Shohei Ohtani pitches well, but Dodgers offense goes back to sleep in loss to Astros

HOUSTON - The Los Angeles Dodgers' offensive woes are not yet behind them.

Their 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros on Tuesday proved as much.

After a breakout performance Monday, as the embattled Astros rolled out their second straight bullpen game, the Dodgers offense slumped Tuesday to the tune of just six hits. The Dodgers have lost five of their last seven games.

Though they showed signs of life with Freddie Freeman's double off the left-field wall in the first inning, Andy Pages' speed on the basepaths in the second, and the bottom half of the order loading the bases with two out in the fourth, the Dodgers squandered each of those scoring opportunities.

Finally in the eighth, Alex Call produced a pinch-hit double. And then former Astro Kyle Tucker, showered with boos as he stepped up to the plate, drove in the Dodgers' first run of the game.

Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani was again out of the lineup, for his third pitching-only outing of the season.

The fact that his performance - as he held the Astros to two runs through a season-high seven innings - included a series of dubious firsts, underscored just how dominant he'd been on the mound to start the year.

The first two hits he gave up were solo home runs to Christian Walker and Braden Shewmake. They were the first homers he'd given up all season, both over the shallow left-field wall at Dailin Park, although Walker's soared to the train tracks above the Crawford boxes.

For the first time in the 2026 campaign, Ohtani surrendered multiple earned runs in a start. He'd won Pitcher of the Month honors for his 0.60 ERA through April.

On Tuesday, Ohtani didn't allow multiple baserunners in an inning until the fifth, when Astros No. 8 hitter Nick Allen and Shewmake hit back-to-back two-out singles off Ohtani.

As he's been known to do in pressure situations, Ohtani shifted into another gear, touching 101 mph en route to striking out Jose Altuve on an outside sweeper that finished in the opposite batter's box as Altuve whiffed.

Ohtani cruised through the next two hitless innings.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 7:55 PM.