In a season of historic performances, Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani had another one on Wednesday. For the second game in a row, while he was the starting pitcher, Ohtani hit a leadoff home run.
MLB researcher Sarah Langs had some context on that home run. It’s the first time Ohtani has personally done that since 2023. Since 1900, only four other players have done that, including 1973 Ken Brett (4), 1958 Don Drysdale, 1949 Bob Lemon, and 1933 Wes Ferrell.
On the mound, Ohtani was even more dominant than he was with the bat. In 6.0 innings pitched, he didn’t allow a hit. After that, he would turn the ball over to the bullpen, where the Dodgers weren’t able to hold onto the combined no-hitter. Still, Langs explained how rare Ohtani’s performance was.
“Shohei Ohtani is the first pitcher with a homer and no hits allowed in the first 6 innings of a game since Jake Arrieta on 9/27/15,” Langs wrote. She also added the full list of players who were able to do that in the last 50 years. It included 5/27/26 Shohei Ohtani, 9/27/15 Jake Arrieta, 4/12/08 Matt Cain, 6/5/06 Carlos Zambrano, 6/14/97 Mark Clark, and 7/14/77 Tom Seaver.
Shohei Ohtani Had a Historic Game for the Los Angeles Dodgers in His Previous Start
GettyShohei Ohtani with the Los Angeles Dodgers
This makes two games in a row where Shohei Ohtani hit and pitched in the same game. Prior to that this season, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had been giving him the chance to be out of the lineup and focus on pitching on start days.
In his first game back as both a hitter and starting pitcher, Ohtani hit a home run on the first pitch of his game against the San Diego Padres. It was something that hadn’t been done before.
Ohtani became the first pitcher to record a leadoff home run in a regular-season game. He became the first to do so in a regular-season game because Ohtani had already done that in a postseason game. It happened just a season ago in Game 4 of the NLCS.
Shohei Ohtani is Having a Phenomenal Season on the Mound
GettyLos Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani
It’s hard to understate how unhittable Shohei Ohtani has been this season for the Dodgers. Again, Sarah Langs tried to put it into historical context.
She shared that of the pitchers to have the lowest ERAs through 9 starts in a season since earned runs became an official stat in 1913, Ohtani is tied for the fourth-lowest ERA with a 0.82. That’s tied with Zack Greinke in 2009 and Eddie Cicotte in 1919. The all-time record is held by Jacob deGrom in 2021, when he had a 0.62 ERA at that time.
Despite that, Ohtani is not necessarily the favorite to win the Cy Young Award. There are a couple of reasons for that.
The most important comes down to a difficult reality for Ohtani to overcome. He doesn’t pitch as frequently as other starters, so he’s not going to finish with nearly as many innings pitched. He’s at 49.0 innings at this point in the season. Compare that to Cristopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies, who has thrown 72.1 innings, and it’s hard to compare their bulk.
This comes in a season where the NL Cy Young race is stacked with talent. So, it’s going to be difficult to overcome that lack of bulk when being compared to multiple other aces. Still, if he keeps going at the rate he is, his success is impossible to ignore.
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Dodgers Star Shohei Ohtani Had Another Historic Game: Putting it in Context appeared first on HEAVY.