{"id":125730,"date":"2025-08-07T07:21:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T07:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125730\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T07:21:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T07:21:12","slug":"ohtani-shines-with-two-run-homer-and-season-high-eight-strikeouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/125730\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohtani shines with two-run homer and season-high eight strikeouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Shohei Ohtani<\/a> hit a go-ahead, two-run homer for his 1,000th career hit and struck out a season-high eight over four innings Wednesday in the longest mound outing yet this season for the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 two-way superstar.<\/p>\n

The right-hander made his eighth mound start of the season after not pitching in 2024 while recovering from elbow surgery. He closed his outing against the St. Louis Cardinals by striking out the side in the fourth and walked off wiping his face on a 90-degree (32 Celsius) day. Masyn Winn tossed his bat in frustration after going down swinging. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was a big day for me personally getting to the fourth inning. That was really good in terms of building up,\u201d Ohtani said through a translator.<\/p>\n

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Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani is congratulated by teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

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\n Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run and his 1,000th hit during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)\n <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run and his 1,000th hit during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

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\n Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run and his 1,000th hit during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)\n <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run and his 1,000th hit during the third inning of a baseball game Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

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Ohtani threw 54 pitches, 37 for strikes, and gave up one run and two hits. The Dodgers lost 5-3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s 39th homer snapped a nine-game home run drought and traveled 440 feet to center , scoring Alex Call, who doubled leading off in the third, to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. In the first, Ohtani swung at the first pitch and reached when first baseman Alec Burleson booted the ball for an error.<\/p>\n

Ohtani joined new Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui as the third Japanese-born player to reach 1,000 career hits in the major leagues. He homered and recorded eight or more strikeouts for the third time in his career and first since 2023 with the Los Angeles Angels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really try to think too differently on days that I pitch,\u201d Ohtani said.<\/p>\n

Ohtani retired the side in the first and second innings. He touched 100 mph on a four-seam fastball to Iv\u00e1n Herrera, who struck out swinging in the third. Jordan Walker singled leading off and stole second, the first swiped bag against Ohtani this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really felt good, the command of the fastball,\u201d Ohtani said. \u201cOverall, the slider and curveball was really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendon Donovan\u2019s bunt single scored Walker, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Ohtani had to leave his last start at Cincinnati with right hip cramps on July 30.<\/p>\n

\u201cFigured he would come back and really throw the baseball well today,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cThe pitching, fastball command, fantastic. Really impressive. Offensively, the walk, the homer, just really looked good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said before the game that Ohtani won\u2019t be going beyond five innings during his next few starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need him to,\u201d he said. \u201cThe five-inning threshold is something that we feel can get you through a game and use relievers. We\u2019ll see if that changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have taken a cautionary approach to Ohtani returning to being a two-way player, which is what he was for six seasons with the Angels. <\/p>\n

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Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani, left, laughs while being checked by the third base umpire after pitching in the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 Shohei Ohtani, left, laughs while being checked by the third base umpire after pitching in the first inning of a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Mark J. Terrill)<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been over two years since he\u2019s done this, so he\u2019s still sort of getting adjusted to this lifestyle as far as the day to day,\u201d Roberts said before the game. \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s there yet. I think it\u2019s going to get better as he gets more time in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ohtani\u2019s strong performance came hours after he scored three runs in a 12-6 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think any superlatives can do it any justice,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cHe\u2019s obviously physically talented, but he\u2019s very disciplined in his preparation. He\u2019s very strong of mind. He\u2019s just a great competitor and obviously uber-talented.\u201d<\/p>\n

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AP MLB: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/mlb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 Shohei Ohtani hit a go-ahead, two-run homer for his 1,000th career hit and struck…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":125731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[21715,69426,591,77287,2059,276,875,77286,76909,2502,76910,9540,1266,1822,21719,4712,62,3692,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-125730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-alec-burleson","9":"tag-alex-call","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-brendon-donovan","12":"tag-ca-state-wire","13":"tag-california","14":"tag-dave-roberts","15":"tag-hideki-matsui","16":"tag-jordan-walker","17":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","18":"tag-masyn-winn","19":"tag-missouri","20":"tag-mlb","21":"tag-mlb-baseball","22":"tag-mo-state-wire","23":"tag-shohei-ohtani","24":"tag-sports","25":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","26":"tag-united-states","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114986279476901382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}