Sports
Shohei Ohtani home run caps wild ninth-inning comeback in Dodgers' win over Arizona
PHOENIX — One pitch. One swing. One pure, unmistakable sound.
On a night the roof was open, the air was hot and the Dodgers were engaged in a Chase Field classic against the Arizona Diamondbacks, that’s what the craziest game of their season came down to.
The crack of Shohei Ohtani’s bat — punctuating a riveting contest in early May with another indelible moment of on-demand magic.
“You guys have heard me say how many times?” teammate Max Muncy marveled. “Sho keeps getting put in these spots that you expect the incredible — and he rarely disappoints.”
Indeed, with two on and one out and the score tied in the ninth, Ohtani completed a wild six-run rally with a go-ahead three-run home run deep to right field.
It lifted the Dodgers to a 14-11 win, one that felt impossible after they squandered a five-run lead earlier in the game. It left Ohtani seemingly trying to lift off himself, stretching his arms and flapping his hands after chucking his bat and gliding up the first-base line.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits a three-run home run in the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks on Friday.
Up to that point, Friday’s intradivision shootout already featured everything else.
Wild lead changes and sudden momentum shifts. Line-drive rockets and towering home runs. Even the ejection of Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior, when a bad ball-strike call contributed to his team’s mid-game collapse.
Most of all, however, there was Ohtani — meeting yet another moment, rising once again to the occasion.
“For us to score a lot, for them to come back, for us to come back again,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton, “it was a game with a lot of passion.”
Added manager Dave Roberts: “He sees his teammates fighting and guys trying to keep us in the ballgame, so that was kind of the climax of that moment. It’s good to see him show emotion like that. It was great.”
Ohtani was having a big night before the ninth, doubling twice during an early offensive onslaught that gave the Dodgers (26-13) an 8-3 lead.
The Diamondbacks (20-19) responded, scoring eight unanswered runs over the next five innings to flip the score in their favor, 11-8.
Four batters into the ninth, however, the Dodgers had tilted the seesaw again.
Shohei Ohtani, right, celebrates after hitting a three-run home run in the ninth inning against Arizona on Friday.
(Darryl Webb / Associated Press)
A leadoff infield single from Freddie Freeman was followed by consecutive run-scoring doubles from Andy Pages and Kiké Hernández, trimming what was an 11-8 deficit to 11-10. Muncy knotted the score by knocking a single to right. Then, when Michael Conforto was hit with a pitch with one out, the Diamondbacks faced a decision.
Arizona could have pitched to Ohtani carefully, and risked a walk that would have loaded the bases but also set up a force out at every bag. Instead, they replaced closer Kevin Ginkel with sidearm right-hander Ryan Thompson, letting him attack the reigning National League MVP in hopes his funky delivery could keep Ohtani off balance.
He couldn’t. In a 1-and-2 count, Thompson threw a splitter that stayed up over the middle. Ohtani clobbered it 426 feet to the right-field bleachers. The sound off the bat alone left little doubt about where it would land.
“Between him and Barry Bonds, they’re the two best players I’ve ever seen,” Roberts said, when asked if Ohtani’s heroics ever cease to amaze. “I played with Barry. But what Shohei does in the clutch — I’ve never seen anything like what he does in the clutch.”
Shouting across the room in the Dodgers’ postgame clubhouse, backup catcher Austin Barnes summed it up even more succinctly.
“The monster,” he yelled, “comes through again!”
Even before first pitch, Friday had the makings of a high-scoring affair.
Eduardo Rodríguez, the veteran left-hander who two seasons ago blocked an agreed-upon deadline day trade from Detroit to the Dodgers, entered the night with a 5.92 ERA and was facing a right-handed-heavy Dodgers lineup, with slumping lefty sluggers Muncy and Conforto dropped to the bench.
Roki Sasaki, meanwhile, was pitching on five days of rest (as opposed to six) for the first time in his career. He was throwing in a dry Arizona climate that can often influence the execution of breaking pitches. And, as a result, there was added importance on a fastball that has disappointed so far this season, averaging well below the triple-digit readings he was hoping to rediscover.
Right from the jump, the Diamondbacks took advantage.
While Rodríguez gave up one run in the first inning after a leadoff double from Ohtani, Sasaki was ambushed for three. Ketel Marte hit a solo home run around the right-field foul pole. Eugenio Suárez belted a two-run blast.
The homers were the fifth and sixth that Sasaki has given up in his last five outings. And all of them have come against his fastball, a pitch that has yielded a lot of hard contact while getting very little swing-and-miss — including no whiffs Friday.
“Just really still in this process of finding out what the root cause [is],” said the 23-year-old right-hander, who finished giving up five runs in four-plus innings to raise his ERA to 4.72.
The Dodgers had an answer of their own in the second, tying the game on Hernández’s sixth home run of the season and Ohtani’s second double in as many innings.
Then, in the third, the Dodgers seemingly took control of the game, exploding for five runs on four hits and three walks while sending 11 batters to the plate — in an inning where the three outs were recorded by Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman no less.
