a different lineup, trying to shake up the struggling offense.
“I think so,’ Roberts said. “I’m going to think long and hard and it might look a little bit different.’’
The Dodgers still are quite confident. They know they’re the most talented team in baseball. Even if they don’t hit, they can certainly pitch, with co-aces Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled the next two games.
Besides, as Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts kept reminding everyone surrounding his locker, the Blue Jays are in the World Series for a reason. They even won more regular-season games than the Dodgers. So it’s no shame to be tied with them, even though they were hoping to clinch their first World Series title at Dodger Stadium since 1963.
“That’s why we play seven games,’ Betts said. “They’re not in the World Series by luck. They’re a really good ballclub.’
Yet when you rely on Ohtani night after night and he runs out of gas, it’s time for someone else to step up and be the hero.
“I mean, we would love to score 10 every game, but that’s not the case,’ Betts said. “We would love to get going. We just got to play our game.’’
Nobody used sleep deprivation as an excuse for offensive struggles. Sure, no one fell asleep before 1:30 in the morning after their 6 ½-hour, 18-inning game. But neither did anyone on the Blue Jays.
“To be honest, I slept like a baby,’ said Guerrero, who hit a two-run homer off Ohtani in the second inning.
Really, the only person who would have a valid excuse for fatigue would be Ohtani. He reached base a World Series record nine consecutive times Monday, with two doubles and two homers, and stepped on the mound Tuesday as the first player in World Series to be a starting DH and pitcher in the same game.
Yes, Ohtani felt so good, so fresh, when Roberts asked him if he were tired after six innings, Ohtani tried to convince him he could go nine.
“He looked pretty nasty to me,’ Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement said. “We put some good swings on just a couple mistakes. But his stuff is really, really good.’
If Roberts had to do it all over, he would have pulled Ohtani after the sixth, but he had an easy 1-2-3 inning and looked as good as he did all night taking the mound in the seventh down 2-1. It all unraveled when he gave up a leadoff single to Daulton Varsho, a double to Ernie Clement, and then watched from the bench as the Blue Jays exploded for four runs.
“I thought that the sixth inning was one of his best innings,’ Roberts said. “And where he was at, the way the ball was coming out, I felt good. It just kind of happened right there.’
Ohtani, who pitched much better than his linescore – six innings, six hits, four runs one walk and six strikeouts – says he felt in command all night. The Blue Jays just beat him with their best, with Guerrero jumping on his sweeper.
“Looking back in hindsight,’ Ohtani said, “it was just a regrettable pitch, something I wish that I could have taken back. It was just a bad spot, that location.’
He also was angry at himself for not being able to pitch seven innings, particularly with a fatigued bullpen, trying to protect them.
“Whether it’s during the regular season or the postseason,’ Ohtani said, “my goal is to be able to pitch six innings. In this situation, I wanted to go seven, and it was regrettable that I wasn’t able to finish that inning.’’
Really, the biggest surprise may be the way Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber and the bullpen shut him down.
“He’s mortal,’ Roberts said. “There’s also a lot of energy, obviously, on the pitching exerted. But they made good pitches. There were some backdoor cutters, some breaking balls crowding him a little bit, and I thought his intent tonight at the plate was good. But you look back at those at-bats, they made good pitches on him, they really did.’’
The Dodgers play Game 5 on Wednesday and believe they’ll be fine. Their offense can’t remain dormant all postseason. It has to pick up.
And Ohtani predicts it will.
“We’re facing quality arms this time of the year,’ Ohtani said, “against really good teams. And we’re facing the best of the best. So I think it’s not that easy.
“But at the same time, we could do at least the minimum to put some runs.’
Time is running out and as they discovered Tuesday, there are nights that Ohtani simply can’t save them.
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