TORONTO — Shohei Ohtani responded to boos from the crowd by hitting his seventh home run, Max Muncy and Will Smith also went deep and the Los Angeles Dodgers extended their winning streak to five games with a 12-2 rout of the Blue Jays on Friday night.
Ohtani, who leads the Dodgers in home runs this season, also has an MLB-leading 20 extra-base hits in April. This is the ninth time that a Dodgers player has recorded 20 extra-base hits in a single month since the team moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
Some in the crowd of 39,688 booed Ohtani when he was introduced prior to the game and before each of his at-bats.
“Not surprised,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Unfazed, the slugger homered on the third pitch he saw from Chris Bassitt (2-4) in the first inning.
“After he homered, the guys in the dugout booed him as well,” manager Dave Roberts said. “That was pretty funny. He got a big kick out of that. But I don’t think it’s a motivator.”
Smith said he was impressed with Ohtani’s response to the unwelcome reception.
“You can’t make something happen there,” Smith said. “He got a pitch to hit and he put it over the fence. That’s what he does.”
Ohtani met with Toronto in free agency last winter, visiting the Blue Jays’ spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida.
In early December, rumors swirled that the two-time AL MVP was aboard a private jet to Toronto, ready to sign with the Blue Jays. Ohtani was not on the flight, and his $700 million deal with the Dodgers was announced the following day.
“Aside from how the fans may or may not think, I’m just very grateful for the teams that approached me and wanted to sign me,” Ohtani said. “As I said in my press conference before, ultimately I could only choose one team.”
On Friday, Ohtani was 1 for 4 with a walk with two runs scored. He went 0 for 4 in Thursday’s win at Washington, ending a nine-game hitting streak.
Smith, meanwhile, had his second straight four-hit game and finished with three RBIs as the Dodgers won in their first trip to Canada since 2016.
Muncy’s fifth homer of the season was a three-run shot off Bassitt that highlighted the Dodgers’ six-run third inning.
Smith hit a solo homer off righty Trevor Richards in the fourth, his second of the season.
“Across the board, we took really good at-bats,” Roberts said. “Even the bottom part of the order came through and was really productive as well.”
Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone (2-1) allowed one run and two hits over a career-high seven innings in his third start.
“He was consistently ahead of guys,” Smith said.
Blue Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa pitched the ninth inning and allowed one of the Dodgers’ 19 hits. It was Kiner-Falefa’s second stint on the mound this season and the sixth of his career.
Mookie Betts had two hits and an RBI and Freddie Freeman reached base twice and drove in a run.
Left-hander Nick Ramirez pitched the final two innings for Los Angeles.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
How Michael Busch became a hit for Cubs after trade with Dodgers
Michael Busch has been a first-round draft pick, a top-100 prospect and a Pacific Coast League MVP during his ascent toward the majors. In most organizations, that kind of résumé gets you fast-tracked to the big leagues. But as a prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ system, the path was much more complicated.
First, it was perennial All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman signing a long-term deal to occupy Busch’s primary position in Los Angeles for years to come. Then, an offseason later, it was Shohei Ohtani joining the Dodgers, likely penciling Ohtani’s name into the designated hitter spot for the next decade.
Busch insists he wasn’t fazed by the splashy additions crowding L.A.’s depth chart before he could get the chance to prove himself at Dodger Stadium. But there was one question the former North Carolina star was consistently asked this offseason: Where would he get his at-bats?
“I got that a lot from my friends,” Busch told ESPN this week. “I was always like, ‘Adding those guys is going to increase our chances to win.’ I looked at it as: ‘How can I help this ballclub now?’ Honestly, that was my mindset.”
Busch put that to practice in recent seasons, agreeing to play all over the diamond in hopes of finding a place that would allow him to showcase his bat as an everyday player. Despite the challenges that come with learning a new position each year, Busch never stopped hitting, belting 32 home runs in 2022 and following up by posting a 1.049 OPS on his way to winning the Pacific Coast League’s top honor last season.
