DENVER -- Shohei Ohtani reached a milestone in his quest for Dodgers history on Saturday night, singling with two outs in the ninth inning of Los Angeles’ 4-3 loss to extend his on-base streak to 50 games. That ties Ohtani with “Wee” Willie Keeler’s mark for third-longest in Dodgers history (since 1900).
But the remarkable streak very nearly came to an end.
Leading off the game against Colorado starter Ryan Feltner, Ohtani hit a ground ball behind first base that was gloved by Troy Johnston, who threw high to a covering Feltner. The ball glanced off Feltner’s glove and Ohtani was safe at first.
But because the play was ruled an error on the first baseman, it did not count as reaching base for purposes of Ohtani’s streak.
Ohtani then grounded out to first base in the third inning and flied out to left field in the fifth. When he came to the plate in the eighth, he hit a ground ball to shortstop. But catcher’s interference was ruled against Rockies backstop Hunter Goodman.
That goes down as an error on the catcher in the scorebook, and as a result, despite Ohtani reaching first base for the second time on the night, it did not count toward his on-base streak.
It was that kind of night for the Dodgers overall, too.
Kyle Tucker got Los Angeles on the board early by launching a two-run homer to right-center field after Ohtani reached on the error in the first. Dalton Rushing added another run with a solo homer -- his fifth in six games this season -- in the second.
Right-hander Emmet Sheehan started and threw five innings, over which he gave up two runs on four hits, walking two and striking out four.
But none of that was enough on this night, as Colorado broke through with a two-run double by Troy Johnston off reliever Will Klein to put the Rockies ahead in the sixth.
The loss is the first for the Dodgers against an NL opponent this season after they began the season 11-0 in such games.