"Betz is interfering with history" The relay team's regret is that he made a timely hit to steal Ohtani's 48th base
Sep 10, 2024
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LA Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani added one stolen base, moving one step closer to 50 homers and 50 steals.
Ohtani started against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on the 10th (Korea time) and recorded two hits, one walk, two runs and one stolen base in four at-bats.
Ohtani, who hit his 46th home run of the season against the Cubs the day before, added a steal and reached 47 steals. If he adds four home runs and three steals in the remaining 18 games, he will reach the 50-50 mark, which no one has ever stepped on in major league history.
Ohtani, who stepped down with a fly ball to shortstop in his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning, trailing 0-3, stole a base after drawing a walk with two outs in the third inning.
Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks thoroughly avoided Ohtani at the level of four pitches on purpose. Dodger Stadium was tense as Mookie Betts entered the next batter. Ohtani quickly ran to second base and safely secured himself as if he had prepared while Hendrix's second pitch 81.2 miles changeup became a ball that fell out.
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The Dodgers also walked Betts and No. 3 Freddie Freeman to load the bases, but Max Muncy's well-hit ball was sucked into the first baseman's mitts, so they couldn't pick a point.
Ohtani produced his first hit in his third at-bat in the fifth inning, trailing 0-4. Ohtani, who entered the batter's box with a runner at first base on Chris Taylor's infield hit to third base, hit Hendrix's fourth pitch, 74.4 miles slow curve in 2B1S, flew on a line drive and hit in front of center field.
Taylor advanced to third base and stole first and third bases with one out. As soon as Hendrix threw the fourth pitch at the ball count of 2B1S, Ohtani seemed to have a quick start again and succeeded in stealing. However, when the 80.4-mile changeup hit the outside strike zone, Betts lightly hit it and connected it to a heavy hit, and Taylor homered and Ohtani settled comfortably on third base.
After Betts' hit, the local broadcaster said "Mookie Betts interferes with history (Mookie get in the way of history). He stole a big one," he joked with regret.
However, Ohtani, who settled on third base, clapped and cheered for Betts, who got on base at first base after hitting a timely hit. The Dodgers narrowed the gap to 2-4 by adding one point with a sacrifice fly to the left field with one out and a bases loaded.
Ohtani went out as a leadoff hitter in the seventh inning, trailing 2-7, and hit a right-center hit, then ran to second base thanks to an error by opposing right fielder Cody Bellinger. Betts then homered with a home run to the left, and the Dodgers followed by a three-run gap of 4-7. However, Ohtani struck out swinging in the last at-bat of the eighth inning when his team was losing 4-8.
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However, as starter Walker Buehler was sluggish with nine hits and five runs in five innings, it became a difficult game from the beginning, and the Dodgers eventually knelt 4-8. The Dodgers, which marked 86 wins and 58 losses, ranked first in the NL West. The gap with the second-place San Diego Padres (81 wins and 64 losses) is 5.5 games.
Meanwhile, in the MVP mock vote announced by MLB.com on the same day, Ohtani received the top vote from 28 out of 37 panels. However, second-place New York Mets Francisco Lindor also seems to have started a chase by winning first place votes from nine players.
Lindor, who remained in fifth place until August, is drawing attention by leading the team's steep rise at the end of the season. In a mock vote on Aug. 13, Ohtani received 37 first-place votes out of 45. In other words, the approval rating fell to 75.7% from 82.2% in August.
Lindor has a batting average of 0.269 (158 hits in 588 at-bats), 30 homers, 84 RBIs, 100 points, 27 steals, and an OPS of 0.829.
jhno@sportschosun.com
