Shohei Ohtani paused to admire the flight of his no-doubt home run as it sailed to right-center field.
Clearly on a home-run trajectory, it was headed toward the visitor’s bullpen. From among the trees, Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt’s glove shot up and secured the ball.
As Ohtani circled the bases, the bullpen turned into a mosh pit around Hurt.
In what has been a brutal August for the Dodgers, the vibes were undeniably high.
Maybe all the Dodgers needed was a trip to the Mile High City.
En route to an 11-5 win over the Rockies, Ohtani’s two-run blast in the sixth inning — his second homer of the game — widened the Dodgers’ lead to eight runs, a comfortable lead even at hitter-friendly Coors Field.
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Even with Monday’s win, the Dodgers have a 6-10 record in August. And they entered Monday with a paltry .672 OPS, on pace for their worst offensive month of the season. For comparison, it posted a .710 OPS in July — its worst complete month.
There are plenty of asterisks to put on Monday’s victory. The altitude in Denver elevates any offense. And the Rockies have the worst record (50-75) in the National League.
Maybe what the Dodgers (75-51) needed most — after dropping three of four to the Brewers at Dodger Stadium and handing over the season series (and tiebreaker if it comes down to that) — was a lighter series to loosen them up.
It was already working by the second inning when Max Muncy scored from first on Mookie Betts’ double into the left-center gap of the expansive Coors Field outfield.
The next inning, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages singled one after another for a second run.
Then Muncy demolished a sinker that Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano left over the center of the plate, giving it a ride to the second deck in right-center.
It was Muncy’s third home run in five games, and they’ve all been momentum-swingers. His pinch-hit home run Thursday gave the Dodgers the lead over the Brewers — before Edwin Díaz’s blown save. On Sunday, his solo shot temporarily tied the score before the Dodgers’ loss.
On Monday, his three-run blast put the Dodgers up 5-0 in the third.
Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who held the Rockies to one run and two hits in six innings, dominated the first two innings. Even with the altitude affecting the shape of his pitches, he was getting whiffs on his curveball. And he paired it with his four-seamer (and threw just one changeup) to retire six straight batters.
Then in the third, he temporarily lost command. Snell walked three straight, throwing 21 pitches. Snell got Rockies leadoff hitter Jake McCarthy to ground into a fielder’s choice, but it pushed a run across. But Snell avoided further damage by inducing Jordan Beck to fly out and Cole Carrigg to strike out.
He threw three straight curveballs to Carrigg, bouncing the first and last in the dirt, and Carrigg swung at all three.
Getting back on track, Snell navigated around a pair of singles in the fourth inning, before retiring the Rockies in order in the fifth.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers added two more insurance runs in the fifth with a solo homer from Ohtani, a double from Pages and a couple of defensive bobbles by the Rockies.
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Ohtani’s three-run homer in the next inning, followed soon after by an RBI single from Pages, made the Dodgers’ lead insurmountable.
The Rockies got one back in the seventh, with some help from Dodgers right fielder Kyle Tucker, who dropped a flyball. Then in the eighth, the Dodgers took advantage of an error by Carrigg in center field that allowed Ohtani to advance to second. Freeman drove him in with a double.
With an 11-2 lead, the Dodgers sent Díaz, who hadn’t pitched since Friday, to the mound for the ninth. Still working through delivery problems, he gave up four hits, three runs and hit a batter.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.