Wait till you see how Astros got Ohtani out

LOS ANGELES -- There’s always an element of chaos when it comes to baseball, even more when the Dodgers and Astros are involved. That was the case on Friday night when one of the most unusual outs you’ll ever see occurred in the bottom of the third inning at Chavez Ravine.

A liner off the bat of Shohei Ohtani went straight toward the mound, ricocheting off the left heel of Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. and right into the glove of shortstop Mauricio Dubón.

"I thought it was a good pitch,” McCullers said. “As a pitcher, you can feel the ball come out of your hand and you know it’s going to be solid. So I threw it and was like, ‘That’s going to be a good pitch.’

“And he smoked it. I was caught off guard a little by him hitting it that hard."

The play carried on as Ohtani kept running and was originally ruled safe at first due to first baseman Christian Walker being off the bag.

But home-plate umpire Quinn Wolcott was quick to overturn the call, noting that the ball never touched the ground before landing in Dubón’s glove, officially making it a bizarre 1-6 lineout in what became an 18-1 Astros victory -- the Dodgers' worst loss at Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962.

McCullers, who had been cruising for the most part despite giving up a solo homer to Will Smith in the second inning, stayed down for a few minutes after taking the comebacker.

"My foot just went numb for a little while,” McCullers said. “Just probably got me in the nerve. But it got me in my heel, so luckily it got me in the heel and not the ankle bone.”

The right-hander was able to get up on his own power and throw a few practice pitches off the mound, ultimately deciding to stay in the game and finish his outing. He got himself into a jam by allowing back-to-back singles to Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and walking Will Smith on four pitches, but McCullers escaped the inning unscathed after drawing an inning-ending groundout from Teoscar Hernández.

McCullers would go on to pitch three more scoreless innings, ending the night with one earned run allowed on four hits, with four walks and four strikeouts on 87 pitches over six innings.

"It was a little bit sore throughout the game, but pitching it was fine. Sitting down, it was a little bit throbbing, but overall it’s all good.”

X-rays came back negative on McCullers’ foot, and he says he feels fine.