In his first at-bat of the inning, Freeman roped a double down the line to put two runners in scoring position. Pages followed with a two-run single to left. Hernández and Miguel Rojas loaded the bases with a single and a walk. Still with no one out, James Outman hit the ground ball Arizona was looking for, but an errant throw to the plate allowed two more runs to score. Betts later tacked on a sacrifice fly.
That should’ve been enough for the Dodgers, carrying the ensuing 8-3 lead into the fourth.
But on this night, no lead was ever safe.
Sasaki was pulled after issuing a leadoff walk in the fifth, the lead having been trimmed to 8-4 by that point. His replacement, Anthony Banda, failed to stem a turning tide.
Within three batters, the Diamondbacks had the bases loaded. With two outs, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. swung big at a down-and-in sinker. Banda turned to watch it fly for a tying grand slam, evening the score at 8-8.
Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr., left, pumps is fist after hitting a grand slam off Dodgers reliever Anthony Banda, right, during the fifth inning Friday.
(Darryl Webb / Associated Press)
“I just felt that the offense did enough to win the game at that point in time, and to not pitch well, it’s frustrating,” Roberts said. “I just feel that we’re better than we’ve pitched.”
The Diamondbacks’ go-ahead run scored amid more contentious circumstances, as right-hander Luis García tried to escape another bases-loaded, two-out jam he inherited from Banda in the sixth.
In a full count with Suarez, he threw a high sweeper that appeared to catch the top of the strike zone. Home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak, however, ruled it a ball that walked in a run.
After the inning, Prior barked at Rehak from the dugout, triggering his ejection. Roberts then ran toward Rehak for an animated talk.
“There were some pitches that swung counts, and certainly that Luis García at-bat to Suárez, that changed that inning, the scoreboard,” Roberts said. “It gets emotional, always. And so obviously, it’s nothing personal. You can’t argue balls and strikes.”
In the eighth, it was the Diamondbacks’ turn to seemingly put the game out of reach, hitting back-to-back home runs off Alex Vesia for an 11-8 lead.
But, once again, no lead on this night ever proved to be secure.
Especially not once the Dodgers got Ohtani back up to the plate.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — How do you improve on the perfect ending?
Clayton Kershaw stood in the desert heat Monday, wearing a far darker shade of blue than the Dodgers do. He does not need a medal, or a chance to fail. His election to the Hall of Fame will be a formality.
In his farewell year, the Dodgers won the World Series, becoming baseball’s first back-to-back champions in 25 years. He secured a critical out. He bathed in adoration at the championship rally, and he told the fans he would be one of them this year.
“I’m going to watch,” he hollered that day, “just like all of you.”
Four months later, he was back in uniform.
He wore a dark blue jersey with red-and-white piping. As Team USA ran through its first World Baseball Classic workout, Kershaw participated in pitchers’ fielding practice and shagged fly balls during batting practice. He could have been home with his five kids, and instead he was rushing off the mound to take a throw at first base.
That November night in Toronto, as it turned out, was not the last time we would see him in uniform.
“Feels good,” he said Monday. “I wouldn’t put on a uniform for anything else. This is a special thing.”
He put the World Baseball Classic into red, white and blue perspective.
“It’s a bucket list thing for me,” he said.
He is either self-deprecating or painfully honest about his capabilities right now, or perhaps a little of both.
The last World Baseball Classic came down to Shohei Ohtani pitching to Mike Trout. This one could come down to Kershaw pitching to Ohtani.
“I think, for our country’s sake, it’s probably better if I don’t,” Kershaw said.
Former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw fields a ground ball during a workout at Papago Park Sports Complex on Monday.
(Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
Never say never. Team USA planned to run a tremendous rotation of Tarik Skubal, Paul Skenes, Joe Ryan and Logan Webb, but now Skubal says he will pitch just once in the tournament. Skenes says he’ll pitch twice. Ryan says he won’t pitch in the first round, at least.
Kershaw might be needed beyond the role he was promised: save the team from using the current major league pitchers in blowouts or extra innings.
In 11 career at-bats against Kershaw, Ohtani has no hits. Kershaw won’t duck the assignment if gets it, but he considers it so unlikely he is happy to share his game plan publicly.
“It’s throw it, pitch away, play away, hope he flies out to left,” Kershaw said. “Don’t throw it in his barrel.
“I can’t imagine, if it comes down to USA versus Japan, with the arms that we have, that I’ll be needed. But I’ll be ready.”
Kershaw’s average fastball velocity dropped to 89 mph last season, but he led the majors in winning percentage. He could eat innings for some team — maybe even the Dodgers, with Blake Snell and Gavin Stone all but certain to be unavailable on opening day.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, right, celebrates with teammates after the Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays for the 2025 World Series title.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But, even with his success last year and even with the joy of wearing a uniform once again, he insists he isn’t interested in pitching beyond the WBC.
