LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani connected off Jacob deGrom for his second straight leadoff home run, but the Texas Rangers rallied to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 Sunday and avoid a three-game sweep.
Evan Carter hit a tying home run off Roki Sasaki (0-2) and Brandon Nimmo drove in two runs for the Rangers.
Sasaki allowed two runs, five hits and five walks over four innings while striking out a career-high six, lowering his ERA to 6.23.
Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 46 games, fifth-longest in Dodgers history behind Duke Snider (58), Shawn Green (53), Willie Keeler (50) and Ron Cey (47).
Ohtani pulled the first pitch from deGrom (1-0), a 97.9 mph fastball, to right-center for his 26th leadoff homer and fifth home run this season. That was the only run allowed in six innings by deGrom, who gave up four hits, struck out nine and walked three. He beat the Dodgers for just the second time in 13 regular-season starts.
Jakob Junis pitched a hitless ninth for this third save.
Carter’s homer and Josh Smith’s RBI single put the Rangers ahead for good at 2-1 in the third.
Nimmo hit a run-scoring grounder in the sixth, and Kyle Tucker pulled Los Angeles to 3-2 with an RBI single off Jacob Latz in the seventh.
Nimmo added an RBI single in the eighth against Will Klein, who also threw a run-scoring wild pitch.
Texas catcher Danny Jansen was successful in four of five ABS challenges to overturn calls by plate umpire Charlie Ramos.
Up Next
Rangers: RHP Nathan Eovaldi (1-2, 7.89 ERA) starts Monday in the opener of a four-game series at the Athletics and RHP Luis Severino (0-1, 5.40)
Dodgers: LHP Justin Wrobleski (1-0, 4.00) starts Monday’s series opener against the New York Mets and LHP David Peterson (0-2, 6.14)
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