LOS ANGELES -- If the Dodgers had any reservations about having Shohei Ohtani carry out his full two-way duties one night after being hit by a pitch on his right hand, he ensured they wouldn't linger deep into Wednesday night's finale against the Rockies.
For the second straight pitching start, Ohtani launched a leadoff homer, giving himself instant run support on the mound. He is the only pitcher in Major League history to hit a leadoff home run, and he's done it three times: in his two-way masterpiece in Game 4 of the 2025 NL Championship Series, last week in San Diego and now on Wednesday vs. the Rockies.
With Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano opposing Ohtani, it was the 21st matchup between Japanese-born starting pitchers in Major League history, including the postseason. The last such matchup was between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga on Opening Day 2025 in Tokyo.
Sugano made the mistake of catching a little too much of the plate with a 1-1 four-seamer to Ohtani, who drove it a Statcast-projected 424 feet to straightaway center at 111.3 mph off the bat for his ninth long ball of the season.
Not only has Ohtani gotten in a groove at the plate of late, but he also entered Wednesday with a 0.73 ERA, the best mark among Major Leaguers who have pitched at least 30 innings this season.
While Ohtani continued to roll in his last start, it was a bit of a grind, by his own admission. Ohtani led off the 4-0 win over the Padres at Petco Park with a home run and tossed five scoreless innings, but he did not have a great feel for his stuff. It was his only start of fewer than six innings this season.
"Just overall feel," Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton that night. "I have a pretty high standard as far as performance. It didn’t really match."
Even so, it landed Ohtani in historic territory. In the Live Ball Era (since 1920), Ohtani holds the sixth-lowest ERA by a traditional starting pitcher through the first eight starts of a season. Only Fernando Valenzuela (0.50 in 1981), Mike Norris (0.52 in 1980), Zack Greinke (0.60 in 2009), Al Benton (0.70 in 1954) and Jacob deGrom (0.71 in 2021) had better marks.