The first round on Sunday afternoon will feel at least as significant as the last when the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Washington Nationals visit the decisive competition for a series of three games.
Shohei Ohtani will make his second start on the mound in a Dodgers uniform. It has the potential to work two rounds after the right -hander was limited to a frame on Monday during its first appearance of pitch in almost two years.
After a slow and methodical rehabilitation of Tommy John Revision surgery, Ohtani (0-0, 9.00 ERA) is back in its bidirectional element. It was a jumped ride against the Padres of San Diego on Monday where he needed 28 throws to record three withdrawals, abandoning one point on two strokes.
“Certainly a little more (nervous) than when I was only a position player,” said Ohtani through an interpreter.
Ohtani has a career start to the Nationals, allowing one of seven -sleeves without aim to win a victory in 2023 as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.
The Dodgers will try to bounce back from a defeat of 7-3 on Saturday at the Nationals, which won for the second time in 14 games. The MVP trio of the Dodgers at the top of the Order in Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman went combined 1 for 12 with six sticks to the stick.
“It has been a bit of a version for us in recent weeks, but I think we all believe in ourselves,” said Freeman, who offered that he no longer feels the effects of injuries prior to ankle and quad. “It’s obviously a little frustrating, but we’re going to start.”
The nationals will counter Sunday with the right-hander Michael Soroka (3-5, 5.06 ERA), who will make his career appearance in Los Angeles. Soroka has an MPM of 2.79 in two career starts against Dodgers.
Soroka enters a sequence of two defeats at the start after abandoning three points on five strokes in six rounds at home in a 10-6 defeat against Colorado rockies on Tuesday. He equaled a career with nine stick withdrawals.
Soroka will try to follow the example of her teammate Jake Irvin, who granted two points on six strokes with seven stick withdrawals in 5 1/3 innings against Los Angeles on Saturday.
The Nationals won the match behind five circuits, including two from Nathaniel Lowe, who now has 101 for his career. James Wood struck a 451 feet home run, while CJ Abrams and Luis Garcia Jr. also went deep.
Wood’s Homer was his third in three games and fourth in his last five against the Dodgers. He has a team record 21 this season. Abrams is now 17 for 48 (0.354) in 12 games after a recent slowdown.
“These guys are good young players, play very well, and watch them hit as it is special,” said Dave Martinez, director of nationals about Wood and Abrams. “I always talk about the heart of what we are trying to do here, and when they do the things they can do, it raises our team.”
Lowe delivered her first multi-horror match of the season and the sixth in her career.
“I put it in the middle of the programming because I know that he can lead to shopping for us,” said Martinez about Lowe, whose 47 products produced are second in the Wood’s 57 team. “He tends to really work with good at-bats, so it was a good day for him.”
– field level media