After capturing the first 50-50 season in MLB history, Shohei Ohtani returned to Dodger Stadium a winner on Friday. Then he did what he did best.
After reaching 50-50 and 51-51 in the same game, the Los Angeles Dodgers star homer and stole the 52-52 club against the Colorado Rockies. Facing Rockies starter Kyle Freeland in the fifth inning, Ohtani worked a full count, then took a pitch under his armpits to deep center field.
There aren’t many hitters who can take a pitch that high and send it 423 feet the other way.
Two innings later, Ohtani got on base with a single, then took second base to Mookie Betts on the first pitch.
It was the 14th time this season that Ohtani had both a home run and a stolen base in the same game, tying Ricky Henderson’s record of 13 in 1986.
The Dodgers won 6-4.
Ohtani is now 9-for-10 for the MLB lead with four homers, two doubles, three steals, six runs and 12 RBI over his past two games, one home run short of Aaron Judge. Much of that production came against the Marlins on Thursday, when Ohtani went 50-50 in not only style, but one of the greatest offensive plays in MLB history.
Ohtani hit his 49th, 50th and 51st homers of the season and stole his 50th and 51st bases of the season, tying an unprecedented season-long streak with the 16th 10-RBI game in MLB history. It was the first three-home, two-steal game in MLB history, all on the anniversary of Tommy-John surgery (Ohtani received an internal brace in the UCL on Sept. 19, 2023).
The only downside to the magical night was that it was on the road, though Ohtani got a curtain call at Lone Depot Park in Miami. Dodgers fans did their best to make up for it, giving him a standing ovation Friday before his first at-bat and getting waves from Ohtani.
Ohtani may have reached 50-50, but it remains to be seen how far he can travel in homers and steals.
There’s also the matter of the playoffs. The 92-62 Dodgers clinched a spot in the playoffs Thursday and a four-game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West title with eight games to play. Wherever they go in Ohtani’s first season, they’ll have to overcome a number of injuries if they want to get Ohtani a ring.
