Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts played alongside Barry Bonds and had a front-row seat to the seven-time National League Most Valuable Player when he was at his best.
Roberts said he has only seen one player comparable to Bonds: Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani cemented his growing legend on Friday night, hitting a three-run homer to cap a six-run ninth inning in the Dodgers’ unlikely 14-11 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“Between him and Barry Bonds, they’re the two best players I’ve ever seen,” Roberts said. “I played with Barry, but what Sho does in crunch time, I’ve never seen before.”
The Dodgers and Diamondbacks played one of the most exciting games of the season, combining for 25 runs, 26 hits, two blown leads of at least three runs and seven home runs.
It all came down to Ohtani.
Ohtani knows when to step up
The Japanese star has shown a great ability to shine in key moments during his eight-year career, first with the Los Angeles Angels and the last two seasons with the Dodgers.
Ohtani, one of the two players who have won the MVP in both leagues, twice in the American League and once in the National League, came to the plate in the ninth inning after the Dodgers rallied with three runs to tie the score at 11.
Reliever Ryan Thompson entered the game to face Ohtani with runners on first and second.
Thompson went ahead 1-2 on Ohtani but left a breaking ball on the inside corner. Ohtani took advantage of it and sent it deep into the right-field stands for his 12th home run of the season. He threw the bat and raised his arms in celebration, similar to what Arizona’s Lourdes Gurriel Jr. did after a game-tying grand slam in the fifth.
“It was a great game,” Ohtani said. “It’s not the kind of game we play a lot, but that we scored so much, that they came back, that we came back again… it was very emotional.”
A crazy game of multiple comebacks
Ohtani kicked off the wild night with a 423-foot double that hit the center-field wall, a 108 mph shot that would have gone out in most ballparks.
It wasn’t even the hardest hit of the first inning. Ketel Marte of Arizona hit the first of his two solo home runs (113.1 exit velocity), and Eugenio Suarez followed with a two-run homer.
The Dodgers then had their turn to bat.
Enrique Hernandez hit a home run to lead off the second inning, Ohtani added an RBI double and Los Angeles went up 8-3 after a five-run third inning.
The Dodgers’ bats went silent after that, hitless over the next four innings, and the Diamondbacks came to life.
Gurriel hit the seventh grand slam of his career in the fifth inning, and Arizona went up 9-8 with a bases-loaded walk. The Diamondbacks kept hitting, going ahead 11-8 with back-to-back solo homers by Marte and pinch-hitter Randal Grichuk in the eighth.
Apparently in control, Arizona sent Kevin Ginkel to pitch the ninth, and Freddie Freeman greeted him with a single; Andy Pages, who drove in three runs, followed with an RBI double, Hernandez tied it and Max Muncy hit an RBI single to tie the game at 11.
Ginkel was pulled after hitting Michael Conforto with a pitch, leaving Thompson to face Ohtani with two on and one out.
Then Ohtani did what he does best.
“Any time you see Sho in these situations, you expect something incredible,” Muncy said. “He rarely disappoints, and that’s no different.”
Read the full article here
