Eyeing Triple Crown, Ohtani closes on batting leader Arráez - ESPN

DENVER — Shohei Ohtani had two hits and raised his average to .310 in his bid to overtake batting leader Luis Arráez and become the National League's first Triple Crown winner since 1937, helping the playoff-bound Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Colorado Rockies 13-2 on Saturday night.

Ohtani went 2-for-5 and closed to within four points of Arráez, who had a night off from the San Diego lineup and is hitting .314 going into the regular season's final day.

Ohtani leads the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs. The last NL Triple Crown winner was Joe Medwick of the 1937 St. Louis Cardinals. The last to achieve the feat in the major leagues was Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in 2012.

«It's very unlikely, but I would expect Arráez to play tomorrow,» manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani overtaking Arráez. «We'll see if Shohei can throw out another big day.»

In addition, Ohtani stole his 58th base of a season after becoming the first 50-50 player earlier this month.

Teoscar Hernandez and Enrique Hernandez each hit three-run homers for Los Angeles, which had 18 hits and has scored at least 11 runs in consecutive games for the first time since July 21-22 last year at Texas. Teoscar Hernandez has 99 RBIs.

Teoscar Hernandez and Ohtani can reach milestones Sunday.

«Hopefully he can get six hits like in Miami so he can at least compete and battle for the batting title and a Triple Crown,» Hernandez said, thinking back to Ohtani's three-homer, 10-RBIs game on Sept. 19. «For me, if I get the opportunity I'm going to try my best, not only for the 100 RBIs but for the run for the team.»

Yoshinobu Yamamato (7-2) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings while striking out six to earn his first win since beating the Rockies on June 1. Yamamoto was