LOS ANGELES—Sunday, June 16, proved to be a good-news, bad-news scenario for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with the bad having considerably longer-reaching implications than the good.
Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs for the second time this season, and Tyler Glasnow pitched seven innings of three-hit ball as the Dodgers defeated the Kansas City Royals 3–0.
Los Angeles, however, lost one of its superstars, leadoff hitter and shortstop Mookie Betts, to a broken bone in his left hand as the result of being hit by a pitch in the seventh inning.
“It’s a big blow,“ Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said. ”I feel bad for Mookie because he’s having an MVP-type season.”
Even though the Dodgers won two of three games in the series, it was a tough weekend as two of their star players will be sidelined for an extended period. Right-handed starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto was placed on the 15-day injured list before Sunday’s game due to a strained rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
Betts is not expected to need surgery but will be sidelined indefinitely after taking a 97.9 mph fastball from Dan Altavilla off the top of his hand, near the wrist. Betts fell to the ground and was writhing in pain in the batter’s box as trainers and Mr. Roberts came out to tend to him.
Ohtani is fourth in the majors with 19 homers. The Japanese superstar drove a sinker from Brady Singer (4–4) some 451 feet over the center-field wall with one out in the third inning.
Ohtani later secured his 18th career multi-homer game when he connected on a first-pitch slider from Singer and put it over the right-field wall. Teammate Freddie Freeman also hit a home run for the Dodgers, following three pitches later with a solo shot to right-center. It marked the third time this season that Ohtani and Freeman have gone back to back.
It was the fifth time in Singer’s career, and first this season, that he has allowed at least three homers in a game. The right-hander gave up three-runs and five hits in six innings, with four strikeouts.
Glasnow (7–5) struck out nine and leads the majors with 125 strikeouts as he picked up his first victory since May 4. Evan Phillips came on in the ninth to gain his 10th save.
Trainer’s Room
Royals: Catcher Salvador Perez (right-knee inflammation) was back in the lineup as the designated hitter after sitting out Saturday’s game. ... Right-hander Michael Wacha (left-foot fracture) is scheduled to make a rehab start in Arizona on Monday.Up Next
Royals: Right-hander Alec Marsh (5–3, 3.63 earned-run average) is scheduled to start Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at Oakland.Dodgers: Left-hander James Paxton (6–1, 3.92) is set to take the mound Monday for the opener of a three-game series at Colorado.
