Fastball

Shohei Ohtani Just Tied Hideki Matsui For an Awesome Major League Record

The Los Angeles Dodgers may have lost to the San Diego Padres on Friday night, but Shohei Ohtani provided great theatre by tying Hideki Matsui in Major League lore.
Brady Farkas|
Apr 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17)
Apr 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the San Diego Padres on Friday night, 8-7, in 11 innings. It's a disappointing loss for LA, who led 7-3 at one point before surrendering a run in the sixth and three in the seventh.

Despite the loss, LA is still 10-6 on the year and Shohei Ohtani is still out to a great start this season. The reigning American League MVP went 3-for-5 with a home run in the loss and is now hitting .353 this year.

With the home run, Ohtani also tied Hideki Matsui in Japanese/MLB history. Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

that's 175 career homers for Ohtani, tying Hideki Matsui for most by a Japanese-born player in MLB history

Being tied with Matsui is no small feat, as he is the best power-hitting player to ever come over from Japan. He spent 10 years in the big leagues with the Yankees, Angels, Rays and Athletics, hitting the 175 homers and winning a World Series title in 2009 with New York.

As for Ohtani, he's going to break that record any day now and will go about continuing to make life miserable for opposing pitchers. In his seventh year in the big leagues, Ohtani has already won two MVPs and should be in consideration for a third this season.

The Dodgers and Padres will play again on Saturday night with first pitch set for 9:10 p.m. ET. Matt Waldron (0-1, 3.86 ERA) pitches for San Diego while Gavin Stone (0-1, 9.00 ERA) pitches for LA.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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