Last Night In Baseball: Dodgers Superstar Shohei Ohtani Dazzles Against Padres

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: It took one pitch for Shohei Ohtani to make his presence felt. Ohtani jacked the opening pitch of the game from San Diego Padres starter Randy Vásquez just over the center-field wall, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a lead they would never surrender. The following inning, Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández brought home a run for the Dodgers on a sacrifice fly and later hit a solo home run to lead off the top of the ninth inning. Los Angeles also got a run in the fifth on a Kyle Tucker RBI single, which was all good for a 4-0 Dodgers victory. First baseman Freddie Freeman — who had two home runs on Tuesday night — had two doubles, while shortstop Mookie Betts had two hits of his own. Who was on the mound for the Dodgers? That would be Ohtani, who pitched five scoreless innings and recorded four strikeouts. The Dodgers then got scoreless innings from Edgardo Henriquez, Blake Treinen, Kyle Hurt and Will Klein. While having totaled eight home runs, 26 RBIs, a 150 OPS+ and 1.5 wins above replacement as a hitter — boasting a .272/.399/.486 slash line — Ohtani owns an 0.73 ERA, an 0.84 WHIP, 54 strikeouts, a 544 ERA+ and 2.2 wins above replacement over 49.0 innings (eight starts) as a pitcher. After winning two out of three against the Padres in San Diego, the Dodgers (31-19) now have a 1.5-game lead on the Padres for first place in the National League West. Bryce Harper drove in a run for the Philadelphia Phillies on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first, but then it was all about the Cincinnati Reds. Granted, the Phillies got a two-run home run from third baseman Edmundo Sosa and a solo homer from first baseman Alec Bohm in the sixth. Cincinnati struck for three runs in the top of the second, with first baseman Nathaniel Lowe doubling in a run, right fielder Will Benson hitting an RBI ground out and catcher P.J. Higgins hitting an RBI single. Higgins singled in another run in the fourth, and Lowe doubled in two more runs in the seventh. Meanwhile, in the sixth, outfielder Dane Myers had an RBI double. But the star of the show for the Reds was infielder Sal Stewart, who demolished a two-run home run into the second deck of Citizens Bank Park in the top of the ninth and finished the day with a game-high four hits in what was a 9-4 victory for Cincinnati that wrapped up a road series win. Through 50 games, Stewart has totaled 12 home runs, 34 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and a 133 OPS+, while sporting a .265/.353/.503 slash line. Stewart leads the Reds in both home runs and RBIs. Ketel Marte has had a rough start to the 2026 MLB season (the two-time Silver Slugger has a career-low .235 batting average and sports a mere .702 OPS), but his last 48 hours? Quite vibrant. One night after hitting a walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ star second baseman reached base in each of his four plate appearances, most notably blasting a two-run home run in the bottom of the third. Marte also hit a double, single and drew a walk. Elsewhere for the D-backs, shortstop Geraldo Perdomo drove in a run in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly and doubled home two runs as part of a three-run fifth inning, which also saw first baseman Ildemaro Vargas hit an RBI ground out. Starter Merrill Kelly gave up three runs over six innings to the San Francisco Giants, with the D-backs winning 6-3 and pulling off a sweep of their NL West rival. Arizona has won five of its last six games, improving to 25-23. The Milwaukee Brewers came to Chi-Town with an agenda and executed. Beating the Chicago Cubs 5-0, the Brewers (29-18) finished off a sweep of the Cubs and now have a 1.5-game lead on both Chicago and the St. Louis Cardinals for first place in the NL Central. Left-hander Kyle Harrison had arguably the best start of his MLB career on Wednesday night, throwing seven scoreless innings, posting 11 strikeouts and giving up just three baserunners (two hits and one walk). DL Hall pitched two scoreless innings to end the game for Milwaukee. As for the offense, the Brewers got three runs in the top of the second after third baseman David Hamilton singled to center field, but the ball then got past Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and rolled all the way to the warning track, with Hamilton touching all four bases for a de facto inside-the-park home run. The Brewers scored their fourth run in the third on an RBI single from first baseman Jake Bauers and their fifth run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Hamilton and catcher William Contreras each had three hits for Milwaukee, while Harrison and Hall held Chicago to a combined two hits; the Cubs scored just five runs in the three-game series. Through nine starts, Harrison has a 1.77 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, 59 strikeouts, a 232 ERA+ and 2.1 wins above replacement over 45 ⅔ innings pitched. Milwaukee has won 11 of its last 13 games. For just the second time this season, the Boston Red Sox have swept an opponent — and both series came on the road against teams in the same division (they swept the Detroit Tigers on the road earlier this month). Trailing 3-2 in the top of the seventh, Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran hit an opposite field, go-ahead, two-run home run to left field to put Boston up for good on the Kansas City Royals, 4-3, for a three-game sweep. Duran had two hits on the night, while first baseman Willson Contreras — who leads the Red Sox in home runs (10), RBIs (30), on-base percentage (.369) and slugging percentage (.497) — had a team-high three hits for Boston. Its other two runs came in the top of the second on an RBI single from