It was in this afternoon’s game between the Dodgers and Cardinals that Shohei Ohtani achieved yet another record in his history as a professional baseball player. The Los Angeles Angels’ Japanese phenomenon reached 1,000 hits in Major League Baseball and he did not do it discreetly, he did it by hitting a 440-foot home run in the bottom of the third.
Even with the historic milestone for Ohtani’s MLB career, Dave Roberts’ team could not win at home against St. Louis (5-3), so the Japanese star went home with a bittersweet taste in his mouth. The Cardinals came from behind in the eighth inning to win the series at Chavez Ravine
Ohtani becomes third Japanese player to reach 1,000 hits in MLB
With Wednesday’s home run, Shohei Ohtani became the third Japanese player in Major League Baseball history to reach 1,000 hits. The first was Ichiro Suzuki, a contact artist who finished with 3,089. He has just been inducted into the Hall of Fame, the first Japanese player to enter the Hall of Fame.
Then Hideki Matsui, who hit 1,253 with power as his personal signature. Both left a deep mark. But neither did so while pitching at 98 mph a few hours earlier. Ohtani started on the mound for the eighth time this year. In the previous seven he had not been able to complete four innings.
San Diego Padres close in on Dodgers in National League West
With this defeat, the Los Angeles Dodgers are 2.5 games ahead of the San Diego Padres, who will finish their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night. San Diego will be able to cut the gap to just two games and then travel home to host the Red Sox, one of the hottest teams in MLB.
For their part, the Dodgers will face the Toronto Blue Jays at home over the weekend hoping to maintain their lead in the National League West. Ohtani and company will have to do everything they can to maintain the slight lead they have, as there are only three units of difference between first and second place.
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