Shohei Ohtani hit a home run on the first pitch of the day, then pitched five scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win over rivals the Padres.
Only one other time in Major League Baseball has a starting pitcher homered as a lead offer batter and that was also Ohtani, in Game 4 of the 2025 National League Championship Series.
Shohei had not been batting on his pitching starts for nearly a month, as partly because of a slump he has since overcome, with 13 hits in his last 27 at-bats, with 7 walks and 7 extra-base hits.
On the mound, Ohtani retired the first nine hitters in order and dropped his ERA to 0.73, the lowest in baseball.
The only other Dodgers pitcher with a lower ERA through his first eight starts was Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
The win increased Los Angeles’ lead over San Diego in the National League West to 1½ games.
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