Shohei Ohtani, Kiké Hernández and Tommy Edman homered and Roki Sasaki walked five and struck out three in three innings in his major league debut as the Dodgers completed a two-game sweep of their Tokyo Series with a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs Wednesday in Tokyo.
Ohtani hit a 2-2 four-seam fastball from Nate Pearson over the right center field fence for a solo homer in the fifth inning, increasing the Dodgers' lead to 6-2. for his first home run of the 2025 season. The call was confirmed by an umpire review.
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Edman hit a solo homer in the third off Justin Steele, the Chicago starter. Hernández hit a two-run homer in the fourth off Steele (0-1), driving in Will Smith, who doubled leading off the inning.
Sasaki retired the Cubs in order in the first, walked former Dodger Michael Busch and Dansby Swanson in the second but got out of the inning when former Harvard-Westlake standout Pete Crow-Armstrong lined to shortstop Miguel Rojas who touched second to complete the unassisted double play.
In the third, leadoff hitter Carson Kelly grounded out to Hernández, the Dodger first baseman, but Sasaki gave up an infield single to Jon Berti, who stole second, then issued back-to-back walks to Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki to load the bases.
Sasaki then walked Kyle Tucker, forcing in Berti, as Chicago cut the Dodgers' lead to 3-1. Sasaki struck out Busch and Matt Shaw to end the inning.
Sasaki allowed one run and one hit. He signed with the Dodgers Jan. 22 after posting a 29-15 record and a 2.10 ERA in four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.
The Dodgers opened the scoring with two runs in the second. Smith led off with a walk, advanced to third on Max Muncy's double and scored on Cubs' catcher Carson Kelly's passed ball. Muncy, who took third on the passed ball, scored on Hernandez's sacrifice fly.
Chicago combined a two-out walk to Kelly and singles by Berti and Happ for a run in the fourth before a capacity crowd announced at 42,367 at Tokyo Dome.
Dansby Swanson doubled in Shaw, who had a two-out infield single, in the fifth for the game's final run.
Landon Knack (1-0), the fourth of six Dodger pitchers, was credited with the win, pitching two shutout innings, striking out three and allowing one hit.
Alex Vesia received a save, his first of the season, allowing one hit, walking a batter and striking out one.
Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman missed his second consecutive game due to left rib discomfort. Manager Dave Roberts said "my expectation is that he'll be good to go for the Freeway Series," which begins Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
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