LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani homered for the fifth consecutive game on Wednesday, 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 441 feet to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip.
He didn’t 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.
“It was the right decision,” Dave Roberts said of Baldelli intentionally walking Ohtani. “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. And so that’s been really good. And yeah, 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 (Ruiz). And fortunately, Esteury put together a good at bat to get Freddie up there.”
Asked if he was surprised the Twins made that move, Roberts said: “No, no, I wasn’t surprised. It was the right decision. Just didn’t work out.”
This is 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 MVP, is batting .276 with 70 RBIs. He’s also pitched well in six games and is scheduled to throw four innings on Monday in Cincinnati as he is getting close in his buildup as a starter, coming back from his second right UCL repair surgery.
With an off day on Thursday, Ohtani’s next chance to see if he can homer in six consecutive games will be against the Red Sox in Boston.
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," Roberts said. "I do know that if he has the same approach that he’s had the last week, that Green Monster is very short. So any fly ball that he hits will be a homer. So he’s just got to continue to have that same approach when we go to Boston, and then we’ll see what happens.”
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Jill Painter Lopez, The Associated Press
