Shohei Ohtani homered on the first pitch of the game as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Cleveland Guardians 7-2 on Monday night.

Ohtani’s blast was his 19th of the season, leading the major leagues. Andrew Judge of the Yankees and Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies have 18.

Facing the World Series champions is always a challenge, and the Dodgers increased the lead to 2-0 on an RBI single by Andy Pages in the second inning.

MORE PITCHING DOMINANCE

Cleveland struggled on offense for the second day in a row. After facing Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, the Guardians had a tough time with the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-3).

He pitched six innings, giving up three hits and two runs while striking out seven. Yamamoto has a 1.97 ERA.

Steven Kwan put Cleveland on the board in the third inning with a fielder’s choice grounder to score Gabriel Arias.

However, the Dodgers slowly extended their lead to 6-1 with two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

Teoscar Hernandez singled to score Ohtani, and Max Muncy’s sacrifice fly scored Freddie Freeman. Cleveland starter Gavin Williams (4-3) only lasted 4 2/3 innings.

In the sixth, Mookie Betts singled to score Hyeseong Kim. Ohtani scored his third run of the game on a single by Freeman.

SILENT SELLOUT

Cleveland fans packed the ballpark on Memorial Day with a sellout crowd of 34,711. Unfortunately, the Guardians didn’t give them many reasons to make noise.

Kyle Manzardo singled to score Jose Ramirez in the sixth, but Cleveland couldn’t cash in on potential rallies in the seventh and eighth innings.

Ramirez extended his hitting streak to 19 games, despite facing Skubal and Yamamoto.

The Dodgers finished the scoring when Will Smith slapped his fifth homer of the season.

Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt tried Bo Naylor in the No. 2 spot in the batting order. Naylor went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

The series will continue tonight at 6:10 Eastern. Tanner Bibee (4-4) will start for Cleveland against the Dodgers’ Dustin May (2-4).