Shohei Ohtanis long homer helps lift Dodgers past As in wild slugfest

SACRAMENTO –– Dodgers manager Dave Roberts smirked on Monday afternoon when asked for his thoughts on Sutter Health Park.“I’m not saying it’s Denver,” he quipped, “but the ball does carry.”Indeed, in the Dodgers’ first visit to the Sacramento Triple-A stadium masquerading as the Athletics’ temporary big-league home, the ball flew … and bounced … and ricocheted … and landed all over the place in a 9-4 win to start a three-game series.There were 17 hits and three lead changes through the first 3 ½ innings.There were four home runs and 33 total baserunners by the end of the night. The Dodgers got one rally started when the ball got lost in the sun in the second inning, dropping between two Athletics outfielders to fuel a two-run rally. The Athletics answered in the bottom half of the inning when Max Muncy (the Athletics’ young third baseman) hit a single past Max Muncy (the Dodgers’ veteran slugger) on a ground ball that kicked off the bag and hopped into shallow left.On and on the night went, with weird bounces and unusual moments thrilling a crowd of 12,394 in MLB’s most unconventional setting.Finally, however, the Dodgers (55-30) began to pull away.Two home runs in the fourth inning negated an early deficit and gave the team some breathing room, with Muncy tying the game with his 17th of the year before Andy Pages put them in front with a two-run blast for his 16th of the season.Then, in the sixth, Shohei Ohtani provided the biggest highlight of the night, clobbering a three-run homer that would’ve been gone in any of MLB’s 30 ballparks with a 432-foot shot that was the second-longest of his team-leading 18 this season.Along the way, Dodgers starter Eric Lauer finally brought some calm, bouncing back from a three-run second from the Athletics (40-45) by stranding the bases loaded in the third, then retiring 10 of his final 12 en route to a strong six-inning start.And after that, the Dodgers bullpen got through the final three ...