Baseball: Ohtani tosses shutout inning, gets 5 RBIs with homer in win
KYODO NEWS - Jun 23, 2025 - 12:07 | Sports, All
Shohei Ohtani pitched a shutout inning before blasting his National League-leading 26th home run and driving in five runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers came from behind to overpower the Washington Nationals 13-7 on Sunday.
The two-way star, who allowed a run over one inning in his pitching debut for the Dodgers on Monday, this time struck out two swinging in a faultless 18-pitch outing at Dodger Stadium.
"I think I managed to pitch more relaxed than last time," said Ohtani, continuing his comeback after his right elbow surgery in September 2023. "You are seen as a starter once you can throw more than five innings. I hope to keep making progress even if it's bit by bit."
"I'm coming back faster than I was expecting. My confidence is growing that I can get back to a condition even better than before (the surgery). There are still lots of things to fix but I want to improve one thing at a time."
After drawing a walk and scoring on Max Muncy's sixth-inning grand slam that turned the game around at 4-3, Ohtani cleared the bases with a triple down the right field line off Ryan Loutos to extend the Dodgers lead to 7-3 in a seven-run seventh.
Ohtani then connected on a 1-0 four-seamer from Jackson Rutledge and sent it over the left-center field wall for two runs in the eighth, ending his seven-game home run drought.
"I won't be increasing my number of pitches or innings at once, of course," Ohtani said. "I hope to increase them gradually. Elevating the quality is the most important thing at the moment."
In Chicago, Seiya Suzuki hit two homers in a game for the fourth time this season during the Cubs' 14-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners, becoming the only second Japanese player in Major League Baseball to hit 20 home runs in three straight seasons after Ohtani.
Suzuki pulled a first-pitch four-seamer from Logan Gilbert (2-2) in the first to cut the Cubs' deficit to 2-1 before blasting another off the right-hander, a 1-1 splitter, for two runs in the fifth to again pull his team back within a run of the Mariners at 5-4.
"I wanted to pay the team back with my batting," Suzuki said after making defensive errors in the third and fifth. "I was upset with myself throughout."
Related coverage:
Baseball: Shohei Ohtani 1-for-3 with RBI as Dodgers hold off Nationals 6-5
Baseball: Yamamoto takes loss for Dodgers as Padres escape sweep
Baseball: Suzuki's 3-run homer lifts Cubs past Brewers
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