Taylor Ward delivered a tiebreaking single in the top of the 10th inning as the Los Angeles Angels notched a 3-2 victory over the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night in the opener of a two-game set. Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers hit a massive two-run homer and reached base four times in his first game against his former team, but his 455-foot blast accounted for all of his team's runs. Ohtani had two of the Dodgers' five hits.
Ward had two of his team's four hits as the Angels snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Dodgers. Ohtani departed the Angels after last season as a free agent and signed a record 10-year, $700 million contract with the Dodgers . Jo Adell was the runner on second to start the Angels' 10th, and he was sacrificed to third.
Evan Phillips replaced Anthony Banda (1-1) and retired one hitter before Ward came up with two outs and ripped a single to the left of Dodgers third baseman Enrique Hernandez and into left field. In the bottom of the 10th, pinch runner Cavan Biggio was on second and advanced to third on a groundout. Carlos Estevez then struck out Hernandez and Gavin Lux to end it for his 14th save of the season.
Luis Garcia (2-0) allowed one hit in two innings of scoreless relief for the Angels. Ohtani's homer was a moonshot off Matt Moore that landed well beyond the center field fence. Austin Barnes had a two-out single off Moore to keep the fifth inning alive, and Ohtani followed by jumping all over Moore's 1-1 fastball.
The homer was Ohtani'.
