Shohei Ohtani gets closer to 50-50 as Dodgers beat Cubs

Shohei Ohtani continued his march toward his first 50-50 season in baseball, hitting his personal-high 47th home run, stealing his 48th base and scoring three runs, and Tommy Edman hit two home runs for the second straight game to lead the Dodgers to a 10-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday night.

In the seventh inning, the score was tied 7-7 when Will Smith hit a double to right-center field with one out and moved to third base on Max Muncy's groundout. Miguel Rojas got a walk and Gavin Lux, who came on as a pinch hitter in the fifth inning, hit a game-winning single to center field with two outs to give Smith the lead (8-7).

Edman, who hit a home run from the right side of the box in the first inning, followed it up with a two-run home run to right – this time from the left side – that gave the Dodgers two more important runs and gave them a 10-7 lead.

Evan Phillips rebounded from his botched save Tuesday night to end the game in order in the eighth inning, and Michael Kopech survived a nerve-wracking ninth inning as the Dodgers extended their lead in the National League West to five games and reduced their magic number to win the division to 12 with 16 games remaining.

Kopech, who allowed one earned run in his first 17 innings with the Dodgers, walked three batters to start the ninth inning before getting Isaac Paredes to hit a sacrifice fly to right. The Cubs gifted the Dodgers an out when Seiya Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third base. Michael Busch struck out to end the game.

Dodgers right-hander Bobby Miller likely pitched himself out of a possible spot in the postseason rotation with his second consecutive weak start. He allowed six runs and five hits — two of them home runs — while allowing four walks and striking out two in 4.5 innings, pushing his ERA to 8.17 in 12 starts.

Miller, who gave up seven runs and three home runs in a 10-1 loss to the Angels on Sept. 4, allowed two walks with two outs and allowed an RBI single by Paredes and an RBI double by Busch, putting the Dodgers behind 2-0 in the first inning.

But the Dodgers outran Cubs left-hander Jordan Wicks, hitting four home runs and six hits in the first inning to take a 5-2 lead. Ohtani hit first, hitting a 118-mph shot into the right-center field seats for his 47th home run of the season, tying him with Cody Bellinger for third on the franchise's all-time list for most home runs in a season.

Teoscar Hernández, returning to the lineup after missing four games with a bruised left foot, hit a single with two outs. Edman hit a two-run homer to left, Smith hit a solo shot to left and Muncy hit a huge shot to right. This is the second time this season that the Dodgers hit three home runs in a row and four home runs in one inning.

Suzuki's solo home run to right against Miller cut the deficit to 5-3 in the third inning, but Ohtani followed Muncy's walk and Rojas' single with a two-out, two-run single to center – that hit sent his bat back to 111.6 mph – to extend the lead to 7-3 in the bottom half of the third inning.

But Miller, reliever Daniel Hudson and second baseman Chris Taylor conspired to give up the lead in the fifth inning. Ian Happ led off with a bloop single to left, Dansby Swanson drew a walk, Suzuki drew a pop out and Bellinger hit a three-run home run to left-center – his 17th of the season – to bring the Cubs within 7-6.

Hudson replaced Miller and walked two batters. Nico Hoerner hit a potential double-play grounder to Taylor, but the ball bounced off his glove and landed in the right field, resulting in an error that loaded the bases.

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit an RBI single to right to tie the game 7-7, but ran to second base while Busch was pinned at third. Busch was thrown out on a rundown between home and third base, and Christian Bethancourt struck out, ending the inning.

Ohtani's performance improved his position in the heated battle with New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor for the NL Most Valuable Player award.

Ohtani, the American League MVP in 2021 and 2023, had the best offensive season with a .292 average, a .992 on-base plus slugging percentage, 47 home runs, 30 doubles, seven triples, 104 RBIs, 116 runs, 48 ​​stolen bases on 52 attempts, 74 walks and 146 strikeouts in 143 games.

Lindor entered Thursday's game with a .268 average, an .832 OPS, 31 home runs, 28 doubles, one triple, 85 RBIs, 102 runs, 27 stolen bases on 31 attempts, 54 walks and 122 strikeouts in 146 games.

But while Ohtani was demoted to designated hitter while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Lindor played Gold Glove-level defense at a premium position and averaged 17 outs above average, leading the NL, according to Fangraphs.

Both players have kept their teams in the playoff race, but Ohtani, who is looking to join Frank Robinson as the only players to be named MVP in both leagues, could become the first major league player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.

“I think it's a good debate,” said manager Dave Roberts when asked if a DH would win the MVP over an outfielder. “I liken it to a pitcher winning the MVP. If you stand out enough from the field, I think it deserves consideration.”

“And when you talk about someone who is about to do something that no one has ever done before, a 50-50 season, to me that's about standing out from the rest of the field.”

Ohtani and Lindor ranked first and second in the NL in wins above replacement, with Ohtani (7.2) leading Lindor (6.5) in Baseball Reference's version of the all-encompassing metric and Lindor (7.2) ahead of Ohtani (6.8) in the Fangraphs model.

“After everything we've been through, Shohei's first at-bat and his performances have kept us afloat,” Roberts said. “For him to hit 600 at-bats and have an unprecedented season was very valuable.”