Another night, another historic accomplishment for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani. Friday night against the San Diego Padres (GameTracker), Ohtani launched a first inning home run against righty Michael King, and in doing so, he tied Hideki Matsui for the most MLB home runs among Japanese-born players.
Here is the milestone blast. Effortless power to the opposite field:
That is Ohtani's 175th career MLB home run. Ohtani got there in 2,491 plate appearances. Matsui had 5,066 plate appearances in the big leagues. Ichiro Suzuki had 117 career home runs in MLB, and no other Japanese-born player has even 50 big league homers.
Ohtani entered Friday's game on an absolute rampage. In his last seven games, he's gone 13-for-30 (.433) with five doubles, one triple, and three home runs. He's had multiple extra-base hits in three of his last six games. Ohtani's season batting line sat at .333/.377/.635 entering the series opener with San Diego.
Friday's home run was Ohtani's fourth of the season. The only Japanese-born player with more home runs as a Dodger is Ohtani's manager, Dave Roberts. Roberts was born in Okinawa, where his father was stationed with the Marines. He hit seven homers with the Dodgers.
King joined the Padres in the Juan Soto trade with the New York Yankees. Ohtani was 2-for-6 with two home runs against him entering Friday.
