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Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez power Dodgers past Rangers

April 12, 2026

Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani watches his solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

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Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani watches his solo home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Los Angeles, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)

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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers entered Saturday with the best record in the MLB and leading the league in several offensive categories, and the Texas Rangers continued to add kindling to the fire.

Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez clubbed first-inning home runs, and the Dodgers rode that cushion to a 6-3 victory against the Rangers in the second game of their three-game series at Dodger Stadium.

Hernandez also doubled and scored twice, and Will Smith had two singles and scored two runs for the Dodgers (11-3), who have won seven of their past eight games, including an 8-7 win in the series opener on Friday night behind three home runs from Max Muncy, including the walk-off game-winner.

The Dodgers also benefited from a solid pitching performance from right-hander Emmet Sheehan (2-0), who gave up a leadoff home run to Brandon Nimmo and then settled in nicely before giving up a two-run blast to Nimmo in the sixth.

Sheehan allowed three runs and four hits over six innings, striking out six and walking one on 77 pitches.

Jack Dreyer replaced Sheehan to start the seventh and struck out the side, and Tanner Scott pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.

Edwin Diaz, who blew his first save with the Dodgers after giving up three runs in the ninth on Friday, did not come out of the bullpen to close the ninth, but rather Blake Treinen, who got the first two outs before Alex Vesia came in and struck out pinch-hitter Danny Jansen with runners on first and second to end the game.

Sheehan, who served up a three-run homer to CJ Abrams in the first inning of his last start on April 3 against the Washington Nationals, surrendered a solo shot to Nimmo on the second pitch of the game for a 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers came into the day leading the MLB in home runs (25), batting average (.297), slugging (.506) and OPS (.875), but they were up against Texas starter Jack Leiter, who came in with the second-highest whiff rate in MLB (45.3%).

The Dodgers won the first battle when Ohtani led off the first with a home run into the Texas bullpen in right, his ninth of the season, tying it at 1-1.

The inning continued with a line-drive single to left by Smith, followed by a walk to Freddie Freeman. After getting a strikeout, Leiter left a changeup high in the zone to Hernandez and he lifted a high fly over the fence in left for a three-run homer and a 4-1 lead.

The Dodgers loaded the bases with nobody out in the third, but had to settle for just one run when Hernandez hit into a 6-4-3 double play to stretch the lead to 5-1.

After giving up the leadoff homer, Sheehan settled in and retired the next eight in a row, four by strikeout, before Nimmo lined an opposite-field two-out ground-rule double to left field in the third.

Sheehan struck out No. 2 hitter Ezequiel Duran for the second straight time to end the inning.

Sheehan then sped through an eight-pitch fourth inning.

Even after Evan Carter walked on four pitches to start the fifth, Sheehan bounced back to get a quick fly out, followed by a 4-6-3 double play on a nifty turn by second baseman Alex Freeland going to his left.

Sheehan didn’t have an answer for Nimmo, however.

He came up again in the sixth with a runner on first base and homered to right field to cut it to 5-3.

Hernandez doubled into the left-center field gap to start the eighth and Andy Pages followed with a hard single to left that scored Hernandez for a 6-3 lead.

Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez power Dodgers past Rangers Orange County Register

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Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez power Dodgers past Rangers

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