Shohei Ohtani marked his 30th home run with the Dodgers in a memorable way.
The star slugger crushed a cutter from Boston Red Sox pitcher Kutter Crawford 473 feet over the bleachers at Dodger Stadium during Sunday’s game.
Ohtani’s homer was one of six hit by the Dodgers in their 9-6 victory. “Yes, and at a good angle,” Ohtani said through an interpreter when asked about his hit.
Fans in the area reported the ball sailed between the pavilion roof and an advertisement sign in right-center field, clearing the concourse and landing on the walkway in the ballpark plaza.
“I was looking but I couldn’t really see where it went,” Ohtani said. “Everyone seemed impressed.”
Ohtani’s blast followed Austin Barnes’ solo home run. It was the seventh time this season the Dodgers hit back-to-back homers, with Ohtani involved in four.
“No, I don’t think so,” Crawford said when asked if anyone had hit a longer homer off him. “I left a few pitches over the middle of the plate and they didn’t miss.”
Ohtani narrowly missed becoming the second Dodgers player and sixth overall to clear the pavilion roof and hit a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962.
Los Angeles slugger Mike Piazza achieved this on Sept. 21, 1997, against the Colorado Rockies.
The others who have achieved this feat were Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Willie Stargell (1969 and ‘73), St. Louis’ Mark McGwire (1999), Miami’s Giancarlo Stanton (2015), and San Diego’s Fernando Tatís Jr. (2021).
Ohtani is hopeful to join Piazza on that esteemed list soon.
“That’s what I hope. I think I’m going to have a lot more opportunities to do so. So definitely looking forward to one of those,” he said.
According to MLB Statcast, it was tied for the third-longest homer in the majors this season. San Francisco’s Jorge Soler had a 478-foot shot Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado. That supplanted Ohtani’s 476-foot drive in Colorado on June 18.
