Thoughts about Shohei Ohtani struggling with batting recently can now be put to rest. The star player from the Los Angeles Dodgers had an exceptional day at the plate on Saturday, achieving something that has only happened three times since 1909.
The Japanese slugger went 2 for 2 with two RBIs in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory over the Brewers.
That might sound ordinary until you realize that Ohtani hit a home run, and a triple, took two walks, was hit by a pitch, and stole a base in his five plate appearances.
According to MLB, Ohtani is only the third player to accomplish a home run, triple, walk, hit by pitch, and stolen base in a single game.
The most recent player to achieve this was Christian Yelich of the Brewers on June 1, 2019, against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The first player to do so was Bert Daniels of the New York Highlanders against the Chicago White Sox on July 8, 1910.
“I felt like he was going to be able to reset himself,” said manager Dave Roberts. “He took a couple of walks, got the ball up in the zone, and he was back to being Shohei.”
Ohtani’s batting average rose to .316 after this game, tying him with San Diego’s Jurickson Profar for the lead in the NL and placing him third in the majors.
The last Dodgers player before Ohtani to achieve a triple, walk, hit by pitch, and stolen base in a game was Jackie Robinson on July 16, 1953, against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Ohtani had struggled in his previous games, striking out six times in a row on Thursday and Friday and going 1 for 12 in his last three games leading up to Saturday. He even went hitless on his 30th birthday on Friday.
Before Saturday’s game, Roberts mentioned that Ohtani had been too aggressive in chasing low pitches out of the strike zone. However, facing Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta, who tends to throw high fastballs, might have been beneficial.
“He’s had stretches of two, three, or four games where he does that, and then resets,” Roberts noted. Roberts’ predictions before the game turned out to be accurate.
In his first three plate appearances, Ohtani walked twice and was hit by a pitch. Then, in the sixth inning, Ohtani connected with an inside, elevated cutter from Bryse Wilson, driving it off the wall in right-center field for his third triple of the season.
