On a day Los Angeles Dodgers leadoff man Mookie Betts was lost to a fractured hand, Shohei Ohtani picked up the slack at the top of the order with three of the team's 14 hits in a 9-5 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday.
With manager Dave Roberts telling reporters Betts would likely be out for six to eight weeks, Ohtani went 3-for-5 with two doubles, two runs, a walk, an RBI and a stolen base at Denver's Coors Field.
His second-inning single drove in a run to make it 2-0 behind James Paxton (7-1). The Dodgers lefty struck out eight while allowing a run over seven innings.
Ohtani's 16th steal this season tied Japanese compatriot Kazuo Matsui's 102 in Major League Baseball. They are tied for third among players born in Japan behind Ichiro Suzuki's 509 and Dodgers' manager Roberts' 243.
Toronto's Yusei Kikuchi (4-6) surrendered four home runs over four innings to take the loss at the Blue Jays fell 7-3 to the Boston Red Sox.
Seiya Suzuki hit a game-tying RBI double and scored in the Chicago Cubs' four-run seventh in their eventual 7-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants.
