Two consecutive home runs! '40-40 second reading' Ohtani's 39th pre-emptive final solo shot...LAD 2-1 STL
Aug 19, 2024
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Ohtani hit a home run for two consecutive days, leaving 40 home runs and one at the top.
Ohtani hit his 39th home run of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri on the 19th (Korea time).
Ohtani, who played as a designated leadoff hitter, drew a 79.7-mile curve in the middle of the first pitch of St. Louis right-hander Sonny Gray after one out in the top of the fifth inning when the 0-0 tight balance continued, leading to a solo arch that easily crossed the right fence. Launch angle of 22 degrees, batting speed of 113.5 miles, and distance of 396 feet.
This left Ohtani with only one home run on 40 consecutive home runs against the same team in the same place for two consecutive days. Coincidentally, Ohtani's home run hit fell into the St. Louis bullpen behind the right fence on the day after the previous day.
Ohtani, who had one hit, one RBI, and one run from five times at bat, failed to add a steal on the day and maintained 37. If you add one home run and three stolen bases, you will be registered as the main character of 40 home runs and 40 steals for the sixth time in history.
Club 40-40 was opened by Jose Canseco in 1988 and joined in the order Barry Bonds in 1996, Alex Rodriguez in 1998, Alfonso Soriano in 2006 and Ronald Acuña Jr in 2023. Acuña Jr. marked 41 home runs and 73 steals last year, his first 40-70 record.
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Ohtani, who was struck out by Gray's body sweeper in his first at-bat in the top of the first inning, was withdrawn by a third baseman fly in the second at-bat in the third inning. After a home run in the fifth inning, he went out as the leadoff hitter in the seventh inning with a 2-0 lead and bowed his head with a strikeout. In the last at-bat of the ninth inning, he hit a ground ball to the first base.
With this, Ohtani marked a batting average of 0.290 (140 hits in 483 at-bats), 39 home runs, 88 RBIs, 94 runs, 37 steals, 0.377 on-base percentage, 0.613 slugging percentage, 0.990, 73 long hits, and 296 hits.
Following Ohtani's first home run in the fifth inning, Miguel Rojas added a point by hitting a left-handed hit in the first and third base chances made by Mookie Betts' walk and Gavin Lux's right-handed hit.
St. Louis followed 1-2 when pinch hitter Las Nutba hit a superior solo home run from right-hander Daniel Hudson after one out in the bottom of the eighth inning.
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Kershaw, who gave up a walk to Wilson Contreras after one out in the bottom of the first inning, got off to a good start by catching Tommy Pham with a double play to the second baseman, and allowed a heavy hit to Brendan Donovan after two outs in the second inning, but he saved the number of pitches by catching it as a stealer.
Kershaw, who stopped the third and fourth innings with three outs in a row, gave up a left-handed hit to Paul Goldschmidt after one out in the fifth inning, grounded Donovan to third base and caught Jordan Walker to right field fly to end the inning. In the sixth inning, he allowed consecutive hits to the first and second bases with no outs, which was the biggest crisis of the day, but he finished the inning neatly by leading Maisin Win to a fly ball to center field and Contreras to a third baseman double play with a curveball in the middle of the fifth pitch.
The Dodgers, which decorated three consecutive away games with a winning series of 2 wins and 1 loss, marked 73 wins and 52 losses and firmly maintained the top spot in the NL West.
jhno@sportschosun.com
