Baseball: Ohtani hits 40th home run for 3rd straight season
Ohtani crushed a solo shot to center off a 3-1 sinker from Chris Bassitt (11-6) with one out in the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium, pushing the home team's lead to 3-0.
The two-way star, who went 2-for-4 on the day, is one off the top of the National League home-run chart currently led by Kyle Schwarber of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Yusei Kikuchi (6-7) won his second straight start, meanwhile, as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Detroit Tigers 7-4 to snap their three-game skid.
The lefty allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks over five innings against the Tigers as he relinquished the team's lead in the second and fourth. But Taylor Ward and Jo Adell, who both went deep, drove in three runs each to give the Japanese the run support.
"Their batting order is really strong against left-handed pitchers, so I thought things won't be easy and was braced for giving up hits, said Kikuchi, who struck out seven. "I wanted to avoid home runs at any cost, and I've managed to do that."
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