LOS ANGELES – Still waiting to see how long they will be without their $325 million pitcher, the Dodgers watched their $365 million leadoff man drop to the ground at home plate, writhing in obvious pain after taking a 98-mph fastball to the left hand.
Mookie Betts stayed down for some time after being hit by the pitch in the seventh inning before walking slowly off the field. The injury added an unsettling taste to a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals Sunday afternoon.
The day was filled with positives before Betts was hit by Royals reliever Dan Altavilla. Tyler Glasnow delivered the kind of pick-me-up start aces are supposed to deliver when their team lost one starter to injury after just two innings Saturday, dipped into the bullpen for 22 innings from relievers over the previous four days and had been getting spotty offensive production for weeks.
Glasnow held the Royals scoreless for seven innings, allowing just three hits in that time.
And Shohei Ohtani supplied most of the offense with two solo home runs. Freddie Freeman made it back-to-back home runs when he followed Ohtani’s second with one of his own.
Glasnow retired the side in order in the first inning on nine pitches – eight of them strikes. That set the tone for his outing. He continued to fill up the strike zone and needed 14 pitches or fewer in six of his seven innings. He finished the day having thrown 85 pitches in his seven innings, only 23 called balls.
His curveball was particularly effective. The Royals swung at 15 of them and missed eight times.
The Royals managed to put little stress on Glasnow.
M.J. Melendez got their first hit, a single leading off the third inning. He was erased in a double play.
An inning later, the Royals put two runners on against Glasnow thanks to an infield single and a walk with one out. But Glasnow struck out Salvador Perez and got Adam Frazier to ground out. He stranded another runner after a leadoff single in the seventh.
Glasnow was operating with no margin for error for most of the day – a familiar setting for him.
The Dodgers scored no runs when he was in the game during five of his previous six starts. Sunday, Ohtani’s first home run in the third inning gave Glasnow his only support for five innings until Ohtani and Freeman hit back-to-back homers in the sixth.
Ohtani established his intent to do damage against Royals starter Brady Singer with a long fly ball that went foul during his first at-bat. It left his bat at 111 mph and Singer wound up walking him – which he probably looked back on wistfully as the day went on.
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Ohtani’s first home run was crushed. He sent a 2-and-1 sinker 451 feet into the seats just left of center field. In the sixth, he jumped on a first-pitch slider, down and in, and sent another 111-mph missile, this time a mere 400 feet into the right-field pavilion. Freeman followed with his home run to make it 3-0.
The Dodgers’ balky offense had just two other hits and could now have to forge on without Betts after Royals reliever Dan Altavilla hit him with a 2-and-2 fastball.
