LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the first after giving up a leadoff homer to fellow All-Star Byron Buxton, helping the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins 5-2 on Monday night.
The NL West leaders snapped a six-game skid at home, their longest such streak at Dodger Stadium since September 2017. They were swept in three games by the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend.
Buxton sent Ohtani’s second pitch of the game halfway up the left field pavilion. After Mookie Betts walked, Ohtani answered with a 441-foot blast to center that put the Dodgers in front, 2-1. The two-way Japanese superstar has homered in three straight games.
Smith went deep twice off David Festa (3-4). Smith led off the fourth with a two-strike homer to center and followed with a 435-foot shot to left that made it 4-1.
Andy Pages added a solo shot off reliever Cole Sands.
Dustin May (6-6) took over from Ohtani, who allowed one run, four hits and struck out three in three innings. May gave up five hits in 4 2/3 innings, struck out four and walked three. Kirby Yates earned his third save.
Freddie Freeman was in the lineup a day after being hit by a pitch on his left wrist in Sunday’s 6-5 loss to Milwaukee. He was 1 for 4 with a strikeout.
Key moment
Minnesota shortstop Carlos Correa went 0 for 5, getting booed heavily in every at-bat by Dodgers fans still angry about the 2017 World Series, when Correa played for Houston. He was robbed of a potential game-tying homer by James Outman at the center field wall in the ninth.
Key stat
Ohtani is the first pitcher to give up a homer and hit a homer in the first inning of the same game since Philadelphia’s Randy Lerch in a 23-22 win over the Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979.
Up next
Twins RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-4, 3.95 ERA) starts Tuesday against Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (8-7, 2.59).
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