LOS ANGELES – With a home run in the seventh inning of today’s game against the Miami Marlins, his second round-tripper of the game, to go with two stolen bases, Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani became the first MLB player ever with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
Ohtani also became the all-time Dodger single-season record holder in home runs, passing Shawn Green’s club record of 49. Ohtani stole third base in the first inning for his 50th steal of the season (and later followed with his 51st steal).
Then, in the top of the sixth, he homered to right center field for his 49th blast of the year, before reaching the unprecedented milestone with a 109.7-mph shot to left field off pitcher Mike Baumann. The homer gave Ohtani a career-high five hits, to go with seven RBI. He also became the first player with at least five hits, multiple home runs and multiple stolen bases in a single game since at least 1901, according to MLB.com.
The 30-year-old Ohtani was already the fastest player in MLB history and sixth overall to reach the 40/40 mark, doing so August 23 with a stolen base and walk-off grand slam in the Dodgers’ 129th game of the season (126th game for Ohtani). Previously, Ohtani joined the 30/30 club on July 30, becoming the third Dodger to reach that milestone following Raul Mondesi (1997, 1999) and Matt Kemp (2011).
Entering 2024, Ohtani had career highs of 46 home runs and 26 stolen bases, both in 2021 when he won the first of his two American League Most Valuable Player awards. Through June 30 this season, his 26 home runs outpaced his 16 stolen bases, but Ohtani then turned on the jets. After being thrown out on his first stolen-base attempt after the All-Star Game, Ohtani has stolen 28 in a row without being caught, over only 52 games.
On the home run side, Ohtani has already posted a series of milestones, including his first homer as a Dodger (April 3), most homers by a Japanese-born player (176, April 21) and his 200th career homer (July 13).
The seven longest homers by a Dodger this year belong to Ohtani, peaking at 476 feet on June 18 at Colorado. Ohtani also has the Dodgers’ top five homers in exit velocity during the Statcast era, led by a 118.3 mph blast on April 23 at Washington.
Ohtani has three multi-homer games in 2024 (also May 5, June 16) and 10 multi-steal games, including three steals on August 3 and September 2.
Ohtani has also stolen a base and hit a homer in the same game 13 times in 2024, tying Rickey Henderson’s MLB record (1986). With 12 homers and 15 steals in August, he became the sixth player since 1920 to lead MLB in homers and steals in a calendar month. Ohtani is the only player in Dodger history with two months of at least 12 homers in the same season.
Top Image Caption: Photo credit: Melinda Meijer for News4usonline
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