The Dodgers may want to add one more giveaway to the 18 bobblehead dolls and assorted jerseys, sweaters and hats on this year’s promotional calendar: a chest-protector night, with free catcher’s gear for fans in the right field pavilion.

One unlucky fan could have used some bulletproofing gear in the first inning Wednesday night when Shohei Ohtani blasted a 118.1-mph laser with a launch angle of just 19 degrees into the right-center field stands for his career-best 47th home run, setting the tone for an eventual 10-8 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Chavez Ravine.

“I feel sorry for the fan who tried to catch that,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “Every night I feel like he’s doing something we’ve never seen before.”

Tommy Edman had a great night for the Dodgers, hitting a two-run home run from the right side of the plate to left field in the first inning and a two-run home run from the left side of the plate to right field in the eighth inning. That made it four home runs in 24 hours. The switch-hitter, however, was more impressed by Ohtani’s ability than by his own.

“Every day he does something and you think, ‘I’ve never seen that before,'” Edman said. “The day game on Sunday he hit the ball (450 feet) off the (stadium club) into right field and tonight’s home run was the lowest (launch angle) I’ve ever seen. He crushes the ball. For him to do that and steal as many bases as he does is pretty incredible.”

Ohtani’s homer sparked a five-run, six-hit first inning that included Edman, Will Smith and Muncy hitting back-to-back homers. It was the second time this season that the Dodgers have hit three straight homers and four homers in one inning.

Ohtani walked and stole his 48th base in the second inning, continuing his quest for baseball’s first 50-50 season. He hit a single to center field with two outs and two runs, sending his bat to 111.6 mph, giving the Dodgers a 7-3 lead in the third inning.

“We all know what’s going on for sure,” Smith said of Ohtani’s 50-50 quest. “It’s fun to see. It’s fun to see it every night. … It’s pretty impressive what he’s doing individually, but he’s also helping us win games.”

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The Dodgers avoided a three-game winning streak, extended their lead in the National League West to five games over Arizona and five and a half games over San Diego and cut their magic number to secure the division title to 12 with 16 games remaining.

But they didn’t make it easy on themselves. Right-hander Bobby Miller likely knocked himself out of a potential playoff rotation spot with his second straight poor start, surrendering six runs and five hits — two of them homers — while walking four and striking out two in 4⅓ innings to raise his ERA to 8.17 in 12 starts.

Miller, who gave up seven runs and three homers in a 10-1 loss to the Angels on Sept. 4, issued two walks and surrendered an RBI single to Isaac Paredes and an RBI double to Michael Busch in the first. He surrendered a solo homer to Seiya Suzuki in the third and a three-run shot to Cody Bellinger that cut the Cubs to 7-6 in the fifth.

“I think he’s grinding,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s doing as much as he can, but he didn’t have a feel for the curveball. He didn’t hit it a lot. They hit the fastball well. The changeup was good at times. The walks certainly weren’t helpful.”

Reliever Daniel Hudson replaced Miller in the fifth inning and had two hits. An error by second baseman Chris Taylor on Nico Hoerner’s potential double-play grounder loaded the bases and Pete Crow-Armstrong’s RBI single tied the score at 7-7.

The Dodgers took an 8-7 lead in the seventh when Smith hit a one-out double to right-center and advanced to third on Muncy’s groundout. Miguel Rojas walked, and Gavin Lux, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning, hit a clutch two-out RBI single to center.

Teoscar Hernández singled with two outs in the eighth inning and Edman’s two-run homer gave the Dodgers two huge insurance runs and a 10-7 lead.

Evan Phillips was sidelined in the eighth inning, and Michael Kopech survived a grueling ninth inning, walking the first three batters before Paredes hit a sacrifice fly to right. The Cubs gave the Dodgers an out when Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third, and Busch struck out to end the game.

“I saw a lot of fight,” Roberts said. “It’s been a while since I felt the energy, the buzz, in the dugout that we had in that first inning. We started off really well, took a couple of hits, gave up a big inning and the lead and battled back.”

Ohtani could also prevail in a close battle with New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor for the NL’s most valuable player award.

Ohtani, the American League MVP in 2021 and 2023, is having a stellar offensive season, hitting .292, with a .992 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 47 home runs, 30 doubles, seven triples, 104 RBIs, 116 runs, 48 ​​stolen bases in 52 attempts, 74 walks and 146 strikeouts in 143 games.

Lindor entered Thursday with a .268 average, .832 OPS, 31 home runs, 28 doubles, one triple, 85 RBIs, 102 runs, 27 stolen bases in 31 attempts, 54 walks and 122 strikeouts in 146 games.

But while Ohtani has been demoted to designated hitter as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, Lindor has played Gold Glove-caliber defense at a premium position, posting 17 outs above average, according to Fangraphs, making him the best in the NL.

Both players are keeping their teams in the playoff race, but Ohtani, who hopes to join Frank Robinson in becoming the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, could become the first major league player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season.

“I think it’s a good debate,” Roberts said, when asked about a DH winning MVP over a fielder. “I kind of equate it to a pitcher winning MVP. If you separate yourself enough from the field, I think it’s worthy of consideration.

“And when you’re talking about someone who’s close to achieving something that’s never been done before, a 50-50 season, that to me is what sets him apart from the rest of the field.”

Ohtani and Lindor ranked first and second in the NL in wins above replacement, with Ohtani (7.2) ahead of Lindor (6.5) in Baseball Reference’s version of the all-encompassing metric, and Lindor (7.2) leading Ohtani (6.8) in the Fangraphs model.

“With everything we’ve been through, Shohei leading off and what he’s done has allowed us to stay afloat,” Roberts said. “For him to put up 600 plate appearances and have an unprecedented season has been very valuable.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.