At the bottom of the ninth inning with a 3-3 score, Will Smith got on base after hitting the elbow on Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Rodriguez's ball. Tommy Edman's heavy hit and Miguel Rojas' bunt created a chance to end the game with one out and runners on the second and third bases.
Then, Gavin Luxe's ground ball was blocked by second baseman Brandon Law's diving catch, which blocked runners from moving forward. The Tampa Bay bench changed its pitcher to left-hander Colin Forsythe. Max Muncy, a pinch hitter with left-handedness, walked for the fifth time to fill the entire base.
Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter's box while taking deep breaths. Pochet, who was struggling to control his ball, inserted an 84.3 mile slider at the first pitch into the center. When the ball was slightly bent to the strike zone on the outside, Ohtani lightly turned the bat as if he had been waiting. The ball extended toward the fence in the middle of the right-hand section with a shooting angle of 35 degrees and a hitting speed of 105.1 miles, before hitting a fan who was standing with his glove on the top of the fence and falling inside. The 389-foot walk-off Grand Slam was a short distance.
When Ohtani confirmed that it was a home run, he raised his right hand and roared, and immediately took off his helmet and threw it to his teammates at the third base dugout. A total of 45,556 fans at Dodger Stadium shouted "MV~P!" in unison.
This is the moment when Ohtani's historic 40 home runs and 40 steals were dramatically completed.
Los Angeles Dodgers Ohtani led the team to a 7-3 victory at home against Tampa Bay on the 24th (Korea time), swinging two hits in five at-bats, four RBIs, one run and one stolen base, including a walk-off grand slam. Ohtani reached the 40th base first after getting on base with a shortstop infield hit in the bottom of the fourth inning.
This made Ohtani the sixth club ever to join the 40-40 club after Jose Canseco in 1988, Barry Bonds in 1996, Alex Rodriguez in 1998, Alfonso Soriano in 2006 and Ronald Acuña Jr in 2023.
However, the situation is different from 40 to 40. Ohtani achieved a new record in his 126th game of this season, shortening Soriano's record of 147 matches, the minimum 40 to 40 matches. In terms of the number of matches per team, it is 129 matches, 19 fewer than Soriano's 148.
Ohtani is also the first player to achieve 40-40 in a single game. The previous five members marked 40 home runs and 40 steals on different dates and games. Ohtani is the only one who hit his 40th home run with a walk-off and bases loaded.
Ohtani had a batting average of 0.292 (146 hits in 500 times at bat), 40 homers, 92 RBIs, 97 runs, 40 steals, 0.378 on-base percentage, 0.614 slugging percentage, and 0.992 OPS. He maintained his home run, scoring, slugging percentage, and No. 1 OPS in the National League. He is one step closer to dominating the home run-run title by trailing Atlanta Braves Marcell Ozuna (94), who ranks first in RBIs, by two points.
"I think it's the most monumental moment in my life. I always hope that I can do more and create more monumental moments," Ohtani said after the game. "It was hard for me to know if (homer hit) would go over. It was unclear whether the ball hit the fence or caught, but the umpire's hand went up. I only knew that it went over."
It was Ohtani's first walk-off home run and third walk-off hit.
Manager Dave Roberts was also impressed. "Ohtani will definitely be famous as the main character of this drama. It's a moment that I will remember for a long time. It's a great night." "I think Ohtani will want to become the greatest player in Major League history. The beginning of this milestone gives me a sense of challenge. 40-40 and walk-off bases loaded were displayed in one game. We can't write such a game as this, but we can't write it more dramatically if we have a script like this. He is not the kind of player who will stop marveling at us," he said.
"The Dodgers had the best hitter at full base, but we faced the worst hitter. Don't you know what kind of player he is? He created a decisive moment," Fawcett said.
Ohtani, who achieved the 40-40 mark, has effectively confirmed his position as NL MVP. For the first time in the history of 40-40 members, following last year's Atlanta Braves Ronald Acuña Jr., he could be named MVP for two consecutive years. Among those who achieved the 40-40 mark before him, Canseco was the only MVP in the league.
Attention is now focusing on whether Ohtani will reach the first 50 homers and 50 steals in the history of the Major League. The Dodgers has 33 games to go. If Ohtani uses the pace so far, he will record 50.2 homers and 50.2 steals. This means that 50-50 has been captured within the range.
Ohtani said, "The most important thing is to win the game. Obviously, the closer I get to 50-50, the more I'm going to contribute to the team's victory. In that way, I'm happy with that."
BY: 토토사이트 추천