Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series.
“Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said.
Photo: AFP
It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game and the first since 2022 against the Kansas City Royals. Five came off Boston starter Kutter Crawford (6-8).
“I think just winning, coming back from behind to win a lot of these games, difficult situation, it really creates a lot of momentum for the team. So hoping to continue that moving forward,” Ohtani said through an interpreter.
Jarren Duran, the Most Valuable Player of last week’s All-Star Game, homered and drove in four runs for the Red Sox (53-45), who fell a game behind the Royals (55-45) for the final American League wild card.
“The one thing they do is they hit a ball in the air, obviously. They get pitches in the zone, they hit it in the air and they hit a few homers,” Boston manager Alex Cora said.
James Paxton (8-2) allowed three runs on four hits and struck out seven in five innings. Boston rallied for three runs in the ninth, but Daniel Hudson came in for his sixth save.
Barnes’ solo shot gave the Dodgers a 5-2 lead in the fifth, and Ohtani drove a cutter from Crawford 473 feet over the bleachers to become the first National League player with 30 homers this season. Aaron Judge leads the majors with 35.
Fans in the area said that the ball sailed between the pavilion roof and an advertisement sign in right-center field, cleared the concourse and landed on the walkway in the ballpark plaza.
“I was looking, but I really couldn’t see where it went,” said Ohtani, who has homered at least 30 times in four straight seasons. “Everybody was like kind of semi-impressed.”
Ohtani just missed becoming the second Dodgers player and sixth overall to clear the pavilion roof and hit a ball completely out of Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962.
In Sunday’s other games, the San Diego Padres edged the Cleveland Guardians 2-1, the Seattle Mariners beat the Houston Astros 6-4, the Chicago Cubs survived the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-1 in 10 innings and the Milwaukee Brewers pipped the Minnesota Twins 8-7.
The Tampa Bay Rays outplayed the New York Yankees 6-4, the St Louis Cardinals defeated the Atlanta Braves 6-2, the Washington Nationals took down the Cincinnati Reds 5-2 and the Philadelphia Phillies blanked the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0.
The Toronto Blue Jays overcame the Detroit Tigers 5-4, the Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 4-2, the Royals defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-1, the Texas Rangers pipped the Baltimore Orioles 3-2, the San Francisco Giants survived the Colorado Rockies 3-2 and the Los Angeles Angels dominated the Oakland Athletics 8-5.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with Reuters
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