by Cary Osborne
They stood, and they clapped and cheered.
More than a day after his magnificent game in Miami, the only 50/50 player in Major League history received a standing ovation from the crowd at Dodger Stadium in the first inning. He also received one from his teammates, who left the dugout to show their appreciation.
Shohei Ohtani removed his helmet and acknowledged the fans.
Then the thousands of them did something unusual.
They went silent before each pitch delivered by Colorado starting pitcher Kyle Freeland in the at-bat.
They were on the edge of their seats hoping and waiting for Ohtani, who hit three home runs on Thursday, to maybe do it at least once in Los Angeles.
He didn’t in his first at-bat, or second. In his third at-bat, with the Dodgers trailing by a run, he walloped a Freeland four-seamer above the strike zone into the batter’s eye in center field for 423-foot, two-run homer in the fifth inning.
Ohtani’s 52nd homer of the year was also his 27th hit at Dodger Stadium, tying Cody Bellinger’s single-season Dodger Stadium home run record, set in 2019.
It was one of the three Dodger home runs in their 6–4 win against the Rockies on Friday.
The Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West is now five.
Ohtani’s homer gave the Dodgers a 3–2 lead at the time.
“He’s lights out — clearly,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I think he’s ramped up his focus. I think these last couple games, he’s locked in. To be able to cover that ball at the top of the zone, above the zone, go to the big part of the field, it’s pretty spectacular. And you look at the last week of homers, they’ve been balls down, and so to be able to cover that, it’s just pretty, pretty remarkable.”
Andy Pages hit a solo home run to start the fifth inning. It was his 11th of the season.
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Since Pages returned when rosters expanded on Sept. 1, he is 6-for-12 against left-handers.
“We’re trying to find some guys that’ll come to life versus left-handed pitching, and Andy’s been consistent all year,” Roberts said. “And even coming back and not playing every day, which he was before he went down as a different role for him, but I give him a lot of credit for young players to just be ready when called upon, and he’s making the most of his opportunity.”
Teoscar Hernández broke a 3–3 tie in the sixth with a solo home run, his 30th homer of the year. Hernández also drove in a run in the seventh with a single.
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Hernández’s numbers are up nearly across the board from last year when he was with Seattle. He has an .828 OPS and 132 OPS+ compared to his .741 OPS and 108 OPS+ last season.
“Last year I had a lot of downs at the beginning of this season. My goal (this year) was just to stay healthy and do the little things that the team needs me to do,” Hernández said. “So for me, in comparison to last season, I don’t think there’s any difference. I just feel more more healthy this year, and things been doing great for me.”
It’s the 11th time this season Hernández and Ohtani have homered in the same game.
Ohtani’s 52 homers are tied for the 32nd-highest total in Major League history and the 14th-highest in National League history.
The Dodger designated hitter followed his 6-for-6, three-home-run, two-stolen base game in Miami with a 3-for-4 day with the homer, two singles and a stolen base — his 52nd of the season.
Ohtani’s nine hits over the last two games are tied for the most in Los Angeles Dodgers history.
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The Dodger offense has scored 61 runs over the last six games. The six runs on Friday were the lowest output of the six-pack, but were enough to support the Dodgers in a bullpen game. Eight pitchers appeared for the Dodgers in the game.
Ryan Brasier started and got this spectacular assist from six-time Gold Glove Award winner Mookie Betts in right field:
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Shohei Ohtani comes home to give an encore was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.