LOS ANGELES — The only Dodger players to record hits in the game were Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez, but their power at the plate was enough to secure a 5-1 victory for the Dodgers on Sunday afternoon.
James Paxton provided Los Angeles with yet another solid outing as he remained undefeated this season and allowed just five hits. He struck out three along the way as Atlanta could not figure out how to put any type of rally together.
Ohtani and Hernandez combined for three home runs, giving the Dodgers all of the offense that they would need to complete the sweep over the Braves. Atlanta finished their road trip with a 1-5 record, while Los Angeles is now tied for most wins in the National League at 23-13.
Here are three takeaways:
Ohtani finishes red-hot series with dominant showing
Less than 24 hours after passing his manager Dave Roberts for the most homers by a Japanese-born player in team history, Shohei Ohtani was back at it.
He put together an amazing 4-4 game that included two more home runs to help him get to 10 this season. His first homer came in the bottom of inning number one as he wasted no time getting the Dodgers out in front against Max Fried.
The second would come in the bottom of the eighth with Los Angeles up 4-1 as he provided another insurance run. This blast would travel a whopping 464 feet to left center as the fans at Dodger Stadium watched on in awe.
It was the third-longest home run of Ohtani’s career, helping him jump into a four-way tie for the MLB lead in homers. His three RBIs on the day brought him to 25 this season, which is good for third-most on the Dodgers so far this year.
For Shohei, it was also his first multi-homer game in a Los Angeles uniform. He tied his career high with four hits and led the charge for the Dodgers as they swept away a slumping Braves team with ease.
James Paxton handles the Atlanta lineup to stay undefeated
35-year-old southpaw James Paxton, another starter in his first year with the Dodgers, showed out against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. He worked through 6.2 innings of nearly flawless baseball, allowing just one run to come across on a seventh-inning home run from Marcel Ozuna.
Paxton surrendered five Atlanta hits while walking two, but did not allow them to string any hits together in a productive manner. He’s now jumped out to a 4-0 record this year with an ERA of 3.06.
It was a much more efficient start this time around for Paxton, who used just 84 pitches in the start. It was a big improvement from his previous time out against the Diamondbacks, where he labored through five innings and needed 96 pitches to do so. He also allowed four earned runs, still managing to earn the win thanks to eight runs from the Dodger lineup.
The early-season success for Paxton has been very encouraging so far, and he’s well on pace to deliver his first sub-4 ERA season since 2019.
Treinen delivers a solid inning in MLB return
Dodgers’ reliever Blake Treinen was activated from the 15-day IL to make his long-awaited return on Sunday afternoon against the Braves. He had missed most of 2022 and all of 2023 dealing with shoulder injuries. After being ready to join the team at the start of this season, he suffered a bruised lung and broken ribs during spring training to keep him sidelined once again.
The 35-year-old was finally ready to make his return against Atlanta and pitched a brilliant eighth inning to begin his season. It took Treinen just 11 pitches to work a 1-2-3 inning, even tallying a nasty strikeout of Jered Kelenic to open up the frame.
The outing will go on to serve as a huge confidence boost, and he should be a big piece of the Dodger bullpen moving forward. In his last healthy season back in 2021, Treinen appeared in 72 games for Los Angeles while working a 1.99 ERA. He clearly has the stuff to once again be an elite part of the bullpen, and his return comes at a good time.
Fellow reliever Evan Phillips was placed on the 15-day IL with a right hamstring strain, temporarily putting a halt to what has been an amazing season thus far. Hopefully, he was able to avoid a more severe scenario and will be able to rejoin Treinen and the rest of the bullpen sooner rather than later.
The Dodgers will now welcome the Miami Marlins to town as they begin a three-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. Walker Buehler will make his highly-anticipated first MLB start in nearly 700 days for Los Angeles as he looks to rebound from Tommy John surgery and return to his elite form. For Miami, righty Roddery Munoz (1-0, 2.45 ERA) will be on the mound getting the start.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PT.
