BOSTON – Shohei Ohtani continued his hot hitting streak with his sixth home run in seven games for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Ohtani led off the second meeting in the series with his 38th long bomb, a day after his five-game home run streak came to an end as he went 1-for-4 in Friday’s 5-2 win for the Dodgers.
With a 1-1 count against Boston starter Garret Crochet, Ohtani locked onto a 97 mile per hour fastball down the middle from the Red Sox ace and sent it an estimated 414 feet over center field at Fenway Park.
Ohtani’s 10th leadoff blast of the season moved him into outright second place in Major League Baseball’s home run race, trailing only Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.
Teoscar Hernandez followed with his own solo home run to put the Dodgers up 2-0 in a tough first inning for Crochet. The lead was short-lived, however, with the home team going ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the second.
Crochet (12-4) recovered from his rough start and went on to record 10 strikeouts, including two against Ohtani, as he outdueled Los Angeles starter Clayton Kershaw (4-2).
Ohtani finished 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. Samurai Japan teammate Masataka Yoshida was not in the Red Sox lineup Saturday.