TORONTO — Canadians are known to be good-natured, polite and just downright nice.
They went a little off brand at Rogers Centre on Friday night, putting that aside to boo Shohei Ohtani like so many jilted lovers who stored up their animosity since December when false media reports gave them false hope that Ohtani would be starting a deeper, more meaningful relationship with them.
Ohtani had a 360-foot response to the boos in his first at-bat, lining a home run into the right field seats.
If the sellout crowd of 39,688 came to boo Ohtani, their passion didn’t help the home team (except at the coffers). The Dodgers pounded the Blue Jays for 19 hits – including additional home runs from Max Muncy and Will Smith, about whom Toronto fans are ambivalent – on the way to a 12-2 win on Friday night.
The win was the Dodgers’ fifth in a row (four to start this nine-game road trip), putting their 2-6 stretch at home in the rear-view mirror. They have outscored the New York Mets, Washington Nationals and Blue Jays during the winning streak, 39-6.
Ohtani went quiet after his first-inning homer. The rest of the Dodgers’ offense did not.
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Jays starter Chris Bassitt lasted just 2⅔ innings. Of the 19 batters he faced, 11 reached base (nine hits, two walks) and seven came around to score.
Six of those runs hounded Bassitt from the game in the third inning, with Muncy’s three-run homer the big blow.
Smith had a two-run single in the third, a solo home run in the fourth, a double in the sixth and another single in the seventh, finishing with his fourth four-hit game of the season and second in a row – he was 4 for 6 in Washington on Wednesday then didn’t play on Thursday. Smith is hitting .376 this season, second in the majors only to Mookie Betts who was 2 for 3 Friday with an RBI double and his major league-leading 22nd walk before he got the later innings off.
Dodgers starter Gavin Stone was the beneficiary, cruising through a career-high seven innings. Stone allowed just two hits, one a solo home run by Blue Jays catcher Danny Jansen. The Jays got just one other runner past first base against Stone – Cavan Biggio walked and stole second in the third inning – and Stone retired the final 10 batters he faced after Jansen’s solo blow.
More to come on this story.
Shohei Ohtani greets the Toronto fans with a HR pic.twitter.com/4SbklNRIiz
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 26, 2024
Max Muncy with a 3-run tank! #LetsGoDodgers pic.twitter.com/YzOMJSemQS
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 26, 2024
Mookie Betts drives in a run with a laser to left field. pic.twitter.com/zFYk1Mncyj
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 27, 2024
