Once again, Shohei Ohtani struck early in the post-season for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
In his playoff debut a year ago, Ohtani hit a tying three-run homer in the second inning of the National League Division Series opener against San Diego. Los Angeles rallied for a 7-5 victory and went on to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.
This year, he got busy even quicker.
Photo: AP
Ohtani hit a leadoff homer in the first inning and a two-run drive in the sixth as the Dodgers went deep five times on Tuesday night for a 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of their National League Wild Card Series.
As usual, Ohtani appeared unruffled stepping into the white-hot spotlight on baseball’s biggest stage.
“His focus gets more keen, and the at-bat quality is better,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s the reason why he signed to be with this ballclub, this organization, to play in games like this to showcase his other-worldly talent.”
Ohtani’s 117.7mph (189.4kph) drive off a 100.4 mph fastball from Reds ace Hunter Greene in the first was the fastest pitch he’s homered on in his MLB career.
It was Ohtani’s 13th leadoff homer this year, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead as they opened the defense of their World Series championship.
“It was a really hard pitch to hit, but I felt like I reacted pretty well,” Ohtani said through a translator. “I was happy I was able to help the team score early.”
His second homer — a 454-foot (138m) drive to right-center off reliever Connor Phillips — came with two outs in the sixth, extending the lead to 8-0. The three-time Most Valuable Player also struck out three times.
Wilyer Abreu watched the ball leave the park and tossed his bat high in the air. His Venezuela teammates streamed out of the dugout in celebration. The comeback was on and the win over the reigning World Baseball Classic (WBC) champion Japan was within reach. Japan, their 11-game WBC winning streak on the line, held a 5-4 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s thrilling quarter-final matchup when Abreu put his team ahead with the biggest swing of the game: a three-run shot off Hiromi Itoh that sent the loanDepot Park crowd into a passionate roar and helped seize Venezuela’s 8-5
A BREATHLESS BATTLE: France clinched the championship in a vicious back-and-forth match with England, denying Ireland the title by just a few points France won back-to-back Six Nations titles after beating England 48-46 on a last-second penalty-kick by Thomas Ramos in a thriller for the ages on Saturday. England scored their seventh try in the 77th minute and converted for 46-45. If the score held for a few more minutes, Ireland would have been crowned the champion. But France pressed yet again with 14 men, lost possession, regained it, and earned two simultaneous penalties after the fulltime siren. Captain Antoine Dupont debated with referee Nika Amashukeli where the penalty spots were. Ramos, who did not miss a goal-kick all night, finally lined up his seventh
Home runs are greeted with a celebratory shot of espresso and the donning of an Armani jacket. Victories are marked with bottles of red wine while the soaring voice of opera singer Andrea Bocelli echoes through the locker room. Welcome to baseball, Italian-style. Written off as 80-1 underdogs before the World Baseball Classic started, Italy’s fairytale tournament has carried them all the way to today’s (Taipei time) semi-finals in Miami against Venezuela. On Saturday, Italy — who scored a stunning upset of a star-studded US lineup during the pool phase — kept their unbeaten campaign alive with a nail-biting 8-6
Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s second-youngest race winner with a composed drive to victory for Mercedes in an eventful Chinese Grand Prix yesterday. The 19-year-old Italian was the youngest pole position starter and briefly lost the lead to Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari at the start, but retook it soon after and was in control after that. “We did it! We did it!” Antonelli shouted to his team on the radio amid laughs and whoops. It was another 1-2 finish for Mercedes to start the season as Antonelli’s teammate George Russell came through a battle with both Ferraris to finish second. Lewis Hamilton was
RSS