Dodgers’ 9-run first inning, bookended by Ohtani, buries Angels in 9-2 win

The Dodgers scored nine runs in the bottom of the first inning and kept the pressure on through a 9-2 victory over the Angels on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The rout began with a shaky start for Los Angeles, after the Angels plated the game’s first run on an RBI triple by Oswald Peraza in the top half of the opening frame. But the Dodgers answered in a way that flipped the night’s momentum, turning a brief glimpse of trouble into the kind of early cushion that changes bullpen planning and lets an offense hunt for extra at-bats without urgency.

The centerpiece was a first inning that felt assembled in layers: speed, power, and then opportunism. Shohei Ohtani led off with an infield single, immediately setting a tone of pressure on the basepaths. Andy Pages followed with a two-run home run to extend the Dodgers’ lead, and the inning kept compounding as Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts recorded back-to-back singles. A wild pitch moved runners into scoring position, and Max Muncy reached on a comebacker that prolonged the rally, putting even more runners in motion with each defensive mistake the Angels had to respond to.

As the inning grew increasingly difficult for the Angels to manage, Los Angeles cashed in on small breakdowns. Ryan Ward delivered a line-drive double to center field that pushed across additional runs, and after a walk to Dalton Rushing, Alex Freeland’s ground ball to Zach Neto produced a throwing error that allowed multiple runs to score. By the time the Angels’ defense had surrendered those extra outs, the Dodgers were not just ahead. They were already in control of the entire game script.

Ohtani then delivered the bookend. With the score firmly in hand, he returned to the plate and drove a two-run home run deep into center field, his 11th of the season, wrapping up the nine-run outburst. The Dodgers’ manager, Dave Roberts, pointed to Pages’ response homer as a turning point that “kind of put to bed” any momentum the Angels carried from their brief lead, and he emphasized that after that, the Dodgers kept stringing together quality at-bats.

The scale of the inning also placed it in company with the most unusual offensive starts in recent seasons. The nine-run frame was the Dodgers’ highest-scoring inning in 2026, surpassing a six-run inning against the Cubs on April 25. Across Major League Baseball, it was the biggest first inning since Aug. 1, 2025, when the Pirates scored nine against the Rockies at Coors Field. Within Dodgers franchise history, the most prolific recent comparable moment came when Los Angeles posted 11 runs in the first on June 2, 2021, against the Cardinals.

While the first inning carried the night, the rest of the game mattered for how both teams turned the page. Yoshinobu Yamamoto earned the win, working eight scoreless-and-then-some innings stretch overall with one run allowed across 8.0 innings and four strikeouts, providing the steady distance the Dodgers needed after the quick offensive burst. After Los Angeles went dormant at the plate, Roberts lifted Freddie Freeman in the fourth inning for pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas, using the margin to keep key starters fresh. Next, the Dodgers will look to convert a statement inning into consistency, and the Angels will have to clean up a night that included defensive miscues and a starter who did not survive the first turning point.