Shohei Ohtani homered in his fifth consecutive game yesterday, tying the Dodgers’ franchise record, as Los Angeles defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-3.
“He’s got five in a row now, which is pretty impressive,” manager Dave Roberts said in a postgame press conference. “He continues to use the big part of the field and hit breaking balls, hit fastballs, so that’s been really good.”
In the bottom of the first inning, Shohei Ohtani hit a 441-foot home run to give the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. With that swing of the bat, he tied the franchise record for consecutive games with a home run, joining Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Shawn Green, and Roy Campanella.
Ohtani had another chance to be the hero of the game in the ninth inning with the Dodgers trailing 3-2, but Minnesota elected to intentionally walk the three-time MVP.
“Yeah, I mean, it was the right decision,” Dave Roberts explained. “I wasn’t surprised. It was the right decision. Just didn’t work out.”
The intentional walk came back to bite the Twins in the butt because Ohtani ended up scoring the game-winning run in the ninth inning.
Two at-bats later, Freddie Freeman came up to the plate with a chance to win the game. Down to his last strike, Freeman hit a two-run single to drive in Mookie Betts and Shohei Ohtani, securing the comeback victory for the Dodgers.
“I was thinking of what I was looking for. He didn’t throw what I was looking for the first couple pitches, and I took the heaters pretty much down the middle,” Freeman said following the win. “But, after those, I took the slider and I was like, ‘Okay, I got to change my plan here.’ So, I just kind of changed it on the heater. But all credit to all the guys getting on base.”
“I think that how we got here today: showing the fight, willing ourselves to get Freddie at bat, Freddie to take probably his best swing he has in a month, and to win a game like that, I’d like to think that that’s momentum building,” said Dave Roberts. “I expect Emmet (Sheehan) on Friday to come back and keep that momentum going… and then that’s where it starts.”
As for Shohei Ohtani, he is only four games with home runs away from breaking the all-time record. The current record of eight is held by Dale Long, Don Mattingly, and Ken Griffey Jr. With the Dodgers travelling to Boston for tomorrow’s game, it’s possible that Ohtani can keep his streak alive.
“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,” Roberts said. “So, he’s just got to continue to have that same approach when we go to Boston, and then we’ll see what happens.”
The Dodgers are off today but will be back in action tomorrow as they begin a three-game road trip against the Boston Red Sox. The first pitch in that matchup is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. EDT.
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