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Shohei Ohtani levels the score at 52-52 in Dodgers win over Rockies

If the Dodgers had won the National League West title by now, as they usually do, they could have given Shohei Ohtani Friday night off to bask in the afterglow of Thursday’s six-hit, three-homer, two-double, 10-RBI game that saw him become the founding member of baseball’s 50-homer, 50-stolen-base club.

But with the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, the two best teams in baseball since the All-Star break, close to a possible victory in the penultimate weekend of the season, Ohtani was in the lineup for the season opener against the last-place Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

“There are no days off now,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “We’ve got to keep winning baseball games. We’ve still got people on our tails and I want our guys to stay hungry.”

That’s no problem for Ohtani, who has appeared insatiable at the plate. The slugger hit his NL-leading 52nd home run in the fifth inning, turning a one-run deficit into a one-run lead, and he stole his 52nd base in the seventh, part of a three-hit night that helped the Dodgers win 6-4 at Chavez Ravine.

Teoscar Hernández broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth inning with his 30th home run and capped a two-run seventh with an RBI single. The Dodgers (92-62) cut their magic number to five and captured their 11th division title in 12 years, holding on to a four-game lead over the Padres and a six-game lead over the Diamondbacks.

Ohtani, who hit a chest-high, full-count, 92 mph fastball from Rockies left-handed pitcher Kyle Freeland 415 feet for his go-ahead home run, went 9-of-10 with four homers and 12 RBI in wins over Miami on Thursday and Colorado on Friday night.

“I think he’s really stepped up his focus, he really has,” Roberts said of Ohtani. “I don’t want to say that anybody ever tries to make outs, but I think he’s been determined the last couple of games. To be able to cover that ball above the zone, to go to the wide end of the field, is pretty spectacular. And you look at the last week of homers, those were downfield balls, so for him to be able to cover that, it’s just pretty remarkable.”

The Dodgers trailed 2-0 when Andy Pages led off the fifth inning with a 407-foot home run to left field off Freeland. Max Muncy doubled to left-center field with one out and Ohtani sent a 110-mph rocket on what could have been Ball 4 over the center field wall for a 3-2 Dodgers lead.

“It’s just the ability to generate bat speed, to keep up with that pitch,” Roberts said, when asked how a player can hit a ball that high and hard. “And he didn’t see a lot of pitches up there tonight. There were a lot of changeups down there. I’m sure Freeland was pretty surprised, too, but (Shohei) is only making one right now.”

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani receives a standing ovation against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

Shohei Ohtani receives a standing ovation before his first at bat Friday against the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Sam Hilliard hit a two-out homer off Alex Vesia to tie Colorado 3-3 in the sixth inning, but Hernández followed that up with a homer in the sixth to make it 4-3. In the seventh inning, the Dodgers extended their lead to 6-3.

Ohtani had a hand — or rather, two twirling legs — in the seventh-inning rally, following Tommy Edman’s walk and stolen base with an infield single that beat Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia and put runners on first and third with one out.

Ohtani stole second without a throw for his 29th consecutive stolen base without being caught. Edman scored on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly to center, Ohtani took third and Hernández followed with an RBI infield single for a 6-3 lead.

“Shohei plays the game hard,” Roberts said. “He steals bases, runs hard down the line. And if he hadn’t come out of the box hard, it would have been two outs and a player on third. Instead, it’s first-and-third, which allows Mookie to drive in a run on the sac fly. Those are little things that make a big deal.”

Evan Phillips (seventh) and Blake Treinen (eighth) pitched scoreless innings as part of a bullpen game, and Michael Kopech surrendered a leadoff homer to Toglia in the ninth inning before retiring three batters in a row for his 14th save.

Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts catches a ball near the wall during the first inning on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.

Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts catches a ball near the wall during the first inning on Friday against the Colorado Rockies.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The game opened with a stunning piece of web play by Betts, with the Dodgers right fielder running to the wall to catch a Charlie Blackmon drive in the first inning, robbing the leadoff man of extra bases.

Ohtani, lined up with his teammates in front of the dugout, received a long standing ovation from a crowd of 49,073 when he was introduced in the bottom of the first inning, but with chants of “MVP!” echoing through the stadium, Ohtani struck out the side, beginning a four-inning streak in which the Dodgers managed just two singles against Freeland.

The Rockies scored on Hunter Goodman’s groundout of Joe Kelly in the second inning and Blackmon’s two-out solo homer off Daniel Hudson in the fifth. Brusdar Graterol covered the sidelines in the third and fourth innings.

Rehabilitation report

Clayton Kershaw threw 32 pitches from the bullpen on Friday, just two days after throwing 80 pitches from the bullpen mound in Miami. That doesn’t necessarily mean the left-handed pitcher is on the verge of a return from a toe injury that has sidelined him since Sept. 1.

“The biggest thing is getting him healthy, which he’s not yet,” Roberts said. “The other part is keeping his arm moving so you don’t lose the buildup he’s had. The last part is execution, and that’s tough when you’re not working with the full deck. He’s trying his best and every day that goes by he’s getting healthier and feeling better.”

Reliever Anthony Banda, who suffered a fractured left hand when he hit what the team described as an “immobile object” in frustration after giving up two runs in a Sept. 9 game, threw a bullpen session on Thursday and is scheduled to throw bullpen training again this weekend.

“The velocity was good and he throws another one with his slider,” Roberts said of Banda, a left-hander who is 2-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 46 games. “He should be ready to go for us the day he’s eligible to come off the injured list.”