Last year's American League MVP and home run king Shohei Ohtani finally hit his first home run in the LA Dodgers uniform.
Ohtani started as the second designated hitter in the 2024 Major League Baseball's San Francisco Giants game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on the 4th, and played with two hits, one home run, one RBI and two runs from four times at bat.
In his first at-bat with no outs in the bottom of the first inning, San Francisco left-hander Kyle Harrison struck out a swing and miss on an 86.5-mile 139.2 km changeup in the fifth pitch.
In the third inning, Ohtani hit an infield hit by hitting Harrison's two-pitch, 92.9 miles 149.5 kilometers four-seam. Afterwards, he rushed home on Will Smith's RBI double and scored a point.
In the fourth inning, he swung his bat at Harrison's six-pitch 93.9 miles 151.1 kilometers four-seam with two outs and first base, but was caught straight by left fielder Michael Confoto.
It came at a moment when Ohtani's game was going wild. With two outs in the seventh inning, he hit a 5 pitch sinker by left-hander Taylor Rogers, who hit a solo home run over the central-right fence.
It was his first homerun of this season in nine games. "Despite the betrayal of Ifei Mizuhara former interpreter of Otani, the head coach director Dave Roberts was impressed by Ohtani's mental strength as he hit his first homer since transferring," Japanese media outlet "Full Count" said after the game.
Having had a good start with two hits and one RBI and one hit and one RBI in the opening two consecutive games of the "Seoul Series" held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the Major League Baseball World Tour, he hardly hit a home run. Last year, he became the home run king of the American League and remained silent.
There were even suspicions that Ohtani might have been involved in the shock of illegal gambling and betrayal by Mizuhara Ifei, a former interpreter of Ohtani, ahead of the second game of the Seoul Series. It was said that Ohtani is mentally shaken.
The 52,746 spectators entered the Dodger Stadium to cheer up after Ohtani's silence. "I was nervous because my pace didn't move up a bit. I tried to swing while holding back my desire to hit it quickly. I'm glad that my first home run came out somehow," Ohtani said in an interview after the game. 토토사이트