Shohei Ohtani pitches and homers for 1,000th hit in Dodgers' loss to Cardinals
As the Dodgers' starting pitcher, Ohtani struck out eight and allowed just two infield singles in four dominant innings.
At the plate, he recorded his milestone hit in the third inning with a two-run blast that put Los Angeles up 2-1. It was his 39th home run of the season, one behind National League leader Kyle Schwarber and three behind MLB leader Cal Raleigh.
The Dodgers couldn't hold on to the early lead, however.
Ohtani joined newly minted Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui as the only Japanese-born players to reach 1,000 hits in the major leagues.
Ichiro finished his career with 3,089 hits, and Matsui had 1,253.
Ohtani's performance also quelled concern over his previous pitching start, which he departed early due to cramping in his right hip.
Having returned to the mound this year after a nearly two-year absence in the wake of elbow surgery, he pitched four innings for the first time this season.
The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a two-out RBI bunt single from Brendan Donovan.
Ohtani then put the Dodgers ahead with his two-run home run in the bottom half.
Los Angeles went up 3-1 in the fourth when Andy Pages singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and came around to score on a throwing error by Cardinals catcher Pedro Pages.
St. Louis got the run back in the sixth on a Lars Nootbaar groundout.
Jordan Walker had a game-tying single in the eighth inning, and Masyn Winn scored the go-ahead run on an error.
The Cardinals added one more run in the ninth on an RBI double from Nootbaar.
Three St. Louis relievers held Los Angeles without a run over the final five innings, while right-hander Riley O'Brien pitched 1⅓ innings for his first career save. JoJo Romero (4-3) did not allow any runs over one inning of work to earn the win.
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