The Dodgers are better than the Giants. That's not really a secret at this point given their respective rosters. Typically, however, the two teams play each other closer than their talent gap might suggest. Monday night's 3-2 Dodgers win was an example of that, but Tuesday night never got that kind of drama thanks to Shohei Ohtani.
It was the red-hot Gavin Lux who opened the scoring in the first with a two-run double, but Giants rookie Tyler Fitzgerald answered in the top of the second with a solo homer to make it a 2-1. From there it looked like it might be another nail-biter.
Then Ohtani stepped to the plate with two runners on in the fourth and drilled a two-run double to stretch the Los Angeles lead to 4-1.
He added the knockout blow in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single that pushed the Dodgers' advantage to 5-1. They went on to win it 5-2, surviving a brief scare in the ninth that was made a little less uneasy thanks to Ohtani's trio of RBIs.
It wasn't quite the three-RBI performance Teoscar Hernandez had the previous night, but it was the sort of game that helps make Ohtani's MVP case. A two-for-five night with a double and three RBIs pushed his average to .314 and his OPS to a whopping 1.032. He also continued leading the way for a Dodgers offense that hasn't had its MVP-candidate leadoff hitter Mookie Betts in the lineup for over a month while he deals with a broken hand.
There are more MVP moments than Tuesday night, but in a rivalry game where LA was trying to put its Northern California rival 400-plus miles in the rearview, Ohtani was the one who floored it and put his club over the top.
