CHICAGO — In his 79th game with the Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani has set a new franchise record.
Ohtani crushed a leadoff home run in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win in the series finale on Wednesday against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, marking his 10th straight game in which he has recorded at least one RBI. That’s a new Dodgers record since RBIs became an official stat in 1920.
Ohtani entered the day tied with Roy Campanella (1955), Augie Galan (1944) and Eddie Brown (1924) for the Dodgers’ record for consecutive games with an RBI in a single season. Matt Kemp pulled off the feat across two seasons, recording at least one RBI in nine straight games spanning from the end 2011 to the start of 2012.
“There have been a lot of opportunities with runners on base,” Ohtani said of the streak through interpreter Wil Ireton after the game. “All I’m trying to do is have a quality at-bat, so I think it’s the result of that.”
That’s been a hallmark of Ohtani’s June hot streak, and his first trip to the plate on Wednesday was a microcosm of that mentality. Ohtani, who moved to the leadoff spot on June 17 after Mookie Betts fractured his left hand, worked a six-pitch plate appearance in the first inning.
“Really, my approach is to swing at strikes and just making sure that my posture and everything else is lined up,” Ohtani said.
Ohtani got ahead in the count 2-1 and 3-2 against White Sox starter Erick Fedde. Both strikes were called, and each were cutters at the top of the zone. When Fedde came back with another cutter in a similar spot on 3-2, Ohtani did not miss. He crushed the offering a Statcast-projected 437 feet to right-center field, generating a 113.9 mph exit velocity.
Ohtani finished 1-for-2 with a pair of walks in the win.
“The truth is when you’re pitching, you try not to think about stuff like that,” Fedde said of Ohtani’s RBI streak. “Went in with a plan, tried to execute. For the most part, that’s a weird situation, when you go 3-2 to start off a game. OK, it’s the leadoff guy, I’m not going to let him on, and then he’s got a lot of power, so [he] made me pay.”
Ohtani had an eventful trip around the bases when he homered to lead off Tuesday’s 4-3 win over Chicago. He carried his bat with him a few feet around first base as he watched the 376-foot blast just make it over the wall in right field. He also wasn’t sure if he stepped on the bag, and after advancing more than halfway to second, retreated to make sure he did.
As his homer sailed out on Wednesday, he took a few moments to admire it before trotting around the bases.
“It’s a quick infusion of energy,” manager Dave Roberts said of the leadoff home run. “Shohei is just really on a heater right now and swinging the bat so well — the leadoff homers, the consecutive games with a run batted in, all that stuff.”
Ohtani, who leads the National League with 25 homers, has hit 11 in June. He has hit six of those since moving atop the Dodgers’ lineup.
His numbers during the RBI streak are straight out of a video game. In 10 games, Ohtani has a .444/.563/1.194 slash line, with eight homers, 17 RBIs, and 11 walks compared to just six strikeouts.
“If they throw it over the plate in his zone, he’s going to hit it hard,” Roberts said. “It’s just the discipline that he’s showing is making him the most dangerous hitter on the planet.”
