LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two home runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 on Sunday afternoon to sweep the three-game series.
Ohtani launched a hanging curveball from Braves started Max Fried 412 feet over the center-field fence for a two-run homer in the first inning. He added a pair of singles in the third and the sixth before leading off the eighth inning with a 464-foot blast off reliever A.J. Minter deep into the left center field bleachers.
“He just keeps doing things that we just hadn’t seen haven’t seen before,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s deep. People don’t hit the ball out there, whether you’re left-handed or right-handed.”
It was Ohtani’s first multihomer game with the Dodgers and the 17th of his career. He is now tied with Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna, the Angels‘ Mike Trout and the Orioles‘ Gunnar Henderson for the major league lead with 10 home runs this season.
“I just feel like we’re overall playing really well,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “So that’s really helping me have quality at-bats. Just feeling good overall.”
Ohtani’s 25 extra-base hits are tied for the second most through the Dodgers’ first 40 games of a season since 1900, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. (Adrián González had 26 in 2015.)
Ohtani’s four hits also tied a career high. He’s batting .364, tied for the MLB lead with the Phillies‘ Alec Bohm.
Teoscar Hernandez added a two-run homer and James Paxton took a shutout into the seventh inning for the Dodgers. Paxton (4-0) finished with 6⅔ innings pitched, 5 hits and 1 run allowed, 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to remain unbeaten on the season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
