Shohei Ohtani on Tuesday night slammed a 450-foot (137m) homer to the second deck in right field in his first visit to Nationals Park, as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Washington Nationals 4-1.
Ohtani’s sixth homer of the season was the hardest-hit of his career at 118.7mph (191kph). It was also the hardest-hit home run for a Dodgers player in the Statcast era, which began in 2015. The solo shot in the ninth inning off Matt Barnes made it 4-1 after pinch hitter James Outman and Miguel Rojas drove in runs an inning earlier to put Los Angeles ahead.
“There’s only a few guys that can hit a ball like that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was a topspin liner that reached the second deck. There’s not too many guys that can do that. Shohei, we’ve talked about controlling the strike zone. When he does that, it is hard to get him out. It’s lightning in that bat. Any time he swings the bat and makes contact, he can change the game.”
Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY
Ohtani, who is batting a major league-best .364, extended his hitting streak to eight games and has 177 career homers. His previous long ball on Sunday gave him the record for homers by a Japanese-born player in the MLB, surpassing Hideki Matsui.
In Georgia, Max Fried pitched a three-hitter for the Atlanta Braves’ first nine-inning complete game since 2022, while Adam Duvall had a two-run homer as they blanked the Miami Marlins 5-0 for the second night in a row.
After a rough start to the season, Fried (2-0) looks like himself again. It took just 1 hour, 54 minutes for the left-hander to mow down the hapless Marlins, who were shut out for the second night in a row by the Braves and have gone 20 innings without a run.
“I was just trying to get back to being who I am,” Fried said. “Get ground balls, be on the attack.”
Fried was so dominant the Braves did not have anyone in the bullpen even bother warming up — a far cry from the workload he put on the relievers in his first two starts.
“I had to pay them back,” Fried said.
Elsewhere, The Pittsburgh Pirates survived the Milwaukee Brewer 2-1, the Detroit Tigers outplayed the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2, the Cleveland Guardians beat the Boston Red Sox 4-1, the Cincinnati Reds trounced the Philadelphia Phillies 8-1 and the New York Yankees pipped the Oakland Athletics 4-3.
The Kansas City Royals defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2, the Seattle Mariners blanked the Texas Rangers 4-0, the Minnesota Twins overcame the Chicago White Sox 6-5 and the Arizona Diamondbacks dominated the St Louis Cardinals 14-1.
The Chicago Cubs dispatched the Houston Astros 7-2, the Colorado Rockies beat the San Diego Padres 7-4, the San Francisco Giants took down the New York Mets 5-1 and the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-4.
Additional reporting staff writer
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS