LOS ANGELES -- The top of the Dodgers' order is just about set in stone, but the team has not had its vaunted trio of MVPs in place for much of the young season.
Shohei Ohtani has started all of Los Angeles' games in the leadoff spot, but Monday night's 5-3 win over the Rockies marked only the fifth game where he, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman were all in the starting lineup.
Even then, L.A. wasn't quite back at full strength, because Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez sat out of the series-opening game because of a stomach bug. But Ohtani and Betts both went deep to back six innings of one-run ball from Dustin May -- who earned his first win in nearly two years -- and the Dodgers were largely in control against their divisional rivals.
Heading into Monday's opener, Colorado had been swept in three games -- and shut out in all of them -- in San Diego, a scoreless streak that extended to a franchise-record 32 innings. Meanwhile, Los Angeles was in an offensive funk of its own, having been outscored 20-5 in the three-game set against the Cubs that marked the Dodgers' third straight series loss.
Los Angeles had lost six of its last nine games, and during that stretch, manager Dave Roberts saw his offense stray from its identity. He thought the Dodgers took a step in the right direction on Monday.
"I liked tonight," Roberts said. "I thought we built innings. We created stress. ¡ We took our walks. A lot of traffic. Really got to the starter. I think offensively, very sound. Back to kind of who we are."
For a lineup that needed to get its edge back, Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela was the right man on the mound. Opposing hitters slashed .415/.441/.585 against Senzatela in his first three starts.
The Dodgers wasted no time in getting to Senzatela on Monday, with Ohtani leading off the bottom of the first with a single before Betts cleared the wall in left-center to give his team a 2-0 lead. Freeman followed with a base hit. In that opening inning, and throughout the contest, the three stars atop the Dodgers' order set a much-needed tone, with all of them reaching base three times apiece.
"Shohei gets a two-[strike] hit, Mookie hits a homer, just kind of gets us on the board, get a lead," Roberts said. "Freddie comes up and just doing what he does, taking good at-bats. ¡ Those guys, they're perennial All-Stars for a reason, and having them do what they do is certainly helpful."
The overall production was still top-heavy for L.A.: Ohtani and Betts combined to knock in three runs -- and collectively scored all five for the Dodgers -- with cleanup hitter Will Smith driving in the other two. Nine of the Dodgers' season-high 10 hits came from the top four in the order, whereas the Nos. 5-9 hitters went a collective 1-for-15.
Both Betts and Freeman missed the season-opening Tokyo Series, Betts with an illness that caused him to lose around 18 pounds and Freeman with left rib discomfort. Once the Dodgers returned to home soil, Betts sat out one more game as he continued to rebuild strength, but Freeman aggravated his surgically repaired right ankle after the Dodgers' first home series and needed a stint on the 10-day injured list.
Freeman missed the minimum time while on the IL, but the middle of his absence coincided with the beginning of the Dodgers' offensive slump. His replacement at first base, Kik¨¦ Hern¨¢ndez, fielded the position well but went just 3-for-31 in his stead -- although all three hits were homers.
When Ohtani, Betts and Freeman are all in the lineup, there's a tacit expectation that they will provide the spark that the Dodgers need. It goes beyond the top three, though; all nine hitters in the order know what they are collectively capable of as a team.
During this recent stretch where the offense has been out of sync, the Dodgers have maintained a sense of perspective. They know that they can't let an early lapse drag them down when there are 144 games to go in the regular season.
"It¡¯s a long season," Betts said, "and the more you try, try, try, it¡¯s like the further it gets away from you. The more you chase it, it just keeps running away. So when you just let things happen, just play the game like you always do, good things tend to happen.¡±