TORONTO — Canadians are known to be good-natured, polite and just downright nice.
They went a little off brand at Rogers Centre on Friday night, putting that aside to boo Shohei Ohtani like so many jilted lovers who stored up their animosity since December when false media reports gave them false hope that Ohtani would be starting a deeper, more meaningful relationship with them.
Ohtani had a 360-foot response to the boos in his first at-bat, drilling a home run into the right field seats.
If the sellout crowd of 39,688 came to boo Ohtani, their passion didn’t help the home team (except at the coffers). The Dodgers pounded the Blue Jays for 19 hits – including additional home runs from Max Muncy and Will Smith, about whom Toronto fans are ambivalent – on the way to a 12-2 win on Friday night.
“Not surprised,” Ohtani said through his interpreter, chuckling over the fans’ reaction.
“I really do feel that the fans here are passionate, and when they are, that’s the kind of reception that they will probably do. So I’m just very grateful and respectful that the fans here are passionate just as much as the Dodger fans are with us.”
Ohtani was actually booed before and after his home run – Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his teammates greeted him that way in the dugout.
“After he homered, the guys in the dugout booed him as well,” Roberts said. “That was pretty funny. He got a big kick out of that.”
Roberts said he didn’t think the boos – from the fans – were “a motivator” for Ohtani but “with Shohei, anything is on the table as far as spectacular things.”
“You can’t make something happen there,” Smith said. “He got a pitch to hit and hit it over the fence. That’s what he does.”
Ohtani shrugged off the suggestion that the fans were booing him for something that was out of his control –the premature reports of his free agency decision in the media.
“Aside from how the fans may or may not think, I’m just very grateful for the teams that approached me and wanted to sign me,” he said. “As I said in my press conference before, ultimately I could only choose one team.”
The team he chose has now won five games in a row (four to start this nine-game road trip), putting the 2-6 stretch at home in the rear-view mirror. They have outscored the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and Blue Jays during the winning streak, 39-6.
“I’m managing a lot better these last fives games,” Roberts joked. “Baseball is cyclical. Obviously those top two guys have all year been swinging the bat well. Freddie (Freeman) was in a funk before this win streak, and he’s come out of that certainly. Teo (Hernandez) is swinging the bat well, so I think that’s been really helpful. And then the bottom part of the order, those guys are really starting to carry themselves.
“But aside from that, the pitching has been fantastic, it really has. Cart before the horse whether it’s (because) we’re scoring more runs to allow our guys to go longer, or we’re getting good pitching which is allowing us to sit back and score some runs. So I don’t know. But we talked about not playing a complete game about a week ago. And you look at this last week, we’ve played a handful of complete baseball games. It’s what we can do. It’s good to see.”
Ohtani went quiet after his first-inning homer. The rest of the Dodgers’ offense did not.
Related Articles
Dodgers’ Walker Buehler will make another rehab start in Triple-A
Yoshinobu Yamamoto survives scare, leads Dodgers to sweep of Nationals
Dodgers’ Dave Roberts gives rookie Andy Pages positive reviews
Dodgers’ offense turns tables on Nats starter Jake Irvin in second look
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani ready for trip to Toronto – this time
Jays starter Chris Bassitt lasted just 2⅔ innings. Of the 19 batters he faced, 11 reached base (nine hits, two walks) and seven came around to score.
Six of those runs hounded Bassitt from the game in the third inning, with Muncy’s three-run homer the big blow.
Smith had a two-run single in the third, a solo home run in the fourth, a double in the sixth and another single in the seventh, finishing with his fourth four-hit game of the season and second in a row – he was 4 for 6 in Washington on Wednesday then didn’t play on Thursday. Smith is hitting .376 this season, second in the majors only to Mookie Betts who was 2 for 3 Friday with an RBI double and his major league-leading 22nd walk before he got the later innings off.
Dodgers starter Gavin Stone was the beneficiary, cruising through a career-high seven innings. Stone allowed just two hits, one a solo home run by Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen. The Jays got just one other runner past first base against Stone – Cavan Biggio walked and stole second in the third inning – and Stone retired the final 10 batters he faced after Jansen’s solo blow.
Shohei Ohtani greets the Toronto fans with a HR pic.twitter.com/4SbklNRIiz
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 26, 2024
Max Muncy with a 3-run tank! #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/YzOMJSemQS
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 26, 2024
Mookie Betts drives in a run with a laser to left field. pic.twitter.com/zFYk1Mncyj
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 27, 2024