By Observer Sports Desk
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani turned in a 10-strikeout masterpiece on the mound, and four home runs powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-2 rout of the New York Mets before 50,909 fans at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, April 15 — Major League Baseball’s annual Jackie Robinson Day.
The victory completed a three-game series sweep and improved the Dodgers to 18-4 all-time on Jackie Robinson Day, the best mark in the majors since the league first established the annual tribute in 2004 to honor the man who broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Hours before first pitch, the Dodgers and Mets gathered at the Jackie Robinson statue in Dodger Stadium’s center field plaza for a reflection ceremony. Every player, coach and umpire across Major League Baseball wore the iconic No. 42 in Dodger blue — Robinson’s retired number — along with “42” side patches on their caps and royal blue “42” socks produced by Stance as part of the league’s “We Are Jackie” campaign.
On the field, Ohtani (2-0) made history of his own. The Japanese superstar pitched six innings of one-run ball, striking out 10 and walking two on 95 pitches. He generated 22 swings and misses — his most as a Dodger — and blew a 99 mph fastball past All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor to end the third inning, leaving Lindor laughing as he walked back to the dugout.
It marked Ohtani’s first mound start without batting since May 28, 2021, when he was with the Los Angeles Angels. Manager Dave Roberts — one of only two African American managers in Major League Baseball, alongside Chicago White Sox skipper Will Venable — said Ohtani was still sore after being struck in the back of his right shoulder by Mets pitcher David Peterson two nights earlier.
Ohtani had thrown 33 consecutive innings without an earned run before the Mets’ MJ Melendez, called up from Triple-A earlier in the day, ripped an RBI double in the fifth. It was Ohtani’s first earned run allowed since Aug. 27 of last season against Cincinnati.
The Dodgers gave him an early cushion when Hyeseong Kim launched a two-run homer off Mets starter Clay Holmes in the second inning. Teoscar Hernández added an opposite-field solo shot leading off the sixth against reliever Tobias Myers, and the game broke open in the eighth when rookie Dalton Rushing, who had replaced Ohtani at designated hitter, blasted his first career grand slam off Mets closer Devin Williams. Kyle Tucker followed with a solo shot — his first as a Dodger at home — off reliever Austin Warren to make it 8-1 before Melendez doubled again in the ninth to account for the final Mets run.
It was the Dodgers’ first three-game sweep of the Mets at home since June 19-22, 2017. Los Angeles (14-4) improved to 9-0 against National League opponents this season, while the Mets (7-12) dropped their eighth straight and were outscored 14-4 across the three-game set. New York played the series without injured slugger Juan Soto, who is out with a calf injury.
Wednesday also marked the 79th anniversary of Robinson’s Major League debut. A UCLA alumnus who lettered in four sports as a Bruin, Robinson played 10 seasons in Brooklyn, winning the inaugural Rookie of the Year in 1947, the National League MVP in 1949 and a World Series title in 1955 before his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He remains one of the most consequential figures in American sports and civil rights history.
For the African American community in Southern California, Jackie Robinson Day carries a meaning that extends well beyond the ballpark. In the city where Robinson grew up and first proved what was possible, his legacy continues to shape what sport — and the country — can still become.