Ohtani's 47th HR, 48th steal key big win vs. Cubs
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LOS ANGELES -- Shohei Ohtani wasted no time to set a new career high in homers.
Ohtani pummeled a Jordan Wicks breaking ball in the first inning of Wednesday's 10-8 win over the Cubs, sending it out to right-center field in a hurry. It was Ohtani’s 12th career leadoff homer and sixth this season, but more importantly, the two-time American League Most Valuable Player set a new career high with 47 homers.
His first-inning blast had an exit velocity of 118.1 mph and traveled a Statcast-projected 405 feet. It’s the third-fastest homer of the season for Ohtani, who has also slugged two long balls at 118.7 mph.
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The 47 homers tie Ohtani with Cody Bellinger for the third-most in franchise history, putting him just one shy of matching Adrián Beltré for second most and two away from tying Shawn Green’s record of 49.
Ohtani entered Wednesday with 17 games left on the schedule, trying to become the first player in Major League history to record 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
With Wednesday’s blast, Ohtani now needs just three homers to reach 50. Ohtani also recorded his 48th stolen base of the season in the second inning. It’s the 12th time Ohtani hit a homer and stole a base in the same game, tying Ronald Acuña Jr. and Bobby Bonds for the second most in Major League history (since 1900). He’s just one game shy from tying Rickey Henderson, who did it 13 times in 1986.
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Aside from making history on the field, Ohtani is also vying to become the first player to win the MVP Award as a full-time designated hitter.
"Him being able to take down 600 plate appearances has been very big for us,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Wednesday’s game. “And he’s having an unprecedented season.”
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Ohtani’s leadoff homer opened up the floodgates for what turned out to be one of the best innings of the season for the Dodgers. With two outs in the inning, Tommy Edman hit his third homer in the last two games, a two-run shot to give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead.
Will Smith, whom the Dodgers are trying to get going offensively before the start of the postseason, followed with a blast of his own. Max Muncy, the star of his own bobblehead night on Wednesday, capped off the frame by completing back-to-back-to-back homers against Wicks.
It’s the second time in the last two weeks the Dodgers have hit back-to-back-to-back homers in an inning, and just the seventh time in franchise history that the Dodgers have hit four homers in an inning.
After the Cubs mounted a comeback against Bobby Miller, Edman wasn’t done with his recent power surge. Edman hit his second homer of the night in the eighth inning, a two-run blast that gave the Dodgers a 10-7 lead. Edman now has five career multi-homer games, two of them coming in a span of 24 hours.