Ohtani homers on first pitch
Shohei Ohtani homered the very first pitch he saw in a recent Los Angeles game, a moment that lit up social feeds during the same Texas Rangers visit to L.A. that produced other headline plays. (Social) (x.com) (x.com).
Shohei Ohtani homered on the first pitch he saw from Jacob deGrom on April 12, but Texas still beat Los Angeles 5-2 at Dodger Stadium. (apnews.com) The ball left Ohtani’s bat in the bottom of the first inning for his second straight leadoff home run, one day after he opened the April 11 game with another first-inning shot against Texas. (mlb.com 1) (mlb.com 2) DeGrom gave up that first-pitch homer, then settled in and worked seven innings as the Rangers avoided a three-game sweep in Los Angeles. Evan Carter tied the game with a home run off Roki Sasaki, and Brandon Nimmo drove in two runs. (apnews.com) The swing landed inside a series that had already turned into a showcase for early scoring at Dodger Stadium. On April 11, Ohtani’s leadoff homer and Teoscar Hernández’s three-run shot powered a 6-3 Dodgers win over Texas. (ocregister.com) That made Ohtani’s first-pitch blast off deGrom part of a two-day run in which he set the tone immediately at the top of the Dodgers’ order. Major League Baseball’s official recap called it his second straight leadoff homer. (mlb.com) The Dodgers still finished the weekend with a series win and an 11-4 record. The April 11 victory had pushed them to 11-3, the best start in the majors at that point. (mlb.com) (nbcdfw.com) Ohtani’s homer also extended his on-base streak to 46 games, which CBS Sports’ recap said was the fifth-longest in Dodgers history. The names ahead of him on that list were Duke Snider, Shawn Green, Willie Keeler and Ron Cey. (cbssports.com) By the end of the homestand, the loudest clip was still the first pitch. Ohtani turned one swing into the weekend’s defining image, even in a game the Dodgers lost. (mlb.com)
