Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani hit his 30th home run of the 2024 MLB season in grand fashion. The two-time American League Most Valuable Player launched an incredible home run in the fifth inning of Sunday's series finale at home versus the Boston Red Sox and got everyone astonished and excited at the same time.
Even future Hall of Famer Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was deeply awed by Ohtani's blast.
“That was amazing,” Kershaw said of his teammates' home run, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “Some of the righties can hit them out that way, but lefties…I’ve never seen that before…Good gracious, I don’t think I’ve seen a ball go that far before.”
Just like everyone else, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts couldn't believe how far Ohtani hit the poor ball off of a cutter from Red Sox starter Kutter Crawford.
“He just never ceases to amaze,” shared Roberts. “I mean, you look at how far that ball went and how hot it came off the bat, it’s just hard to fathom someone hitting a baseball like that…That’s just where people don’t go.”
Ohtani's huge homer against the Red Sox was his 30th of the 2024 MLB season — the most by anyone in the National League and second in the majors overall. Only New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge has more home runs in the big leagues thus far than the Japanese superstar. Judge has 35 home runs to date.
Ohtani is also hitting an impressive .315 to go with a .401 on-base percentage and .638 slugging percentage. He has been a nightmare for opposing pitchers, with Crawford also finally taking his first stumble against Ohtani, who was 0-for-4 against the right-handed Crawford before that fifth-inning encounter.
Other Dodgers react to Ohtani's unreal blast
Paxton, who started for the Dodgers, had nothing but praises for Ohtani as well.
“Just awe,” Paxton said. “The way he hit that ball, we were all just kind of shocked looking up at it. He’s superhuman man, it was pretty fun to watch.”
Paxton got the pitching win against his former team, as he gave up three earned runs on four hits while striking out seven Red Sox hitters in a 9-6 Dodgers victory.
“Nothing surprises me anymore with him,” said second baseman Gavin Lux, who went 3-for-4 in the Red Sox game. “It sounded like a shotgun off his bat.”
With the win, the Dodgers improved to 59-41 and will enter the series ag
