Peter Lambert twirled seven scoreless innings to outduel Shohei Ohtani and lead the Houston Astros to a 2-1 interleague victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday.
Lambert (2-2) matched his career high for innings pitched and set a new single-game high with 104 pitches. With pitching-strapped Houston needing length from its starter, Lambert delivered.
Lambert stranded a pair of baserunners in the first inning and left Andy Pages at third to conclude the second. He retired the Dodgers in order in the third, fifth and sixth innings, and worked around Los Angeles’ two-out rally in the fourth to escape his most tense inning.
Lambert retired Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernandez on called third strikes to open the fourth. Max Muncy and Alex Freeland walked around Pages’ two-out single to load the bases for Miguel Rojas. Lambert responded by inducing a fielder’s choice grounder to end the threat.
Freeland worked a one-out walk in the seventh, but Lambert induced Rojas to roll into a 4-6-3 double play to cap his outing. He allowed three hits, issued four walks and recorded four strikeouts.
Ohtani (2-2) was nearly as sharp, save for two fastballs that were launched out to left field.
Ohtani needed only 10 pitches to breeze through the bottom of the first inning. But his first pitch of the second resulted in a 1-0 deficit when Christian Walker drilled a fastball 395 feet to left for his ninth homer of the season. An inning later, Houston struck again.
Braden Shewmake, a late lineup addition after Carlos Correa was scratched with an ankle injury, popped an 0-1 fastball just inside the foul pole in left with one out in the third to double the lead.
Ohtani, the National League Pitcher of the Month for March/April, then retired seven straight. He pitched out of the stretch for the first time with two outs in the fifth when Shewmake followed a Nick Allen single with a single to center. Ohtani struck out Jose Altuve to snuff that threat. He allowed two runs on four hits and struck out eight over seven innings.
Tucker delivered an RBI single off Astros reliever Bryan King in the eighth, but King earned his third save with a scoreless ninth.
