Shohei Ohtani hits NL-leading 37th homer,frontier hunter Dodgers defeat Brewers 7-2 for 5th straight victory

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

August 14, 2024 at 15:55 JST

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Shohei Ohtani hits a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 13 in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash)

MILWAUKEE--Shohei Ohtani hit his National League-leading 37th home run and the Los Angeles Dodgers finished with four homers in a 7-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night that extended their winning streak to five games.

Gavin Lux and Andy Pages each hit a two-run home run during a five-run fourth inning that gave the Dodgers a 7-1 lead.

Will Smith also homered as the NL West-leading Dodgers improved to 71-49 and matched the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the majors.

“We’re just playing good baseball,” Smith said. “Offense is putting together good at-bats, good team at-bats, driving guys in, moving guys over. Pitchers are filling up the zone, attacking guys, getting ahead. Right now, we’re playing good baseball.”

The Dodgers’ Gavin Stone (10-5) allowed one run on three hits in five innings, striking out six with no walks in an 86-pitch outing.

“It makes it easier to stay on the inside, and that’s really all it was,” Stone said of pitching with the early lead. “They gave me that early run support and it was easier to just trust pitches in the zone.”

Teoscar Hernandez singled to open the fourth and Lux followed with his seventh homer. Smith singled, advanced to third on Migel Rojas’ double, and scored on Kiké Hernádez’s sacrifice fly. Pages hit the first pitch of his at-bat for his ninth homer.

Colin Rea (10-4) was tagged for seven runs and 10 hits in six innings, including all four homers. He lost for the second time in 14 outings, including 11 starts.

“He wasn’t his best, that’s for sure,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “He’s been throwing the ball so great. He had that one rough inning, but in typical Colin fashion, he sucked it up and pitched six innings for us. Other than that one inning, he threw the ball well.”

Smith staked the Dodgers to a 1-0 lead with two outs in the second, sending a 3-2 pitch 412 feet to left for his 16th homer.

Ohtani made it 2-0 in the third with a two-out solo shot to right-center.

William Contreras answered in the bottom half, capping a 10-pitch at-bat with his 15th homer, cutting Milwaukee’s deficit to 2-1.

The Brewers got a run in the seventh inning on three singles off Landon Knack, who pitched the final four innings and earned his first career save.

“We’ve gotten good starts,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When you get good starting pitching, it does take pressure off the offense. We’ve had some timely hits. I talked about this last series, I didn’t think we were good situationally. This series, so far, we’ve been good.