One Inning, Five Runs, One Hit, and One Very Confused Ballclub

For five innings Saturday night in Anaheim, the Dodgers looked oddly mortal. José Soriano carved through the lineup with a heavy sinker, a disappearing changeup, and the kind of rhythm that makes hitters walk back to the dugout muttering into batting gloves.

Then the sixth inning arrived, and the Angels collectively misplaced the steering wheel.

The Dodgers scored five runs in the inning while producing exactly one hit — an achievement that felt less like an offensive explosion and more like an organizational stress test for the Angels. Walks piled up. Hit batters followed. Bases-loaded free passes became routine. By the time Alex Call punched a two-run single into left field — the lone hit of the rally — the game had tilted so violently it practically needed hazard lights.

From there, the Dodgers did what good teams tend to do against unraveling opponents: they kept pressing until the scoreboard became uncomfortable.

By the end of a 15-2 demolition, Shohei Ohtani had driven in five runs, Mookie Betts had homered, Andy Pages had turned center field into his personal airspace, and the Dodgers had once again reminded their neighbors down the freeway that there are levels to this rivalry.

Pages, in particular, authored the defensive moment that changed the temperature of the game long before the rout began. With two outs in the fourth and the Dodgers clinging to a 1-0 lead, Nolan Schanuel scorched a liner into center that looked ticketed to tie the game. Pages closed hard and made a fully extended diving catch, stealing extra bases and preserving momentum in one motion.

Justin Wrobleski noticed.

So did Dave Roberts.

“I thought Justin went really good out there,” Roberts said afterward. “He did what he does out there — go after guys, compete, and make pitches when he needed to. Certainly, with the two outs, that Schanuel play out in center field was a game-changing play for momentum. Andy just continues to show up in center field.”

Pages finished with 11 putouts, which is the sort of number usually reserved for Pony League box scores or games where one team forgets ground balls exist.

Wrobleski, meanwhile, gave the Dodgers exactly what they needed after Friday’s unscheduled bullpen game caused by Blake Snell’s late scratch. The left-hander worked six innings, allowed two runs, and kept the game quiet long enough for the offense to wake up. Considering the Dodgers announced before the game that Snell will undergo elbow surgery Tuesday to remove loose bodies, dependable innings suddenly carry a little more weight.

Still, the lasting image from the night belonged to Ohtani — and to an Angels sequence that will live in local blooper history longer than anyone in Anaheim would prefer.

In the eighth inning, Ohtani ripped a rocket down the right-field line with two runners aboard. The ball ricocheted into the netting area and stayed live under Angel Stadium ground rules, a detail the Dodgers clearly understood, and the Angels apparently discovered in real time.

Jo Adell retrieved the ball and fired it vaguely toward the infield, though not necessarily toward a teammate. As the Angels scrambled to determine both the location of the baseball and the laws governing baseball, Ohtani never stopped running. He reached third, saw confusion still unfolding, and sprinted home safely for what officially became a triple plus an error — essentially a Little League homer produced at major league payroll levels.

The Angels challenged.

The umpires did not overturn the call.

Roberts sounded almost amused afterward.

“No, because the ground rules here are the netting, if the ball hits, it’s in play,” Roberts said. “So that wasn’t a question. I didn’t really know what they were challenging.”

The fact that the Dodgers knew the result of the play was going to be all three runs scoring, including Shohei, and the Angels in their home ballpark didn’t realize that … I’m going to be honest, that’s embarrassing that they did not know that.

There was a point earlier in the night when it appeared Soriano might simply cruise through six or seven innings. He retired 15 of the first 16 hitters and had the Dodgers swinging over changeups with increasing frustration.

Then, suddenly, nothing was under control anymore.

“He was in complete control,” Roberts said. “The pitch count was in a good spot. We couldn’t manage the changeup-slider mix and we weren’t seeing him really well. He just got into rhythm — until he wasn’t.”

That about summed up the evening for the Angels.

One moment they had a tight game against the best team in baseball. A few innings later they were surrendering five runs on one hit, arguing ground rules they apparently hadn’t read, and listening to a stadium full of Dodgers fans chant “MVP” for the player they once let walk out the door.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, keep rolling. Four straight wins now. Crooked numbers in three different innings. Another reminder that even when they look dormant, they are usually only one inning away from detonating a game.

And occasionally, they’ll do it with one hit.