Shohei Ohtani still has good years ahead of him, but he already established himself on Sunday as the Japanese-born player with the most home runs.
His two-run long ball in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ game against the New York Mets was his 176th career, one more than Hideki Matsui. Arriving in major baseball in 2003, at the age of 29, the latter played rain and shine with the New York Yankees, in particular.
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Ohtani needed 2,979 plate appearances to break the mark of Matsui, who had more than 5,000 career at-bats.
The designated hitter has hit five balls out of bounds so far this season. The Dodgers easily won 10-0 thanks to pitcher Tyler Glasnow (4-1), who struck out 10 men in eight innings of work.
Cuban Andy Pages also made his presence felt with the first home run of his career, a swing good for three runs.
The Jays collapse
For the second time this week, the Toronto Blue Jays were unable to finish a series the right way, this time losing their third game 6-3 to the San Diego Padres.
After two consecutive victories at Petco Park, John Schneider’s men collapsed when sweeping the series. It was the same scenario a few days earlier against the Yankees.
The Jays only had the lead briefly, at the start of the third inning, following Ernie Clement’s home run. The third cushion specialist imitated his teammate Davis Schneider, who had also hit the long ball solo in his previous presence.
However, Xander Bogaerts found a pitch from starter Chris Bassitt (2-3) to his liking and threw it into the left stands in this third inning. The Padres took control of the game in the sixth and never looked back.
Toronto will remain on the road visiting the Kansas City Royals for a four-game series starting Monday.
2024-04-22 06:30:00
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