Ohtani notched his 1,000th profession Main League hit on Wednesday afternoon in opposition to the Cardinals, crushing a two-run blast within the backside of the third inning at Dodger Stadium. He joined Ichiro Suzuki (3,089) and Hideki Matsui (1,253) as the one Japanese-born gamers to achieve 1,000 hits within the Majors.
4 energetic members of the Dodgers have collected not less than 1,000 Main League hits. Ohtani joined Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández, who bought there earlier this yr.
Not solely did Ohtani put his group forward with the milestone knock, however he was additionally his personal run help. Ohtani made his eighth begin as a pitcher within the rubber sport — which featured an Ohtani duplicate World Collection ring giveaway — and he stretched out to a full 4 innings for the primary time this season.
Ohtani started his day on the mound with two scoreless innings earlier than surrendering a run to the Cardinals within the third. Jordan Walker reached when second baseman Miguel Rojas misplaced a popup within the solar, then finally got here round to attain on Brendan Donovan’s bunt single.
With the Dodgers trailing, Commerce Deadline acquisition Alex Name doubled to steer off the underside of the third, his first hit since becoming a member of the group. Two batters later, Ohtani ended a stretch of 9 straight video games and not using a homer with a booming blast that traveled a Statcast-projected 440 toes to left-center at 109.5 mph off the bat.
Ohtani concluded his afternoon on the mound by hanging out the facet within the subsequent half-inning. He struck out eight of the 14 hitters he confronted with out permitting a stroll, throwing 54 pitches (37 strikes) to finish his longest outing of the season. Ohtani’s robust efficiency dispelled any lingering considerations from his earlier begin on the mound, which ended early attributable to cramping in his proper hip.
