Dodgers vs. Cubs live updates: Shohei Ohtani homers, Dodgers finish Tokyo Series sweep

TOKYO — The Dodgers have transformed into Japan’s MLB team after signing Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki the last two seasons. All the glitz of the Dodger’s Hollywood roster came to Tokyo, marking a second straight year the Dodgers have opened their season in Asia.

Times staff photographer Robert Gauthier offers a glimpse of what the Dodgers’ Tokyo trip has looked like, where the city flowed with Dodger blue.

TOKYO — The entire week was a buildup to this.

Whether the ball struck by Shohei Ohtani would have cleared the right-field wall at the Tokyo Dome if some fans hadn’t reached over the railing is immaterial. In baseball, results are marked in absolute terms, and the official record will forever show that Ohtani homered in the fifth inning of the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

⚾ Dodgers 6, Cubs 3 — FINAL

The Tokyo Dome crowd roared when Miguel Rojas drew a walk with one out in the top of the inning, having done the math and realizing that as long as Andy Pages didn’t ground into a double play, Shohei Ohtani would get one more at-bat Wednesday.

Pages walked.

Shohei Ohtani, however, got on base with a five-pitch walk to load the bases before Tommy Edman grounded into a double play to end the threat.

But they have this memory.

Left-hander Alex Vesia came on to close out the game and recorded two outs before Michael Tucker doubled and pinch-hitter Justin Turner drew a walk to bring the tying run to the plate in Matt Shaw. Shaw grounded out to short to end the game and give the Dodgers the sweep of the Cubs.

⚾ Dodgers 6, Cubs 3 — Eighth inning

The Dodgers got a one-out walk from Will Smith — who reached base for the third time this game — but not much else in a scoreless half of the inning.

Kirby Yates, one of the Dodgers’ free-agent signings to reinforce the bullpen, made his season debut and struck out the first two batters he faced. He surrendered a single to Carson Kelly but then got Jon Berti to pop out to Tommy Edman in short right field.

⚾ Dodgers 6, Cubs 3 — Seventh inning

The Dodgers tried to generate some insurance runs with two outs, but after Andy Pages doubled, the Cubs intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani.

The Tokyo Dome crowd was not pleased.

But the strategy worked for them as Tommy Edman grounded out to third baseman Matt Shaw — who made a nice play to pick off the hard smash — to quell the threat.

Landon Knack completed his second inning of work, retiring the Cubs in order, the last two on strikeouts.

⚾ Dodgers 6, Cubs 3 — Sixth inning

Caleb Thielbar retired the Dodgers in order in the top half of the inning.

Landon Knack became the third Dodgers reliever to come in behind Roki Sasaki and worked around a one-out single to post a scoreless inning.

During the bottom of the sixth inning, third baseman Max Muncy chased after a foul ball by Ian Happ that he appeared to catch at first glance. But he walked away shaking his head and the at-bat continued. (Happ would eventually strike out swinging.)

It turned out, the ball was caught by former USC quarterback Rodney Peete, who was sitting in the stands with his wife, Holly Robinson-Peete. Their son, RJ Peete, is a clubhouse attendant for the Dodgers.

Dodgers

RJ Peete isn’t just a clubhouse attendant with autism. He’s a central part of the Dodgers family

RJ Peete, the son of former NFL quarterback Rodney Peete and actress Holly Robinson-Peete, hasn’t let autism stop him from living his dream with the Dodgers.

Aug. 27, 2023

⚾ Dodgers 6, Cubs 3 — Fifth inning

Shohei Ohtani is on the board.

Ohtani recorded his first home run of the season by slamming a 2-2 pitch to right-center. The homer stood after a replay review to determine if the ball had cleared the fence before it struck fans and bounced back onto the field.

Dodgers broadcaster Joe Davis endured a moment of self-deprecating self-doubt during the review because as you’ll see and hear below, he called it off the bat as if it was a no-doubt home run. (With the sound Ohtani homers make when ball hits bat, who can blame him?)

The call, like the homer itself, stood.

Left-hander Jack Dreyer, the team’s Rubik’s Cube master, made his MLB debut in the fifth inning, retiring the first two hitters — including former Dodger Michael Busch for his first career strikeout. But then Matt Shaw reached on an infield single off Dreyer’s glove, and Dansby Swanson doubled to left to score Shaw. Pete Crow-Armstrong flied out to right to end the inning.

⚾ Dodgers 5, Cubs 2 — Fourth inning

Will Smith jumped on the first pitch and hammered a double into the left-field corner. After Max Muncy popped out to shortstop, Kiké Hernández hit a 2-2 fastball to deep left for the Dodgers’ second home run of the game. For Hernández, it was his first hit of the season after going 0 for 5 in Tuesday’s game.

The Dodgers inserted Luis Garcia to start the fourth inning, ending Roki Sasaki’s MLB debut after three innings. After retiring the Cubs in order on 11 pitches in the first inning, Sasaki had to work in and (mostly) out of trouble in his last two frames, piling up five walks, including three in a row in the third inning that brought in Chicago’s first run.

