Angels sweep season series with Dodgers, spoil Ohtani’s return

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Shohei Ohtani racked up seven strikeouts and pitched into the fifth inning. He tripled, scored and reached base twice at the plate.

The two-way superstar still couldn’t stop his team from falling deeper into a losing streak in Anaheim.

Sound familiar? Angels fans know this melancholy story all too well — and now Dodgers fans have experienced it, too.

Ohtani stepped back in time in more ways than one when he returned to the Angel Stadium mound Wednesday night for the first time since he switched teams in Los Angeles’ crosstown rivalry.

For six seasons, the three-time MVP couldn’t make the Angels into winners with his unprecedented talents. This summer, his defending champion Dodgers are in an increasingly ugly slump — and Ohtani couldn’t save them Wednesday, neither on the hill nor at the plate.

Ohtani tripled and scored the Dodgers’ first run, and he eventually left his longest start of the season with a 5-4 lead. The Angels still rallied for a 6-5 victory, sweeping the six-game Freeway Series and sending the Dodgers to their fourth consecutive loss overall.

The Dodgers also fell a game behind the Padres in the NL West standings with streaking San Diego visiting Dodger Stadium on Friday night. The Dodgers led the division by nine games on July 3, and they’ve gone 12-21 since.

“Obviously, it doesn’t feel good to fall into second place and to lose a lot of these games,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “We’re doing everything in our power, having meetings, doing everything that we can to try to right the ship. We just have to do a better job.”

Ohtani pitched 4 1/3 innings of five-hit, four-run ball against the Angels. He gave up up a homer to Taylor Ward and a two-run double to Zach Neto, but he also fanned Mike Trout twice, getting his friend and fellow MVP the second time with his fastest pitch of the night — a 101-mph fastball in the fourth.

But the Angels got three straight hits to chase him, capped by Neto’s double.

“I just couldn’t finish off hitters in the fifth,” Ohtani said. “They did a good job putting balls in play, and that’s what happens. Next time I’ve got to do a better job.”

The Dodgers’ beleaguered bullpen again failed while missing five high-leverage arms on the injured list, but their expensive lineup also didn’t score after the fourth inning.

Logan O’Hoppe delivered a bases-loaded, two-run single in the eighth, and longtime Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen coolly pitched the ninth. Ohtani struck out in his final two at-bats.

“Doesn’t feel good to lose close games,” Ohtani said. “It’s tough mentally, but we have an off day tomorrow, so the plan is to regroup, refresh and get ready for the weekend.”

Ohtani is still beloved in Anaheim by fans who mostly couldn’t blame him for leaving a team that could never assemble a winning lineup around him and Trout during six consecutive losing seasons.

The three-time MVP — two of those trophies claimed with the Angels — has received cheers whenever he returns to the Big A, although that’s also because much of the crowd wears Dodger Blue for these Freeway Series rivalry games.

All fans were locked in on the main event in this showdown.

After Trout and Ohtani acknowledged each other with slight nods and smirks, Ohtani finished his 1-2-3 first inning by throwing five straight fastballs to Trout before striking him out looking with a sweeper.

They hadn’t faced each other since Ohtani famously struck out Trout — with the same pitch — to end the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Ohtani was even meaner to Trout in their second meeting, starting him out with a 73-mph curve before eventually fanning him with that blazing fastball in the low outside corner.

Outside of Trout, Ohtani saw plenty of familiar faces Wednesday: Seven of the nine hitters in the Angels’ starting lineup played with him in Anaheim.

Ohtani hadn’t been on the mound at the Big A since Aug. 23, 2023, when he abruptly left a start against Cincinnati in the second inning with elbow pain later revealed to be a torn ligament. The resulting surgery kept him off the mound entirely in 2024 after he signed his 10-year, $700-million contract with the Dodgers.

Ohtani returned to pitching two months ago, and the Dodgers have gradually built up his innings while maintaining his everyday role as their DH and leadoff hitter.

Before his mound return, Ohtani homered in each of the first two games of this series — although he also lined into a triple play Tuesday.

Ohtani began Wednesday’s game by taking Kyle Hendricks to deep right for a triple, and he quickly scored on Mookie Betts’ single.

Ward blasted a 97-mph fastball from Ohtani to right for his 29th homer, just the second allowed by Ohtani this season.

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