WASHINGTON -- It was really only a matter of time.
Shohei Ohtani hit his first homer of the season in the third inning of Friday's series opener against the Nationals. The three-run blast to right field tied the contest, 3-3, before Mookie Betts put the Dodgers on top with a two-run shot of his own. The five runs the Dodgers plated in the third inning alone were more than they had scored in four of their first six games of the season.
Through his first six games, Ohtani reached base at a .423 clip, but he only went 3-for-18 at the plate -- all singles. It was only the third time in his big league career that he had gone homerless in six or more games to open a season (also 2022 and '24).
With one big swing, Ohtani put the drought to an end. After striking out looking in his first at-bat against Nationals right-hander Miles Mikolas, Ohtani jumped on the second pitch he saw his next time to the plate -- a changeup at the bottom of the zone -- and pulled it a Statcast-projected 401 feet into the outfield seats at 109.5 mph off the bat.
Ohtani extended his on-base streak to 38 games, the longest active streak in the Majors. The two-way superstar also owns the longest scoreless streak among starting pitchers (22 2/3 innings), a one-of-a-kind accomplishment for a one-of-a-kind player.
After twirling six scoreless innings in his season pitching debut against the Guardians on Tuesday, Ohtani expressed some displeasure with his slow start at the plate.
"I’ve been able to get on base, and that’s a good thing," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton on Tuesday. "But on pitches that I should be making impact, I’m not quite able to do that to the extent that I should be able to. That’s the part that I’m not quite happy about."
Ohtani wasn't the only Dodger scuffling at the top of the order. Entering Friday, Ohtani, Tucker, Betts and Freddie Freeman combined to slash .172/.287/.276 through six games. Several other lineup regulars weren't faring much better, with Andy Pages being the notable exception.
It can be easy for teams and fans alike to overreact to results early in the season, when the sample size of at-bats is so small that batting averages can surge or plummet in a single day. The Dodgers weren't pleased that they weren't performing up to their offensive potential, but they saw no reason to do anything rash, like changing their 1-2 of Ohtani and Tucker atop the lineup.
"Right now, they’re not swinging well, so it doesn’t look great," manager Dave Roberts said before Friday's game. "But I’m still going to give it some time and we’ll see. Certainly with both those guys, their track record speaks for itself. So I’m not going to make an adjustment, make a change this quick."
A lot can change in a matter of innings. After Ohtani and Betts' long balls off Mikolas, Pages and Freeman also took the Nationals' starter deep in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. And all of a sudden, the L.A. lineup was back to being as dangerous as it was supposed to be.