Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani is tied for the MLB lead in home runs (15) after smacking a pair of round-trippers in a 19-2 throttling of the visiting Oakland Athletics on Thursday, May 15.
Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber also have 15 homers.
Ohtani crushed a three-run homer to left-center in the third inning off A's reliever Jason Alexander to give the Dodgers a 10-2 lead.
In the fourth, the reigning National League MVP added a two-run blast to center off Alexander to make it 15-2 at Dodger Stadium. Ohtani also had a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
Los Angeles improved to 29-15 (17-4 at home). The Dodgers hold a one-game lead over the San Diego Padres in the NL West.
After LA's latest win, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts showered Ohtani with praise.
"He's just playing really good baseball," Roberts said, according to MLB.com. "I mean, we saw it all last year. So he's sort of just doing what Shohei does, which is amazingly not amazing anymore, I guess."
Shohei Ohtani Giving the Dodgers a Big Offensive Spark
Ohtani, who is now batting .310, has five homers and 13 RBIs in his last seven games. He also has 10 stolen bases this season.
Looking ahead, Ohtani said he's seeking to get better as a hitter.
"I hope to improve the quality of my at-bats as much as possible so that I can go into the last half of the season in better shape," Ohtani was quoted as saying by NHK after Thursday's game.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
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