WATCH: Shohei Ohtani ties Hideki Matsui for most home runs by Japanese players in 8-7 loss against Padres

Shohei Ohtani hit his 175th MLB home run which tied him with Hideki Matsui for the most homers by Japanese players.

Shohei Ohtani tied Hideki Matsui’s home run record in 8-7 loss against Padres [Image via Imago/X]

After a slow start to the season, Shohei Ohtani seems to have found his form back. The Los Angeles Dodgers star’s fourth homer of the 2024 season saw him tie Baseball Hall of Famer Hideki Matsui for the most home runs by a Japanese player in MLB.

Last week Ohtani finally opened his home run count for the season when he connected a big fly ball against the San Francisco Giants. Since then he has seems to have started to found his groove in LA.

Matsui who spent 10 seasons in the major leagues, made over 5,066 plate appearances while appearing for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays. In this, he launched a total of 175 home runs. Shohei Ohtani has now tied him on this record in seven seasons and in just 2,901 at-bats.

The milestone equaling moment came in the first inning of the game when the Dodgers trailed 2-0. The two-way phenom would launch a 403 ft home run off a 95 mph from Michael King.

This home run though came in a losing cause as the Dodgers ended up suffering an 8-7 loss. Despite this result, Ohtani was happy with equaling the record of Matsui and claimed it was an “honor” for him to be on the same stage with the Japanese great.

I’m happy personally. It’s an honor to be in the same stage as him and obviously, it’s a big deal in the Japanese baseball industry. So I’m going to look forward to the next one.

Shohei Ohtani said through his intrepreter Will Ireton via Spectrum SportsNet LA

Dave Roberts left marveled by Shohei Ohtani’s recent performances

While it did take a little while to get going, Shohei Ohtani has finally starting producing numbers that were expected from him at the start of the season. After going 3-for-5 against the San Diego Padres on Friday, the Japanese international is now 16-for-35 with four homers and seven doubles over his last eight games. This is something that has left his coach Dave Roberts marveled by him.
Dave Roberts (L) and Shohei Ohtani (R) [Image via Imago]
Roberts has been one person that has supported Ohtani both on and off the pitch. Last week after Ohtani hit his first home for the Dodgers, he revealed that he spoke with “Doc” earlier in the day and received some advice from him.

The 51-year-old coach in his press conference once again applauded him and spoke on how he is “playing great” baseball.

Shohei, he’s doing it, man. He’s playing great baseball. He’s got that look in his eye like he wants to be at the plate. He’s just taking really good swings, hitting everything hard. I just marvel at what he’s done.

Dave Roberts said via Spectrum SportsNet LA

With Ohtani’s former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara turning himself in to the authorities on the gambling and theft allegations, it seems he can finally move on from him. The MLB star has also been cleared of the gambling charged and can now turn his concentration towards the season.