Shohei Ohtani homers twice as Dodgers avoid another letdown vs. Orioles

Shohei Ohtani homered twice and Los Angeles starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw took a shutout into the sixth inning and this time the Dodgers held on to avoid a series sweep, beating the host Baltimore Orioles 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.

Mookie Betts also homered and drove in another run with a ninth-inning single.

The Dodgers (79-64) ended a 1-5 road trip and remained atop the National League West.

The Orioles (66-77) had won with ninth-inning walk-off stunners in the first two games of the series, including using a four-run ninth inning Saturday.

Michael Conforto joined Ohtani and Betts with two hits for the Dodgers.

Emmanuel Rivera, who had Saturday night's game-winning single, notched two of Baltimore's eight hits. The Orioles' five-game winning streak ended, with their batters striking out 15 times.

Ohtani hit Tomoyuki Sugano's second pitch of the game for a home run in a matchup between Japanese players. His second blast -- and his 48th of the season -- came off Sugano to lead off the third.

Betts made it back-to-back long balls by following Ohtani's smash with his own in the third inning. Betts has 16 homers.

Kershaw (10-2) logged 5 2/3 innings and he was charged with both Baltimore runs in the sixth inning. Rivera's double off Kershaw provided the first run and Alex Jackson doubled off reliever Edgardo Henriquez to make it 4-2.

Kershaw, facing the Orioles for the first time in his career, didn't allow a hit until Rivera's two-out single in the fourth. On Saturday night, Baltimore's first hit came with two outs in the ninth as the big comeback began.

Sugano (10-8) has lost three straight decisions. He surrendered four runs on seven hits in three-plus innings.

Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski gave up two singles in the seventh, but struck out Jeremiah Jackson and Ryan Mountcastle to get out of the threat. Wroblewski worked a less-eventful eighth inning and finished with five strikeouts in two innings.

Jack Dreyer pitched the ninth for his third save.

--Field Level Media