“I don’t want to,” he said. “You can’t end it better than I did last year. I had a great time last year. It was an absolute blast and honor to be on that team. I think that was the perfect way to end it. Honestly, I don’t know if I would have enough in the tank to pitch for a full season again. I’m really at peace with that decision.
“This is kind of a weird one-off thing, but you can’t really turn down this opportunity. It wasn’t easy to get ready for this, with no motivation for a season, but I actually am in a pretty good spot with my arm. I’ll be fine. If they need me, I’ll be ready.”
Kershaw said he has kept in touch with his old Dodgers teammates, with some connecting on video calls from the weight room or clubhouse at Camelback Ranch. He arrived in the Phoenix area two days before the workout, but he skipped a trip to Camelback Ranch.
“I’ve thought about it,” he said. “I miss the guys. I think it’s probably just better, at least for this first year, for me mentally to just stay away, just for spring training.”
Kershaw said he would be at Dodger Stadium for the championship ring ceremony March 27.
He is content with what he calls “Dad life.” He and his wife, Ellen, just welcomed their fifth child, and Dad life includes lots of shuttles to baseball and basketball practice.
“I run an Uber service,” Kershaw said.
This wouldn’t be a Dodgers story these days without some reference to the team’s big spending so, for what it’s worth, Kershaw spent some time Tuesday chatting with Skubal, who will be the grand prize on the free-agent market next winter, or whenever the likely lockout might end.
That’s a rational explanation, Kershaw says, for Skubal pitching just once in the WBC.
“Everybody knows the situation he is in, contract-wise,” Kershaw said. “Any innings we can get out of him is a huge bonus to this team. He’s great. Super competitive. We’re honored to have him.”
Should we assume Skubal will be pitching for the Dodgers next season? Kershaw laughed.
“No comment,” he said, then walked away to get ready for the first game of his post-retirement life.
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Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley sounded off on the frenzied reactions to the U.S. men’s hockey team getting invited to the White House by President Donald Trump.
Trump talked to the Olympic gold medal-winning team immediately after they defeated Canada in overtime last weekend. He said they would be invited to his State of the Union address and added that he needed to invite the women’s team as well or he would be “impeached.”
Charles Barkley sits courtside against the Minnesota Timberwolves during an NBA Cup game at Mortgage Matchup Center on Nov. 21, 2025. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
Trump critics took the joke as a shot at the women’s team, which sparked questions from NHL and Professional Women’s Hockey League reporters as the players returned to their respective club teams.
“I’m proud of the United States men. I’m proud of the United States women. You should have invited both of them to the White House, but it shouldn’t have been disrespect, misogyny,” Barkley said on the “Steam Room” podcast. “Like, yo, man, why do y’all have to mess everything up? Everything isn’t Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal. That’s why we got this divided, screwed up country. Stop it man. Because, you know, the public, they’re idiots. They’re fools. They can’t think for themselves. I know y’all say stuff to trigger them. Y’all say stuff and y’all know they’re going to be fools.”
Barkley lamented that the average person would get riled up over the supposed controversy.
The U.S. team poses for a group photo after defeating Canada in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Milan, Italy, on Feb. 22, 2026. (Luca Bruno/AP Photo)
“We don’t have to fall for stupidity. But we do – that’s my point. These people out here are stupid. They need something to trigger them. Just because they want us to be stupid. We don’t have to be stupid. He should have invited both teams to the White House. Simple as that. Guys who didn’t want to go shouldn’t have to explain why they didn’t go.”
The former Philadelphia 76ers, Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns star made clear he would go to the White House regardless of whether Trump was in office.
“I’ve said this before, I’m not a Trump guy. But if I got invited to the White House, I would go. I’m not a Trump guy – I want to make that clear. But I respect the office,” Barkley said. “He’s the president of the United States. But if guys don’t want to go, I understand that too. It doesn’t have to be a talking point. It doesn’t have to be un-American.
Megan Keller (5) celebrates with a flag alongside Cayla Barnes (3) of Team United States after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime during the women’s gold medal match against Canada on Day 13 of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games at Milan Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, Italy, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
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“I just wish y’all would stop falling for the stupidity.”
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Related Article
Three years ago, as a 14-year-old freshman, Slava Shahbazyan made it to Bakersfield for the state wrestling championships.
“It was good to get experience that young,” he said.
Then came Saturday night when he had a breakthrough moment, winning the state 165-pound championship as a 17-year-old senior for Birmingham High.
“It means everything to me,” he said. “It took four years.”
Shahbazyan, who transferred from Chaminade after his sophomore year, is set to attend Stanford and still in the hunt to be valedictorian at Birmingham. Coach Jimmy Medeiros said he was close to winning last season before finishing fourth.
“He got a lot better,” Medeiros said.
Shahbazyan has been wrestling since he was 8. “My father loves wrestling,” he said.
Two St. John Bosco wrestlers, Jesse Grajeda at 144 pounds and Michael Romero at 150 pounds, also won state titles.
Here’s the link to complete results.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
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