Los Angeles, CA – April 03: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers watches his solo home run (first of the year) against the San Francisco Giants in the seventh inning of a baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a solo drive in the seventh inning in a 5-4 win over the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night that finished a three-game sweep.
Playing his ninth game for his new team, Ohtani pulled a 93.2 mph sinker from left-hander Taylor Rogers on the upper, outer portion of the strike zone into the right-center field pavilion in the bottom of the seventh inning. The ball left his bat at 105.6 mph and landed 430 feet from the plate, where it was picked up by a fan.
The home run came in the 41st plate appearance for the two-time MVP, who left the Los Angeles Angels after last season as a free agent and agreed to a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers.
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Ohtani's home run, the 172nd of his major league career, put the Dodgers ahead 5-3. The two-way star is limited to hitting this year following elbow surgery in September.
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Ohtani, through an interpreter, told SportsNetLA after the game that Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts told him before the game to "relax and just be himself." Ohtani said he needed to hear that to help take the pressure off of him.
It worked in the batter's box on Wednesday.
Tyler Glasnow (2-0) retired 15 of his first 18 batters before faltering in the sixth. He gave up three runs and four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Joe Kelly pitched the seventh and Daniel Hudson the eighth before Dinelson Lamet finished the five-hitter by striking out two in a perfect ninth for his first professional save.
Miguel Rojas also homered and drove in two runs for the Dodgers, who won their fourth straight game and improved to 7-2.
Jorge Solerand Patrick Bailey hit a solo home runs for the Giants, who have lost four straight and dropped to 2-5. San Francisco has dropped 14 of its last 19 against the Dodgers.
Kyle Harrison (1-1) gave up four runs, six hits and three walks in five innings.
After Bailey's home run tied the score in the third, Will Smith hit an RBI double in the bottom half and scored on Teoscar Hernández's single for a 3-1 lead.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: LHP Blake Snell threw 77 pitches in a simulated game. Snell, who is building his arm strength after signing with the Giants late in spring training, is scheduled to make his first start Monday against Washington.
Dodgers: OF Jason Heyward was placed on the 10-day injured list with lower back tightness, a move retroactive to Saturday.
UP NEXT
Giants: RHP Jordan Hicks (1-0) will start against the Padres and RHO Dylan Cease (0-1) in the Giants’ home opener on Friday.
Dodgers: RHP Bobby Miller (1-0) will start the opener of a three-game series at the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
