Dodger home runs each carry their own weight
by Christian Romo
It was the familiar faces who provided the thump on Friday for the Dodgers.
The team’s prodigious power was on display Friday night against the San Diego Padres. Four home runs in the first three innings — from designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, third baseman Max Muncy, shortstop Mookie Betts and right fielder Teoscar Hernández — helped keep pace with the high-octane San Diego offense.
The power display gave the Dodgers an early lead against the Padres. And even though the game ended in a Dodger loss, all four home runs made a mark beyond the game itself.
Ohtani’s solo home run in the bottom of the first inning marked a personal milestone — the 175th of his career, tying him with Hideki Matsui for the most home runs among Japanese-born players in MLB history.
“I’m happy, personally,” Ohtani said. “It’s an honor to be on the same stage as (Matsui), and obviously it’s a big deal in the Japanese baseball industry as well.”
Muncy’s solo shot in the second inning just cleared the right-field wall only a few feet from the foul pole. It was his 178th home run as a Dodger, moving him past Mike Piazza for ninth place in franchise history.
Betts’ second-inning, three-run blast was his sixth of the season, putting him back in a four-way tie atop the league’s home run leaderboard. He also pushed his OPS up to 1.202, the best mark in MLB.
Hernández went to the opposite field for his third-inning, two-run home run, giving him his MLB-leading 17th RBI of the season. It was his second opposite-field home run of the season, his first coming against the St. Louis Cardinals on March 29.
Through their first 16 games, the Dodgers lead Major League Baseball in home runs (24) and hits (149) and are tied for first in runs (88). Those numbers come with a two-game head start over most of the league due to the team’s opening Seoul Series in South Korea, but the Dodger offense has put up impressive rate stats, as well.
The Dodgers rank third in MLB in slugging percentage (.456), fourth in batting average (.268) and third in OPS (.802).
The underlying stats look pretty healthy, as well. Entering Friday, the Dodgers were second in MLB in hard-hit percentage (43.4%) and third in barrel percentage (9.3%), according to Statcast. They have the highest line-drive percentage (29.2%) in baseball.
When Ohtani hit his record-tying solo home run, he also broke another record: the most home runs hit in a season by a Japanese-born Dodger (four), set by Roberts’ three in 2002. Roberts still owns the career Japanese-born Dodger home run record — seven — but isn’t holding onto it too tightly.
“I still have a couple more days before my record is broken,” Roberts said.
