Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record.
Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year.
Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip.
Photo: AFP
He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs and the Twins leading by one run, Rocco Baldelli elected to put Ohtani — the potential winning run — on base. Esteury Ruiz drew a walk to load the bases, setting the stage for Freddie Freeman, who delivered a two-run hit to left field. Betts and Ohtani scored to give the Dodgers a 4-3 win.
Ohtani did not speak to the media after the game.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was the right move to walk Ohtani, but it “just didn’t work out.”
“It was the right decision,” he said. “He’s got five in a row now [games with homers], which is pretty impressive. He continues to use the big part of the field and hit breaking balls, hit fastballs, so that’s been really good... I mean, Shohei comes up with a chance to win the game, so you got to take your chances with their closer and against Esteury, and fortunately, Esteury put together a good at-bat to get Freddie up there.”
It was the seventh time in Dodgers history that a player has homered in five consecutive games. Ohtani joins Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Shawn Green and Roy Campanella in that club.
Ohtani, a three-time Most Valuable Player, is batting .276 with 70 RBIs.
The record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, which has been held for a long time by Dale Long, Ken Griffey Jr and Don Mattingly. Griffey Jr was the last player to do it in 1993.
Roberts was asked if he thinks Ohtani can reach eight consecutive games.
“Well, I don’t know that answer,” he said. “I do know that if he has the same approach that he’s had the last week, that Green Monster [Boston’s Fenway Park] is very short. So any fly ball that he hits will be a homer.”
Elsewhere, the San Francisco Giants crushed the Atlanta Braves 9-3, the Cincinnati Reds blanked the Washington Nationals 5-0, the Miami Marlins pipped the San Diego Padres 3-2, the Pittsburgh Pirates plundered the Detroit Tigers 6-1 and the New York Mets dropped the Los Angeles Angels 6-3.
The Colorado Rockies devastated the St Louis Cardinals 6-0, the Houston Astros survived the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3, the Cleveland Guardians outlasted the Baltimore Orioles 3-2 and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the New York Yankees 8-4.
The Milwaukee Brewers drowned the Seattle Mariners 10-2, the Boston Red Sox overcame the Philadelphia Phillies 9-8 in 11 innings, the Kansas City Royal bested the Chicago Cubs 8-4, the Texas Rangers pipped the Athletics 2-1 and the Chicago White Sox rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 11-9.
Additional reporting by staff writer
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS