LOS ANGELES -- One night after needing to grind out a comeback victory in a game where they’d had the chance to win comfortably, the Dodgers kept their foot on the gas and cruised to a series win.
Shohei Ohtani led off the bottom of the first inning with a booming solo shot -- his first homer since returning from paternity leave just over a week ago -- and the Dodgers never looked back in a 15-2 rout of the Marlins on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Los Angeles tallied a season-high 15 runs and notched 10-plus hits for the sixth time in its past seven games, all while striking out only five times. It was more than enough offense to back a planned bullpen game that went just about as well as the team could have imagined.
Here are three key storylines from the Dodgers' blowout win:
Dad strength on display
The Dodgers briefly trailed after the top of the first inning, but the deficit didn't last long once Ohtani jumped on a first-pitch sinker from Sandy Alcantara and sent it sailing out to right field. At 114.1 mph off the bat, it was Ohtani's hardest-hit homer of the season. Since Statcast began tracking in 2015, only two players have more 114-plus mph home runs than Ohtani's 35: the Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton (73) and Aaron Judge (42).
"For him to make it a [tie] ballgame after the first pitch that their starter throws certainly gets some life into our offense, and we just took it from there," manager Dave Roberts said. "But yeah, when he's going, you can see our offense sort of follows suit."
After going 2-for-16 in his first four games back from the paternity list, Ohtani seemed to find his rhythm in Saturday's win over the Pirates. Since then, he's gone 7-for-15 with five extra-base hits.
Ohtani has enjoyed being able to spend time with his wife and newborn daughter during the homestand, and he's just beginning to learn about the routine changes that accompany fatherhood.
"Just grateful for a safe delivery," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. "I'm glad that even though I couldn't sleep as much as I wanted to, it's a good kind of not-getting-enough-sleep situation."
First to 30
Teoscar Hernández has been a run-producing machine, and he knocked in four more against the Marlins -- his third four-RBI performance of the young season. Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman and Andy Pages are the only other Dodgers to drive in four runs in a game.
Hernández seized the Major League lead with 31 RBIs, passing Judge (29) for the top spot. Remarkably, 14 of those RBIs are from his past seven games.
But it takes a team effort to create run-scoring opportunities, and Hernández noted that Tuesday's win felt like one of the Dodgers' most complete games yet.
"It was like, if the pitching was there, we didn't hit, or when we hit, the pitching wasn’t there," Hernández said. "Today was the first game that I remember that everything was working out from all over."
Sweet and Sauer
While Tuesday was a scheduled bullpen game, the Dodgers only needed to send four arms to the mound -- and one was a position player. Following Jack Dreyer's two innings of one-run ball to open the contest, Matt Sauer held the Marlins to one run across five strong frames, earning his first Major League win. Luis García and utility man Kiké Hernández covered the final two innings, ensuring the team would have its back-end arms available with the opportunity to sweep in Wednesday's finale.
Sauer was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City to provide length, but the Dodgers probably weren't expecting to get quite this much out of him. He covered five innings for the Comets on April 12, but hadn't pitched that deep into a game since then.
In all likelihood, Sauer will soon be headed back to Oklahoma City as the corresponding move to activate right-hander Tony Gonsolin from the 15-day injured list on Wednesday. But the impact of what Sauer was able to do will extend far beyond one game for a Dodgers bullpen that leads the Majors in innings.
"Even when we’re down in OKC, you still follow the big league club," Sauer said, "and I knew the bullpen has been used a lot. So coming into today, I had a goal of at least five innings, help the boys down in the ’pen a little bit. Just happy I was able to do that.”