Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Gets Revenge on Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes

Shohei Ohtani may have struck out swinging in his first at-bat against Pittsburgh Pirates rookie Paul Skenes, but the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger bounced back by blasting a historic home run.

Jun 4, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) hits a single against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eighth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates shutout the Dodgers 1-0. | Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Paul Skenes may have gotten the better of Shohei Ohtani in the first inning on Wednesday, but their battle didn't end there.

The Pittsburgh Pirates rookie struck out the first two Los Angeles Dodgers he faced – Mookie Betts and Ohtani, who have three MVP awards between them. Skenes wound up retiring eight of the first 10 batters he saw, setting up a rematch with Ohtani in the top of the third.

Ohtani swung and missed twice to find himself in a full count, still unable to touch Skenes' heat. Then, Ohtani got a hold of a 100.1 mile-per-hour fastball up in the zone, crushing it 415 feet to straightaway center for a two-run home run.

According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, that is the fastest pitch Ohtani has homered off of in his career. It is also the second-fastest pitch any Dodgers player has homered off of since the Statcast era began in 2015, trailing only Max Muncy's homer on Aug. 13, 2022.

SHOHEI OHTANI

Off 100.1 mph!

That is:
- The fastest pitch he has homered off of in his career
- The 2nd-fastest pitch a Dodgers player has homered off of under pitch tracking (2008), behind only Max Muncy off of 101.2 mph on 8/13/22 https://t.co/utoFOfzNyr

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 5, 2024

Ohtani added a single in the fifth, Skenes' last frame on the mound, but went 0-for-2 against the Pirates' relievers.

Pittsburgh went on to win 10-6.

Skenes allowed six hits, one walk and three runs, all of which came off homers. He struck out eight in 5.0 innings, coming away with his third win in the big leagues.

The Pirates offense once again gave Skenes plenty of run support, scoring seven times before he got the hook. Per OptaSTATS, Skenes is the first pitcher since at least 1961 to get five-plus runs of support in each of his first five MLB starts.

Skenes hasn't exactly needed so much of a cushion, considering he has a 3.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP, 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings and a 6.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The top pitching prospect in all of baseball has been able to thrive thanks to his elite splitter. Ohtani, meanwhile, entered Wednesday with the most home runs and barrels against splitters in MLB since 2020, according to Underdog Fantasy.

Ohtani is now batting .322 with 15 home runs, 40 RBI, an .989 OPS and a 3.2 WAR this season.

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