02-07-2025
Baseball: Ohtani homers No. 30, Yamamoto earns win as Dodgers cruise
LOS ANGELES - Shohei Ohtani reached 30 home runs for the fifth straight season and Yoshinobu Yamamoto earned his eighth win with a seven-inning gem as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox 6-1 on Tuesday.
Ohtani leads the National League by four homers after he connected on a 3-2 slider from Shane Smith (3-6) and sent it over the right-center-field wall for a solo run at Dodger Stadium, scoring the last run of the game with two outs in the fourth inning.
"I was kept at bay with my first two trips to the plate but managed to get a good swing with the third," said Ohtani after going 1-for-4. "It was also great, Yoshinobu did a wonderful job."
Ohtani had 46 home runs in 2021 when he broke a Japanese home run record in a Major League Baseball season, previously set at 31 by Hideki Matsui.
The two-way star homered 34 and 44 times the next two years with the Los Angeles Angels, before getting 54 in his first season with the Dodgers last season to win his second straight home run title.
Yamamoto (8-6) held the White Sox to three hits and a walk while striking out eight in a 98-pitch effort, with Lenyn Sosa's RBI double plating the visiting team's only run in the fourth that briefly made it a 5-1 game.
"I'm pitching with good mechanics," the right-hander said after he bettered the seven wins from his MLB-debuting season last year.
"Things that work for me are starting to get clearer. My condition is as good as it's always been, and I was able to go on the mound with confidence."
Seiya Suzuki had his 23rd homer of the season, meanwhile, as the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-2.
Suzuki made it a 4-2 game in the sixth with a solo shot to left-center off Gavin Williams (5-4) as he continues to rewrite his home run season record for a right-handed Japanese hitter in the big leagues.
"I'm prioritizing getting a proper swing rather than trying to meet the ball," he said after going 1-for-4. "I have one-off good at-bats but can't continue getting them, and that needs to be corrected going forward."