infielder Nick Sogard and an RBI ground out from catcher Carlos Narváez. On the hill, the Red Sox got 6 ⅓ innings from starter Connelly Early. Boston out-scored Kansas City in the three-game set 14-5. If you want, you can leave the brooms out for this one, too. Trailing the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth, the Tampa Bay Rays put four runs on the board, as designated hitter Jonathan Aranda hit a two-run double, second baseman Richie Palacios singled in a run and first baseman Ryan Vilade stole home on a double steal (runners on first and third each stole a bag). Ian Seymour pitched a one-two-three ninth inning to give the Rays a 5-3 win and a series sweep of the Orioles. Sticking on the pitching front, after left-hander Steven Matz went four innings for the Rays, Jesse Scholtens had a four-inning appearance before Seymour pitched the ninth. Tampa Bay’s other run came on a second-inning solo home run by catcher Hunter Feduccia. On the season, Aranda has driven in a team-high 37 runs, which is sixth in MLB, and Vilade has driven in 13 runs, while possessing a .306/.380/.484 slash line through 27 games. Tampa Bay scored 25 runs in its three-game series against Baltimore. The Rays own the best record in baseball at 33-15. One day after losing to the Texas Rangers 10-0, the Colorado Rockies could smell a victory, but it turned out to be a false sniff. Leading 4-3, Rockies reliever Brennan Bernardino got Rangers pinch hitter Danny Jansen to strikeout to open the ninth inning; it was all downhill from there for Colorado. Joc Pederson reached base on a catcher’s interference, Justin Foscue and Alejandro Osuna each singled and a passed ball brought home the game-tying run. Then, third baseman Josh Jung singled home the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run for the Rangers, who got a 5-4 victory. Jung — who leads Texas with 54 hits, 14 doubles, a .309 batting average, a .365 on-base percentage and a .474 slugging percentage — and Foscue each had a game-high three hits for the Rangers, whose other three runs came on back-to-back, fourth-inning home runs from infielders Ezequiel Durán (a two-run homer) and Jake Burger (a solo homer). Jacob Latz pitched the final two innings for Texas, tossing scoreless eighth and ninth innings and posting four strikeouts. The left-hander sports a 1.90 ERA, an 0.59 WHIP and a 193 ERA+ over 23 ⅔ innings pitched. The Rangers took two out of three from the Rockies at Coors Field. But a win is a win. Trailing the Detroit Tigers 1-0 entering the top of the ninth, the Cleveland Guardians grinded out a game-tying run. Infielders Daniel Schneemann and Travis Bazzana led off the inning with back-to-back singles, and catcher Patrick Bailey drove in Schneemann on an RBI ground out two batters later. Then, in the top half of the 10th, outfielder Ángel Martínez hit a leadoff triple, which drove in a run, and star third baseman José Ramírez followed with an RBI double, giving the Guardians a 3-1 lead, which would be enough for them to ultimately get a 3-2 win. What could get lost in Cleveland’s bats going silent for eight innings is its starter, Tanner Bibee, giving up just one run and five baserunners (four hits and one walk) over eight innings. As for the 10th-inning run-producers, Martínez has totaled nine home runs, 26 RBIs and eight stolen bases this season, while owning a .500 slugging percentage; Ramírez has logged eight home runs, 23 RBIs, an AL-high 20 stolen bases and 2.1 wins above replacement. The Guardians, who stand atop the American League Central at 29-22, have won eight of their last nine games. The Tigers? They’ve lost 13 of their last 15. The Athletics had to rally to get another win over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim. A’s left fielder Tyler Soderstrom hit a two-run single in the top of the first, while right fielder Carlos Cortez had an RBI single in the second. With that said, a first-inning, two-run home run from designated hitter Jorge Soler and second-inning home runs from outfielders Jo Adell (solo homer) and Josh Lowe (two-run homer) gave the Angels a 5-3 lead, which would be the score through the sixth inning. The A’s got within one run in the seventh on an RBI single from star first baseman Nick Kurtz, and second baseman Jeff McNeil leveled up the score at 5-all in the ninth with a leadoff solo home run, which forced extra innings. Soderstrom singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th, and the A’s kept the Angels off the board in the bottom half of the inning to complete a 6-5 win. At 25-24, the Athletics are in first place in the AL West. A Pirate’s life was not for the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night. The Pittsburgh Pirates thoroughly defeated the Redbirds to take Game 2 of a three-game set in St. Louis, 7-0. The first indentation on the Cardinals’ beak came on a solo home run from Spencer Horwitz — who sports an .814 OPS — in the top of the second, as shown below. In the fourth, center fielder Jhostynxon Garcia singled home a run, with third baseman Nick Gonzales driving in a run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Pittsburgh broke it open with a four-run eighth inning that saw Gonzales and right fielder Jake Mangum each single in runs and Bryan Reynolds hit a two-run double for good measure. One could argue that the star of the game for the Pirates, though, was rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin, who had a game-high four hits, marking the second time this month he has tallied four hits. Griffin, Gonzales, Garcia, Mangum and catcher Endy Rodríguez each had multi-hit performances for the Pirates, who had a combined 15 hits and used five pitchers, with starter Carmen Mlodzinski going five innings. The convincing win snapped a four-game losing streak for Pittsburgh, which is now back over .500 at 25-24.