Dodgers: There aren’t many times when you can say Shohei Ohtani is improving. However, the Dodgers superstar is having a great May after not finding his power stroke until June 1 most seasons. Ohtani has hit a leadoff homer in consecutive games for the second time in his career. In Monday night’s 7-2 win over the Guardians, the reigning National League MVP drove a low, inside fastball from Gavin Williams into the right-field stands for his major league-leading 19th homer of the season. According to Major League Baseball, Ohtani is the fourth player in franchise history with at least 19 home runs in the Dodgers’ first 54 games, joining Cody Bellinger (19 in 2019), Roy Campanella (19 in 1955) and Gil Hodges (20 in 1951). It was Ohtani’s fifth leadoff homer this season and 17th since arriving in the majors from Japan in 2018. It was the second time this year he went deep on the first pitch. “Shohei is always going to be aggressive early,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. Ohtani also had leadoff homers in consecutive games June 25-26 last season against the White Sox. Entering Tuesday night’s game, the slugger led the majors with 12 homers in May and was fifth in RBIs with 23. He was a .259 hitter in May from 2018 through ’24, but was batting .305 this month. Ohtani is recovering from surgery on his right elbow on Sept. 19, 2023.

Rangers: Jacob deGrom had a start like no other he’s ever had in the major leagues. The two-time Cy Young Award winner didn’t strike out a batter for the first time in his career. “I actually didn’t know that. I heard it when I walked inside, but they were aggressive early,” deGrom said after going 5 1/3 innings for the Rangers in his 229th career game, a 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Monday. It was the first loss in the last seven starts for the 36-year-old deGrom (4-2), who has made 11 starts overall this season after missing most of the last two years following his second Tommy John surgery. Daulton Varsho hit a solo homer in the first inning, and the only other run deGrom allowed came on a sacrifice fly. He gave up five hits and walked two before manager Bruce Bochy pulled him in the sixth after 81 pitches. DeGrom has 1,728 career strikeouts, and entered Monday’s game with a 30.9% career strikeout rate. He had multiple strikeouts in all but one of his previous 228 starts, against the Phillies on Sept. 16, 2020, when he had only one strikeout before exiting after two innings with a right hamstring spasm. That was 10 days after he struck out 12 Phillies in a game.

Athletics: The A’s acquired LHP Sean Newcomb from the Red Sox for an undisclosed amount of cash on Tuesday. The 31-year-old Massachusetts native was designated for assignment on Saturday after posting a 3.95 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 12 games this season for the Red Sox. He opened the year as a starter, before being sent to the bullpen, where he has given up runs in each of his last four outings. A first-round draft pick by the Angels in 2014, Newcomb is 28-29 with a 4.46 ERA in 187 career games with the Braves, Cubs, A’s and Red Sox.