Mookie Betts went deep in his return from the injured list and Shohei Ohtani took over the National League home run lead to lift the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday in the opener of a four-game series.
Clayton Kershaw (1-2), in his fourth start since coming off the IL after recovering from offseason surgery on his left shoulder, allowed three hits before departing with two outs and one on in the sixth.
William Contreras greeted reliever Joe Kelly with his 14th homer of the year to pull Milwaukee within 4-2. Kelly then gave up back-to-back singles but escaped the jam by fanning Rhys Hoskins.
Kershaw allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings, striking out six and walking two in an 83-pitch outing. Alex Vesia and Michael Kopech each tossed a scoreless inning of relief, and Daniel Hudson logged a 1-2-3 ninth for his ninth save of the season.
Freddy Peralta (7-7) surrendered both Los Angeles homers, allowing four runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two.
Ohtani and Betts combined to make it 5-2 in the seventh. Ohtani walked with two outs, then stole his 33rd base of 2024. Betts followed with an RBI single.
The Dodgers, who have won four straight, entered Monday atop the NL West, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. Milwaukee, which is leading the NL Central, was 7 1/2 games in front of the Cardinals and still is following St. Louis’ 6-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds earlier Monday.
Betts, who hadn’t played since June 16 due to a fractured left hand, struck out in his first at-bat, but he put the Dodgers up 2-0 in the third with a two-run homer, his 11th long ball of the season.
Kevin Kiermaier singled to open the fifth and Ohtani followed with his 36th homer, sending a 3-0 fastball 424 feet to left-center.
The Atlanta Braves’ Marcell Ozuna also entered Monday with 35 homers on the year. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees leads the majors with 42 home runs.
The Brewers had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but Kershaw got Sal Frelick to fly out to center and then struck out Joey Ortiz.
–Field Level Media