“They gave me an opportunity to play second base and I was excited about it,” Busch said with a smile. “Then last year they gave me an opportunity to play third base and I never played third base in my life. I got excited about that as well.”
Then on Jan. 12, Busch’s road to the majors finally opened up — but not with the team that drafted him in 2019. Busch and reliever Yency Almonte were traded to the Chicago Cubs for Single-A players Zyhir Hope and Jackson Ferris — a pair of prospects who were high on L.A’s draft board before being selected by the Cubs.
“It just became harder and harder with the way we were constructed to get him playing time,” Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said recently. “We all felt Michael was a big leaguer and ready to take the next step towards facing MLB pitching every day. And we just didn’t have the opportunity to do that.”
A move that went under the radar during the hot stove season alleviated the Dodgers’ 40-man roster crunch while giving the Cubs a potential long-term solution at a position they have struggled to fill since trading away Anthony Rizzo in 2021.
“He fit the profile of a need that we had,” Cubs GM Carter Hawkins said. “We knew that he was a player that was going to be available, and we knew he was really good — but the Dodgers knew he was really good and weren’t going to give him away.”
The timing of the trade allowed Busch to immediately introduce himself in his new home. Upon learning of the deal, he left in the middle of a visit to Chapel Hill to head to Chicago, put on a Cubs jersey and walked out to applause at Cubs Convention — even though he didn’t entirely know what the team’s popular offseason event was.
“I just know how important it is to be on a team and to build that culture,” Busch said. “Showing up to spring training made it a little easier after being at the convention.”
But the real introduction came a few months later, when Busch entered the season with his name atop an MLB depth chart for the first time. The Cubs’ new first baseman immediately impressed his teammates with his ability at the plate, hitting .389 with five RBIs in six games during his first Wrigley Field homestand — and belting his first home run against the team that drafted him in a thrilling win over the Dodgers.
Then came the streak. From April 10 to April 15, Busch homered in five straight games, tying a franchise mark that put his name in the record books alongside Chicago icons Sammy Sosa and Ryne Sandberg.
“Even before he had that out-of-body stretch of home runs, I saw the consistency in his at-bats, against all types of pitchers, leverage counts, two strike counts, whatever,” second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “And then the raw power is more than I realized.”
Busch’s ability to hit with authority from the left side was already an important component of a lineup that struggled against right-handed pitching a season ago, and it has become even more important now that Cody Bellinger is out with two cracked ribs suffered while running into the Wrigley Field wall.
“I think we’re in that position,” manager Craig Counsell said. “To minimize [the absence] a little bit. And to cover it a little bit.”
Bellinger isn’t the only key player missing from the lineup. The Cubs are also without right fielder Seiya Suzuki, who injured an oblique in the midst of a red-hot start to the season, adding to the need for Busch and others to pick up the slack to avoid a drop-off like the one Chicago suffered when Bellinger was out this past May.
“The challenge part of it I love,” Busch said. “I’ve been happy with the adjustments in my career, dating back to high school and college and pro ball. I think I can continue that here.”
Mike Tauchman, who is filling in for Bellinger in center field, has noticed a presence from Busch that you’d expect to see from a seasoned veteran, rather than a rookie with just 50 major league games under his belt.
“He has a pretty natural feel for how to take at-bats,” Tauchman said. “The home runs have been impressive, but that stuff can come and go. But when he’s not hitting home runs, he’s in control of his at-bats.
“The adjustments have come pretty quickly, which signals a pretty mature approach for a young player. There isn’t a ton of overreaction to a bad at-bat, which is hard to do.”
That scouting report might remind fans of the last player to hold down first base in Chicago for an extended period — and Busch isn’t backing down from the challenge of living up to the standard Rizzo set at the position.
“Great player and doing it at a high level for a long time,” Busch said. “You hear about how good he was in the clubhouse. He loved to work, he loved to play. So do I.”