Shohei Ohtani reached base with a ninth-inning single on Saturday night at Coors Field, extending his on-base streak to 50 games even as the Los Angeles Dodgers fell 4-3 to the Colorado Rockies. The Dodgers got the tying run on, but the game ended with Ohtani’s streak in tact and the club’s five-game winning streak gone.
The 50-game run tied Willie Keeler for the third-longest on-base streak in Dodgers history since 1900 and made Ohtani the fourth player in team history to reach safely in 50 straight games. His first plate appearance ended on a throwing error by first baseman Troy Johnston, but that did not count toward the streak, and a catcher’s interference in the eighth inning also did not count. Ohtani had already grounded out in the third inning and flied out in the fifth before breaking through with his single in the ninth.
The loss was the Dodgers’ first against a National League opponent this season after they had opened 11-0, a start that had helped set up an early cushion in the standings. It also came after a stretch in which Los Angeles had won five straight, a run that had masked some of the team’s sharper flaws at the plate.
Those flaws showed up again. The Dodgers went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight runners, leaving too many chances on the field in a game that swung on a few pitches early and late. Kyle Tucker opened the scoring with a 435-foot, two-run home run in the first inning, Dalton Rushing answered with a solo shot in the second, and Emmet Sheehan settled in to allow two runs on four hits over five innings. But Will Klein gave up the lead in the sixth inning, Brennan Bernardino picked up the win, and Victor Vodnik earned his third save.
The Dodgers have leaned on power all month, with multiple home runs in 10 of their first 20 games and a major league-leading 37 homers, but Saturday showed how quickly one quiet night with runners on can change the result. Ohtani’s streak now stands as another marker in a remarkable start, and the club will try to turn the page quickly when the Rockies and Dodgers meet again Sunday afternoon at 3:10 p.m. EST.