Dodgers' Walker Buehler Shades Angels Crowd in Shohei Ohtani's Return to Anaheim

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler poked fun at the Los Angeles Angels' decision to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani to get to Mookie Betts in the 10th inning of Tuesday's game.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Buehler joked there was "more enthusiasm" for fans at Angels Stadium to watch the Dodgers before talking about trying to decide between facing two of the best hitters in MLB.

The Dodgers took a 3-2 lead on Miguel Rojas' one-out RBI single in the top of the 10th. After Gavin Lux grounded out, Angels manager Ron Washington intentionally walked Ohtani to put runners on first and second with two outs.

Betts made the move backfire by hitting a three-run homer to break the game open, as the Dodgers went on to win 6-2.

Even though the end result was bad for the Angels, their process wasn't totally flawed. Lux's groundout advanced Kevin Kiermaier to second base, leaving first base open.

The issue is Washington allowed reliever Roansy Contreras to face the right-handed hitting Betts. Even though Contreras is also right-handed, he has a huge reverse platoon split this season.

Contreras has held left-handed hitters to a .204/.296/.323 slash line with three homers allowed in 108 plate appearances. Righties have lit up Contreras to the tune of a .264/.354/.472 slash line in 145 plate appearances.

If Washington wanted to avoid pitching to Ohtani, he should have had a better plan than to leave Contreras in that spot. It wasn't like he had to exhaust his bullpen because Reid Detmers turned in a terrific start with 10 strikeouts and two earned runs allowed over six innings.

There are no good answers when the choices are facing Ohtani or Betts, but Washington waited one batter too long to make a move. He brought in lefty Brock Burke after Betts homered. Burke gave up a single to Freddie Freeman before striking out Teoscar Hernández to end the inning.

The bigger story is that the Dodgers, even with all of their rotation concerns, are playing as well as they have all season. After going 11-13 in July, they have won 21 of 30 games since the start of August.

Los Angeles has the best record in MLB at 84-55 and opened up a 5.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres (79-61) in the NL West.