Shohei Ohtani did not allow a hit over six innings on the mound and added a leadoff home run from the batter’s box as the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to five games with a 4-1 victory over the visiting Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

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Ohtani and Will Klein held the Rockies without a hit through seven innings before Tyler Freeman singled to right field with two outs in the eighth against Tanner Scott.

Kyle Hurt finished off the combined one-hitter with a perfect ninth inning to earn his first career save.

Ohtani hit a leadoff home run during his second consecutive pitching start.

Freddie Freeman also went deep in the opening inning before Andy Pages homered in the eighth for Los Angeles, which has won 12 of 14 games overall.

Ohtani (5-2) battled his command, issuing four walks, allowing a run and plunking a batter, but he struck out seven in his 99-pitch outing. His season ERA rose from 0.73 to 0.82.

Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano (4-4) gave up three runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings in a duel of Japanese-born starters. He struck out three and walked one. Colorado scored its lone run in the fourth inning on a groundout by Willi Castro en route to its fifth loss in a row.

After the Ohtani and Freeman home runs gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Rockies halved the deficit in the fourth. The Dodgers countered with a run in their half of the fourth on an RBI single from Alex Call.

The Dodgers made it 4-1 in the eighth on a home run from Pages, his 13th of the season and third in his past four games. Los Angeles hit eight home runs in the final two games of the series while finishing off the three-game sweep.

The Dodgers received a trio of highlight defensive plays. Call made a diving catch in right in the second inning. Second baseman Alex Freeland dived to the first base bag to make a putout in the fourth on Castro’s RBI grounder, and left fielder Hyeseong Kim made a catch up against the railing in foul territory in the seventh.

Kim entered in the third inning as a replacement for Teoscar Hernandez, who departed due to a left hamstring strain.

Tigers overcome pitcher injuries to shut out Angels

Spencer Torkelson had three extra-base hits, including a solo homer, and the Detroit Tigers overcame two more pitching injuries to blank the visiting Los Angeles Angels 4-0 on Wednesday night.

Torkelson blasted his eighth homer while Kevin McGonigle had two hits and scored twice for the Tigers, who won for just the second time in 11 games. Dillon Dingler supplied two hits and one RBI.

Detroit starter Casey Mize departed after the fourth inning due to right groin tightness. Mize was making his third start since returning from an injured-list stint caused by a similar injury. Mize allowed two hits and one walk while striking out six.

Closer Kenley Jansen left with two outs in the ninth due to a right groin injury.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was unsure of the extent of the Mize and Jansen injuries postgame. Detroit already has ace Tarik Skubal and Justin Verlander on the injured list, and Troy Melton just made his season debut on Sunday.

Drew Anderson (2-1) didn’t allow a baserunner while striking out three in three innings after replacing Mize. Kyle Finnegan collected three outs in the eighth. Brenan Hanifee got the final out after Jansen was removed.

Angels starter Jose Soriano (6-4) gave up three runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts over five innings. Los Angeles had its four-game winning streak end.

Mize walked straight into the clubhouse after getting the third out in the fourth.

The Tigers increased their advantage to 3-0 in the fifth. McGonigle and Dingler drew two-out walks, and McGonigle came around to score on Riley Greene’s single. Zach McKinstry then walked to load the bases, but Soriano struck out Torkelson to prevent further damage.

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Detroit made it 4-0 in the seventh. McGonigle smacked a one-out single and Dingler legged out a double to put two runners in scoring position. McGonigle scored on a passed ball by catcher Logan O’Hoppe.

Rob Refsnyder,
Julio Rodriguez
help Mariners pound Athletics

Rob Refsnyder and Julio Rodriguez hit three-run homers and Logan Gilbert pitched six scoreless innings as the Seattle Mariners routed the host Athletics 9-1 Wednesday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif., to move into first place in the American League West for the first time this season.

The reigning AL West champion Mariners swept the three-game series, outscoring the A’s 22-4, to take a half-game lead in the division race.

Gilbert (3-4) allowed five hits, walked two and struck out six.

Seattle’s J.P. Crawford opened the game with an infield single off the glove of A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz. With two outs, Josh Naylor reached on a throwing error by second baseman Jeff McNeil, putting runners at second and third. Refsnyder, who entered the game batting just .113, lined a hanging breaking pitch from Jeffrey Springs (3-6) just over the left-field wall to make it 3-0.

The Mariners added to their lead in the fourth. With two outs, Cole Young grounded a single to right and Jhonny Pereda walked. Rookie Colt Emerson then lined a triple into the right-field corner to make it 5-0.

Seattle tacked on a run in the sixth against reliever Joel Kuhnel after Young lined a one-out single and Pereda walked. Emerson hit a hard grounder to Kurtz, who fired to second to force out Pereda. But shortstop Darell Hernaiz’s throw back to first in an attempt to complete a double play was errant, allowing Young to score.

Rodriguez went deep to left-center with two outs in the eighth off reliever Luis Medina. It came after Young drew a leadoff walk and Emerson lined a one-out single to center. It was Rodriguez’s 10th homer of the season and his eighth in May, matching the most he’s hit in a month in his career.

The A’s scored their lone run in the ninth. Jonah Heim drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a single to right by Henry Bolte. Heim scored as McNeil grounded into a double play.

Sandlin dazzles
as White Sox
smash Twins

David Sandlin pitched six innings of one-run ball in his major league debut and Munetaka Murakami homered for the third straight game as the host Chicago White Sox blasted the Minnesota Twins 15-2 on Wednesday.

Chicago secured at least a split of the four-game series behind a sterling outing from Sandlin, a right-hander acquired in a February trade with Boston that also brought reliever Jordan Hicks to the White Sox.

An 18-hit attack propelled Chicago. Sam Antonacci and Randal Grichuk collected three hits apiece. Chase Meidroth hit a seventh-inning grand slam off Travis Adams before Murakami followed immediately with his 20th home run, tied for the American League lead.

Sandlin yielded a leadoff homer to Minnesota’s Byron Buxton two pitches into the game but didn’t buckle after that. He retired the next 18 Twins in a row, the most for a White Sox pitcher in his big league debut over at least the last 100 years.

Sandlin (1-0) struck out four while throwing 41 of his 61 pitches for strikes. He needed just eight pitches in the fourth and showed similar efficiency after the White Sox racked up five runs in the fifth, sandwiching two flyouts around a strikeout over 10 pitches to end his outing.

Chicago recalled Sandlin from Triple-A Charlotte on Tuesday after placing fellow rookie starter Noah Schultz (right knee patellar tendinitis) on the 15-day injured list.

Twins lefty Connor Prielipp sputtered in his seventh career start, allowing six runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings. Prielipp (1-3) walked three against five strikeouts.

He gave up the lead in the second, as Antonacci grounded a two-run single off Prielipp’s glove to score two.

Colson Montgomery extended the lead to 3-1 with an RBI double in the third. Edgar Quero, Tristan Peters, Meidroth, Murakami and Montgomery had two hits apiece for the White Sox. Antonacci had three RBIs and Grichuk added two.

After Buxton’s homer, the White Sox pitching staff retired 21 straight Minnesota batters before Kody Clemens connected against Brandon Eisert for a leadoff home run in the eighth. The White Sox allowed three hits, with two coming in the eighth inning.

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