For the game, Sasaki pitched three innings, allowed one run on one hit with three strikeouts on 56 pitches.

Garcia, for his part, retired the first two hitters in the fourth inning before allowing a walk to Carson Kelly and a single to center to Jon Berti. Ian Happ then singled Kelly home before Garcia struck out Seiya Suzuki.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 1 — Third inning

After Jon Berti reached on a one-out infield single, Roki Sasaki allowed three consecutive walks to bring Berti around with the Cubs’ first run. But Sasaki escaped further damage with strikeouts of Michael Busch and Shaw.

Sasaki’s MLB debut is through three innings and after a 1-2-3 first inning, he’s had to wiggle out of trouble in the ensuing two frames, thanks mainly to five walks. Through the first 14 batters he’s faced, Sasaki has thrown a first-pitch ball 11 times. But he’s allowed only the infield single and recorded three strikeouts on 56 pitches.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 0 — Third inning

The Dodgers added to the lead with a two-out home run to left field by Tommy Edman, his first of the season.

That built on a pair of runs the Dodgers scored in the second inning, when Will Smith walked and Max Muncy doubled Smith to third. Smith scampered home on a passed ball, moving Muncy to third. Kiké Hernández then hit a sacrifice fly to plate Muncy.

TOKYO — Freddie Freeman was feeling better Wednesday, a night after being scratched from the Dodgers’ opening day lineup because of rib soreness.

However, the All-Star first baseman and reining World Series MVP was again out of the team’s lineup for its Tokyo series finale against the Chicago Cubs, with the Dodgers opting for the same cautious approach that led them to send an ailing Mookie Betts home from the trip early.

Like with Betts, the Dodgers decided not to risk pushing Freeman at this early juncture of the season, hoping to ensure his long-term health by keeping him out of action in Japan.

Also like Betts, Freeman is expected to return to the field once the team returns home, with manager Dave Roberts saying his expectation is that Freeman will play during the team’s final preseason games against the Angels back in Southern California next week.

“He lobbied hard, like he always does. He wants to play every day. He prepared to play,” Roberts said of Freeman, who was seen walking to the hitting cages, bat in hand, hours before first pitch. “But ultimately, [he] conceded to myself and the training staff. It’s just too early in the season to potentially put him in harm’s way.”

Without Freeman, the Dodgers once again started Kiké Hernández at first base, and had Teoscar Hernández batting third.

TOKYO — They screamed.

They screamed and made that noise that crowds make when thousands of people scream at the same time, that sound that is heard when the home team takes a lead late in a playoff game.

The smile got a little bigger, the emotions a little deeper, the meaning a little greater the more Dave Roberts looked around the room.

In the wake of last year’s World Series title, in which Roberts led the Dodgers to the second championship of his decorated tenure, the veteran manager spent weeks basking in the triumph. He sprayed champagne in the Bronx. He danced with Ice Cube the day of the parade. He rejoiced with friends and family who watched him endure a season he described as “the most trying” of his nine years with the Dodgers, but also “the most satisfying.”

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan — Other than the concrete skeletal remains of a three-story office supply store, there was nothing on the expansive field.

Just acres and acres of dried grass.

TOKYO — Andrew Friedman remembers the talent, the crowd and maybe most of all, the hats.

In February 2023, in the lead-up to the most anticipated World Baseball Classic to date, the Dodgers president of baseball operations accompanied team scouts and executives on a trip to Japan to get an in-person look at the nation’s Samurai Japan national team.

TOKYO — It was the overriding theme of last October, an intangible factor that yielded triumphant results.

During their run to last year’s World Series, the Dodgers repeatedly cited their clubhouse culture and roster-wide camaraderie as a key behind their postseason success. They knew it sounded cliche. But they felt it was transformational.

TOKYO — When Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that one of Sasaki’s goals was to become the first Japanese pitcher to win a Cy Young Award.

Another pitcher on the Dodgers could steal that distinction from Sasaki, and the most likely candidate might not even be Shohei Ohtani.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto could beat his two countrymen to the honor, and considering how he pitched in the Dodgers’ season-opening 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome, who’s to say he won’t?

“If he can do that, obviously health [permitting], I see no reason why he won’t be in the Cy Young conversation,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

TOKYO — For all the memorable cultural experiences they enjoyed off the field, and all their eye-opening revelations they about the club’s growing popularity here in Japan, the baseball side of the Dodgers’ season-opening trip to Tokyo hadn’t gotten off to the most seamless of starts.

Mookie Betts was ruled out of action after arriving in Tokyo battling a stomach virus, and eventually forced to make an early return home to Los Angeles on Monday night after losing almost 15 pounds.

Freddie Freeman was scratched from the opening-day lineup shortly before first pitch Tuesday night, after experiencing discomfort in the same left rib where he suffered broken cartilage during last year’s postseason.

And, after getting shut out in a Sunday exhibition against a Japanese team at the Tokyo Dome, the Dodgers began their season without a hit for the first four innings against Chicago Cubs ace and star Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga, twice coming up empty in innings they drew two walks.