Shohei Ohtani continues to demonstrate his power on the diamond, hitting a home run for the fifth consecutive game, tying a historic record for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani’s feat places him in a select group of Dodgers players who have achieved this mark. Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees was the last player to achieve this impressive streak last year.
Ohtani’s hit, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, occurred in the first inning against pitcher Chris Paddack of the Minnesota Twins, sending the ball 441 feet away to center field.
During this streak, Ohtani has hit three home runs to center field and two to the opposite field. Ohtani not only opened the scoring for the Dodgers, but also closed it. After receiving an intentional walk, he advanced to second base and then scored thanks to Freddie Freeman’s single in the bottom of the ninth inning, securing the victory. This was the Dodgers’ eighth win of the season, tying the Boston Red Sox. Ohtani has established a franchise record for the most home runs before August 1st. He also has the most home runs by any National League player before that date since 2001. With this, Ohtani has 262 home runs in his career, tying Frank Robinson for tenth all-time for a player in their first eight seasons in the Major Leagues. Next on the list is Ted Williams, with 265. Ohtani, three-time Most Valuable Player, bats .276 with 70 RBIs. In addition to his offensive performance, Ohtani has also performed well as a pitcher in six games and is scheduled to pitch four innings on Monday against the Cincinnati Reds. With a day off on Thursday, Ohtani’s next opportunity to extend his home run streak will be against the Red Sox in Boston. The record for consecutive games with a home run is eight, which is shared by Dale Long, Don Mattingly, and Ken Griffey Jr., the latter being the last to achieve it in 1993. When asked if Roberts thinks Ohtani can reach eight consecutive games, he replied:“He has five in a row now, which is pretty impressive. He continues to use most of the field and hit breaking balls, hit fastballs, so that’s been really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Dave Roberts
“Well, I don’t know that answer. I do know that if he has the same approach he had last week, that ‘Green Monster’ is very short. So, any fly ball he connects with will be a home run. So he just has to keep having that same approach when we go to Boston, and then we’ll see what happens.”
Dave Roberts
