The Freeway Series is supposed to be a friendly little crosstown scrap. Somebody forgot to tell the Dodgers. Before the Angels could find their seats, LA had already hung 9 runs in the first inning and the broadcast graphics were begging for mercy.
The headliner, predictably, was Shohei Ohtani. Facing his old org with a chip on his shoulder he never seems to lose, Ohtani jumped on Brent Suter and put one in the seats to push the lead into laugher territory. 2-for-2 with a bomb before some fans had even cracked their first beer.
Ohtani's first-inning blast off Suter with the scoreboard already 7-1.
Ohtani wasn't even the only Dodger swinging a flamethrower. Andy Pages got the party started earlier in the frame with a 2-run shot off Kochanowicz — his 14th of the year, which is starting to nudge the All-Star conversation whether you were paying attention or not.
Pages launching number 14 into the pavilion.
And just to twist the knife, Tyler Glasnow was the guy taking the ball for LA. Because of course he was. The Dodgers' roster has become a running joke at this point — every time you look up, another front-line arm or middle-of-the-order bat is wearing blue. The first pitch ceremony might as well come with a press conference.
A gag on the Dodgers' habit of signing literally everybody, with Glasnow's name lit up on the ribbon board.
Nine in the first against your crosstown rival is the kind of inning that ends careers in the bullpen and group chats in Anaheim. Ohtani gets his revenge tour, Pages keeps stacking homers, and the Dodgers keep doing Dodgers things. The Angels just wanted a fun weekend series. Instead they got buried before the popcorn was warm.