LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani homered for the fifth consecutive game on Wednesday, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record.
New York Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year.
Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered off Minnesota starter Chris Paddack in the first inning of a 4-3 walk-off victory against the Twins. Ohtani hit a slow curveball 441 feet to center, carrying the bat midway down the first-base line before doing a bat flip.
It was Ohtani’s MLB-leading 46th career home of at least 440 feet since entering the majors in 2018. Three of those have come in the past week.
This is the seventh time in Dodgers history that a player has homered in five consecutive games. Ohtani joins Max Muncy, Joc Pederson, Adrian Gonzalez, Matt Kemp, Shawn Green and Roy Campanella in that club.
During the streak, Ohtani has hit three home runs to center field and two to the opposite field.
Ohtani both opened and closed the scoring for the Dodgers. He raced home from second on Freddie Freeman‘s bases-loaded, walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning for the deciding margin.
It was the Dodgers’ eighth walk-off win of the season, tying the Red Sox behind only the Giants (9)
Ohtani extended his franchise record for the most home runs before Aug. 1. It’s also the most home runs by any National League player before that date since 2001, when the Giants’ Barry Bonds (45) and the Diamondbacks‘ Luis Gonzalez (41) had each surpassed 40.
It also was Ohtani’s 262nd career home run, tying Frank Robinson for 10th all-time by a player in his first eight MLB seasons. Next on the list is Ted Williams, who had 265.
Ohtani, a three-time MVP, is batting .276 with 70 RBIs. He has also pitched well in six games and is scheduled to throw four innings on Monday in Cincinnati as he is getting close in his buildup as a starter, coming back from his second right UCL repair surgery.
With an off day on Thursday, Ohtani’s next chance to see if he can homer in six consecutive games will be against the Red Sox in Boston.
The Associated Press and ESPN Research contributed to this report.
